Active Kef LS50

[ecmfidelity]

1 minute ago, tuan209 said:

 

Thats odd!

 

Mine was stuck halfway through the firmware update too and idled for a few hours. 

 

Ya, the reset button is the lil button behind the speakers. It can only be access with a paper clip.  

 

Give it another go?  

 

If it doesnt work, give Kef a call.  They are pretty responsive and helpful.

 

Tuan

I'm going to take a beer and listen to some music (on my headphones). I'll give it another try in the morning - It's bedtime i a couple of hours here  I'll be back.

[DarwinOSX]

14 minutes ago, tuan209 said:

 

Thats odd!

 

Mine was stuck halfway through the firmware update too and idled for a few hours. 

 

Ya, the reset button is the lil button behind the speakers. It can only be access with a paper clip.  

 

Give it another go?  

 

If it doesnt work, give Kef a call.  They are pretty responsive and helpful.

 

Tuan

 

Yet they are not responding to e-mails or their Facebook forum.

[[email protected]]

I had a successful update:

 

1. Windows 7 64bit
2. The computer must be connected to the Internet (mine is hard wired by Ethernet cable to local network)
3. The speaker must be in Wi-Fi mode and connected to the internet (hard wired to my network via Ethernet cable)
4. I disabled my Norton firewall Firewall / Anti-virus

5. Ensure you use the KEF Ethernet cable between Left and Right

6. Download and run installation software:

http://us.kef.com/product-support

 

I use the iPad app.

 

P.S. I had the firewall issue.  KEF support by phone was prompt and friendly.. 

 

[tuan209]

Hey Guys!

 

Quick question!

 

What is the best way to hook up the LS50w to a receiver?

 

I have an old Marantz 1506 with preouts.  

 

Would I have to set the gains on the speakers and receiver?

 

Also, should I run any type room correction on the receiver?  

 

I basically looking to add back that LFE channel for movies since the sub out on the Kefs do not support that.  

 

Tuan

[ecmfidelity]

2 minutes ago, tuan209 said:

Hey Guys!

 

Quick question!

 

What is the best way to hook up the LS50w to a receiver?

 

I have an old Marantz 1506 with preouts.  

 

Would I have to set the gains on the speakers and receiver?

 

Also, should I run any type room correction on the receiver?  

 

I basically looking to add back that LFE channel for movies since the sub out on the Kefs do not support that.  

 

Tuan

You don't need the receiver. You want to use the digital inputs. If you use the pre-outs on your receiver to the analogue in on the LS50W, the signal is converted to digital. I would either buying passive LS50 to the receiver or skip the reciver and use the LS50W as a complete set, ie. source/amp/speakers.

[realhifi]

9 hours ago, [email protected] said:

I had a successful update:

 

1. Windows 7 64bit
2. The computer must be connected to the Internet (mine is hard wired by Ethernet cable to local network)
3. The speaker must be in Wi-Fi mode and connected to the internet (hard wired to my network via Ethernet cable)
4. I disabled my Norton firewall Firewall / Anti-virus

5. Ensure you use the KEF Ethernet cable between Left and Right

6. Download and run installation software:

http://us.kef.com/product-support

 

I use the iPad app.

 

P.S. I had the firewall issue.  KEF support by phone was prompt and friendly.. 

 

Good to hear. 

[ecmfidelity]

9 hours ago, [email protected] said:

I had a successful update:

 

1. Windows 7 64bit
2. The computer must be connected to the Internet (mine is hard wired by Ethernet cable to local network)
3. The speaker must be in Wi-Fi mode and connected to the internet (hard wired to my network via Ethernet cable)
4. I disabled my Norton firewall Firewall / Anti-virus

5. Ensure you use the KEF Ethernet cable between Left and Right

6. Download and run installation software:

http://us.kef.com/product-support

 

I use the iPad app.

 

P.S. I had the firewall issue.  KEF support by phone was prompt and friendly.. 

 

I had the default Windows firewall active. That might be it. Forgot about it because I don't have any third party protection.

[ecmfidelity]

My problem is solved. KEF LS50w or KEF didn't have any role in my problems. In the beginning, I suspect it was my neglect to avoid turning off the Windows Firewall. Please do that if you want to avoid problems!

 

Somewhere in the process when I unconnected all cables I also think I manage to put the speaker interconnect in the Internet RJ45 - the speaker was kind of hard to reach so I couldn't see what I was doing, and forgot there is to two RJ45 females on the master speaker.

 

KEF Rocks and the LS50 wireless sounds amazing!!!

[stewboss]

Am I right in thinking that if I connect the speakers to my imac directly via USB, I can avoid using the flaky app and all the networking / connectivity issues that have been reported on here? iTunes and Audirvana will do just fine for me.

 

I've been interested in buying these from the day they were announced but have been put off somewhat by the negative reports about the app and poor after sales support from Kef.

[ecmfidelity]

21 minutes ago, stewboss said:

Am I right in thinking that if I connect the speakers to my imac directly via USB, I can avoid using the flaky app and all the networking / connectivity issues that have been reported on here? iTunes and Audirvana will do just fine for me.

 

I've been interested in buying these from the day they were announced but have been put off somewhat by the negative reports about the app and poor after sales support from Kef.

Sure, you can connect to USB, use the "PC" selection and do most of the room settings at the backside of the master speaker. But I wouldn't hesitate to use the app if I were you. For one thing, you can fine tune the room settings in the app. I mostly use it with the USB, but connected to a microRendu. It's practically the same situation as the one you describe. I rarely use the app at all. I already had Tidal via Roon, for one thing.

[erniejade]

I haven't done the firmware update since the people seem to have a crackling / hiss issue not too long after but the app update adds tidal. For me. I still use the kef app to change the sound settings however, streaming pauses and skips streaming from the app.  So I either use my Laptop feeding into a w4s recovery, or Lumin D1 to rca.  I added a Schiit passive to the rca so I can change between the lumin and my turntable running through a Jolida d9 phono preamp. Tube source actually sounds good on the speakers. All 3 sound better then the built in wireless.  

 

The W4s recovery makes it even sound better via USB over not having the recovery in the USB chain.  The ls50 wireless you can definitely hear the difference between sources. The dsp doesn't make everything sound the same. It does let the natural sound come through so if you like tubes, add a tube CD player via rca or any other tube source.    Don't be afraid to feed it a hard wired source and try different things.  

[feelingears]

Like these ideas. And I'm a big fan of the W4S reclockers (Remedy and Recovery). Cool to have options with digital like this–the passive switch is a great idea. 

[Fridolin]

I just got my LS50 wireless.

 

What i don't understand:

- How does the speaker distinguish between WiFi and Ethernet-LAN?

- How can i see what it is using?

- How can i force it to use Ethernet-LAN only?

 

[stewboss]

19 hours ago, ecmfidelity said:

Sure, you can connect to USB, use the "PC" selection and do most of the room settings at the backside of the master speaker. But I wouldn't hesitate to use the app if I were you. For one thing, you can fine tune the room settings in the app. I mostly use it with the USB, but connected to a microRendu. It's practically the same situation as the one you describe. I rarely use the app at all. I already had Tidal via Roon, for one thing.

That's great!

 

Good to know. Thanks.

[erniejade]

Looks like Kef finally responded to the facebook group.

 

KEF We are aware that there are a very few customers who experienced this and we are in the process of trying to find the root cause. Try to re-load the firmware update and let us know if that worked or not. As far as backloading the FW update, we'll get information on that and pass it along.

[[email protected]]

On June 13, 2017 at 2:02 PM, erniejade said:

Looks like Kef finally responded to the facebook group.

 

KEF We are aware that there are a very few customers who experienced this and we are in the process of trying to find the root cause. Try to re-load the firmware update and let us know if that worked or not. As far as backloading the FW update, we'll get information on that and pass it along.

Hi

can you provide the full URL link to that post.  I cannot find it on the KEF Facebook page.

thanks

[erniejade]

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1329921497024500?view=permalink&id=1781000815249897

[erniejade]

We are currently looking into the issue and will hopefully have some info early next week.

 

From today's post

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1329921497024500/permalink/1781000815249897/?comment_id=1789858057697506&notif_t=group_comment_reply&notif_id=1497535543717202

[DarwinOSX]

1 minute ago, erniejade said:

We are currently looking into the issue and will hopefully have some info early next week.

 

From today's post

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1329921497024500/permalink/1781000815249897/?comment_id=1789858057697506&notif_t=group_comment_reply&notif_id=1497535543717202

Not everyone uses Facebook for privacy reasons. It's a terrible place for this. 

 

 

[[email protected]]

I have experienced a distortion like stuttering since the upgrade to the FW.  Happens only occasionally, about every two days.  

 

Fast forward to the next track fixes it.

[DarwinOSX]

17 minutes ago, [email protected] said:

I have experienced a distortion like stuttering since the upgrade to the FW.  Happens only occasionally, about every two days.  

 

Fast forward to the next track fixes it.

Kef must be using trained monkeys as devs.  They are clearly over their head when it comes to supporting products like this and it tarnishes their entire brand.

[erniejade]

Brian Heisler Thanks Please keep us updated or possibly make it a little more public so others know vs looking at audio forums. We all appreciate the help!

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Jack Sharkey We've had basically three issues worldwide so we're trying to gather up data and get to the root of it all. Thanks for the patience and kind words, we will definitely keep everyone posted.

[erniejade]

I also gave a link to here in case they feel like reaching out on this KEF forum.

[[email protected]]

4 hours ago, [email protected] said:

I have experienced a distortion like stuttering since the upgrade to the FW.  Happens only occasionally, about every two days.  

 

Fast forward to the next track fixes it.

To clarify: I was listening to Tidal today on a Windows PC > USB > LS50W.  When the stuttering started, I paused Tidal, and switched the Tidal settings to my PC speakers.  No stuttering.  Switched Tidal back back to the LS50W, and the stuttering is gone.

[realhifi]

3 hours ago, erniejade said:

Brian Heisler Thanks Please keep us updated or possibly make it a little more public so others know vs looking at audio forums. We all appreciate the help!

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Jack Sharkey We've had basically three issues worldwide so we're trying to gather up data and get to the root of it all. Thanks for the patience and kind words, we will definitely keep everyone posted.

Sounds about right. As I said previously, I'd like to see a forum that has numbers of problems in this area.