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KEF LS50

Don't post often here but thought I would let you all know I stumbled on a pretty amazing performer in this little monitor.

I would say the midrange is on par with my Harbeth 40.1, treble has a tad more leading edge bite than the best soft dome but its a really good top end that never gets nasty. Dynamically they are performing way better than they should. I'm betting they would compete with the new 30.1 sonically, just a guess.

Have them running with 20X price electronics in a small office and they are not outclassed in any way. Made me want to keep throwing my best gear with them they sounded so good.

If you are in the market grab a pair, you will not regret. Saw two pair this morning for sale for around 1K, I can't think of anything in 20 years offering this much performance for 1K. You could build a world class non-full range sound around these.
petland
yyzsantabarbara
647 posts
 
Do you think these speakers can be used on a desk? I have the Audioengine A2's on my desk and I have been thinking about the KEF's to replace them. But I have a suspicion the KEF's maybe too big to put on a desk and would also require space more to breathe than the A2's.
taters
1,149 posts
 
For all you Harbeth fans out there you can save 4500.00 and buy a pair of Ls-50's. Well, what are you waiting for?
roscoeiii's avatar
roscoeiii
1,155 posts
 
Yyzsantabarbara,

I think Steve Guttenberg's review mentions using them on a desk. Check his Inner Fidelity review. On CNET, he names these Product or Speaker of the Year...
petland OP
71 posts
 
Yes Taters that would be what I would say, at least based on my experience with the Harbeth sound which I love and have quite a bit of experience with.

As for the desktop, I have no doubt they would be great as nearfield monitors, I think they were designed with that in mind, they just might look odd on a normal sized desk, they are pretty good size.

Kef supplies some nice two piece foam plugs for the rear port which really worked well in my set up, many ported designs don't hold up well when you start messing with the port. Point being you could put them on a desk and back them to a wall and still get good sound from them I would guess. Not ideal, but still likely quite good.

If I had to give their best attribute it would be that hard to find combination of a touch of tone density (warmth) with high resolution. They image like devils too.
roscoeiii's avatar
roscoeiii
1,155 posts
 
How are they at low volumes?
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