LS-50 Speakers (Passive)

^There’s a good chance your LS50s are placed on a room mode. If your speakers are somewhere between 2 and 3 feet from the forward wall, this is likely the case. These distances typically result in an upper bass null. It’s unfortunate because that distance allows decent soundstaging while remaining aesthetically acceptible. You might try moving the speakers to less than 20" from the forward wall (of course this will cause imaging to suffer) or try moving them 5 to 6 feet from the wall (measured to the centerline of the speaker cabinet).

I just don’t get why anyone would buy a speaker with a 6.5” woofer in a <1 cu.ft. box and expect it to move the earth. Nor do I understand why you would then try to marry it to one or more subwoofers and expect no ill effects on the sound quality. If you’re after full range sound, buy a full range speaker with a big woofer in a big box. There’s a reason that there were very few subwoofers before the advent of “home theater”. That’s where they belong.

@helomech: thanks for the advices. Actually I am keeping them closer to wall with exactly the effect that you describe. But anyway, wherever I tried in my irregularly shaped medim soze room, I still develop some string modes. This is not exclusive to LS50, I tryed other seakers.

@ripkeith: two reasons. The first is price and the second is the fact that I’m living in an appartment with weak acoustic isolation. My idea was to use the speakers w/o the sub in the quiet hours and with the subs in more noise tolerant hours. Let alone space requirements of larger floorstanders.

btw, I don’t really listen to music that requires earth trembling bass. I use my sub very subtly to just add some foundation to the mains when there is such content in the music I listen.

Just put away the Totems this morning in order to listen to the Elac ub5, and wow am I impressed. Bass output is top notch, imaging and soundstaging are setting a really HIGH bar, not that much less than the LS50s.
Some have mentioned that the LS50s do show what they really are capable of with top notch amplification - no doubt. But that should go for the UB5s as well. The UB5s are a 3-way speaker. For the money, I repeat, the UB5s kill the LS50s in the bass/mid-bass department... and the rest of the frequency range is not too far off.
Obviously, the finish and front baffle of the LS50s outclass the cheap ELAC. But on sonics alone, not really.
I am saving money for the Adante AS-61.  Can't wait.