2. speakers
  3. 1357494963

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
tom6897's avatar
tom6897
1,029 posts
 
I have owned the LS50's since Feb 2013 in a second system.

I have used: a Naim Nait 5i-2 (60wpc) but really seems like
much more.

Edge i3 (100wpc into 8 ohm, 200wpc/4 ohm)

Simaudio i3.3DPX (100Wpc into an 8 ohm load and 200W into 4
ohms)
I have settled on the SimAudio. A great match with superb
drive and musicality. My unit has the built in DAC and Phono
and Balanced XLR options. Very nice piece of kit!

I would say the LS50's sound best with at least 150-250 of
high quality watts per channel into the 4 ohm load. (The
KEF's drop to 3.8 if I recall), and 100+ dampening factor.

If you decide to go with tubes I would plan on at least 60-
80 wpc of tube amplification. (Cary Audio SLI-80) you will
not regret feeding them with great amplification! My room is
12'x 18'x 8.5'.

Best to ya!
tvfreak
42 posts
 
The room is not very big and the listening levels are ok for me. My question is really at which point an amplifier may cause damages to the speakers. If I am having a party and the volume in the NAD D 7050 has to go up to 0 db (therefore higher than my usual listening levels between -15 db and - 10db) would this cause damage to the speakers? Is my usual listening volume harmful to the speakers?
seikosha
205 posts
 
@Brianportugal

If I had a small room, let's say 10x10 ft or smaller and the vocal music I listened to was just simple arrangements, I think the the Silverlines would be just fine and possibly be better than the Kef's in a small tight space like that. Once the room started getting bigger or the music more demanding, the Kef's would assert themselves better.
tom6897's avatar
tom6897
1,029 posts
 
IMO, I think that the NAD is underpowered for use with the KEFs. If you listen to dynamic music at loud levels.

I would not want to push those speakers to 85+ db as you may start to hear compression and distortion at the higher levels. If that happens turn the volume down ASAP!

It is better to have some headroom in your amp. More amp will not hurt a speaker. The opposite, however, will.
larrybou
130 posts
 
I purchased the LS50's on Amazon in case I felt the need to return them at some point. So far I only have maybe 30 hours on them but they sound rather bright and lacking in weight or authority. I know they're not floor standers but given the reviews and other much more expensive monitors I've heard, I was expecting more.

Maybe the room isn't well suited since there's no back wall, but a back alcove. Also the 36" stands are probably too high.

I'm using Cary Audio Cinema 11 preamp and Cinema 5 amps to drive. If things don't improve dramatically they'll go back to Amazon in a couple weeks. Almost painful to listen to most material on at the moment.
More to discover