Active Kef LS50

[DarwinOSX]

Also are you on the latest firmware?  I don't know if it will help but it would be good to do.

[George Hincapie]

1 minute ago, DarwinOSX said:

One of the many reasons I don't use the Kef app is it doesn't sound as good to me as many other methods.  It seems to almost vibrate the sound.

It seems very few people use the app which is a real indictment of the poor effort Kef has put into it.

I play FLAC from my Synology NAS via Roon on my Mac which is connected to my network by wifi to optical and usb on the Kef's and it sounds much better than the app to me.

 

Would it work if I plugged in my ARIES Mini via USB to the KEF and played over Roon that way?

[DarwinOSX]

Just now, George Hincapie said:

 

Would it work if I plugged in my ARIES Mini via USB to the KEF and played over Roon that way?

 

Yes.  Also check out the Roon forum thread on these speakers of you haven't already.

[DarwinOSX]

Oh just realized I've seen you on the Roon forum :-)

[George Hincapie]

2 hours ago, DarwinOSX said:

Also are you on the latest firmware?  I don't know if it will help but it would be good to do.

 

I actually don't know. How would I check the version and update please?

[DarwinOSX]

The only way I have seen it is when actually doing the update. I just got my new replacement speakers this week and they did not have the latest firmware on them which came out in May. 

[shoom]

16 hours ago, George Hincapie said:

I collected the LS50W today. Have to say that so far, I am disappointed. The bass is a bit all over the place and they seem bright to me. Feeding them WAV over WIFI at the moment...making my ears hurt. Have set them up in the KEF app with distance from wall, room size etc.

 

No where near as good as my NVA Cube 2s at the moment.

 

Is there a trick to make these sound good?

 

Hi George.

 

Tell us all:-)

 

Room size (damped?), speaker placement, listening position, Kef settings.

 

But the secret may be to play with different settings. the Kef recommendations may only be a ''guide'' to setup.

 

My Kef's sound smooth, detailed, huge SS with plenty of well controlled bass. but to get that I played plenty with speaker placement, listening position and Kef settings.

 

Bass wise I fond that moving from Ikea with isoacoustics to good stands with plenty of space for them to breath made nice difference and tightened things up nicely.

 

Take your time and be methodical.

 

maybe start with room size settings to get the overall sound balance somewhere near your preference.

 

I'm sure it's going to come good with a little time spent experimenting.

 

Let us know how it goes

[George Hincapie]

5 hours ago, shoom said:

 

Hi George.

 

Tell us all:-)

 

Room size (damped?), speaker placement, listening position, Kef settings.

 

But the secret may be to play with different settings. the Kef recommendations may only be a ''guide'' to setup.

 

My Kef's sound smooth, detailed, huge SS with plenty of well controlled bass. but to get that I played plenty with speaker placement, listening position and Kef settings.

 

Bass wise I fond that moving from Ikea with isoacoustics to good stands with plenty of space for them to breath made nice difference and tightened things up nicely.

 

Take your time and be methodical.

 

maybe start with room size settings to get the overall sound balance somewhere near your preference.

 

I'm sure it's going to come good with a little time spent experimenting.

 

Let us know how it goes

 

Thanks! PM sent.

[realhifi]

On 9/23/2017 at 4:11 PM, George Hincapie said:

I collected the LS50W today. Have to say that so far, I am disappointed. The bass is a bit all over the place and they seem bright to me. Feeding them WAV over WIFI at the moment...making my ears hurt. Have set them up in the KEF app with distance from wall, room size etc.

 

No where near as good as my NVA Cube 2s at the moment.

 

Is there a trick to make these sound good?

So I’m assuming you listened to these fairly extensively before purchasing them?

Not everyone likes KEF speakers you know. 

[George Hincapie]

1 minute ago, realhifi said:

So I’m assuming you listened to these fairly extensively before purchasing them?

Not everyone likes KEF speakers you know. 

 

I had to pay in full, but I have them for a week on home demo ahead of a final purchase decision.

[DarwinOSX]

11 minutes ago, realhifi said:

So I’m assuming you listened to these fairly extensively before purchasing them?

Not everyone likes KEF speakers you know. 

 

I doubt many people have to opportunity to hear these or other speakers live before purchasing.  Not to mention they could sound very different depending on where they are playing. 

[Fridolin]

On 23.9.2017 at 6:07 PM, shoom said:

I’m using Jremote/Jriver DNLA server/wired network connection/Kef which also works well.

 When set up that way JRMC finds the Speakers as a renderer and plays really well. Simple and good enough not to miss my SMS200 much so another box less in my room.

I'm using Jriver Mediacenter 23 on a MacMini.

 

I can stream to the KEFs but there's a glitch with every new title and cover art and metadata take about 15 seconds to reflect the new title.

Scrolling forward and back isn't smooth.

 

I blame Mediacenter 23 (not the KEFs) for this misbehavior.

Using Mediacenter as a controller for DNLA doesn't make me happy.

Direct connections via USB or TosLink are fine, however.

 

[shoom]

1 hour ago, Fridolin said:

I'm using Jriver Mediacenter 23 on a MacMini.

 

I can stream to the KEFs but there's a glitch with every new title and cover art and metadata take about 15 seconds to reflect the new title.

Scrolling forward and back isn't smooth.

 

I blame Mediacenter 23 (not the KEFs) for this misbehavior.

Using Mediacenter as a controller for DNLA doesn't make me happy.

Direct connections via USB or TosLink are fine, however.

 

Have you switched off Gapless playback in JRMC? The Kef's don't don't do gapless ATM.

 

I'm using Jremote to control W10 JR 64bit  DNLA and it works just fine this end (FOR NOW) but I have had the same lag with cover art and also the track time slider. it's no big deal and probably JR as you say.

 

For me it's just a tide me over solution until Roon happens.

[shoom]

10 hours ago, DarwinOSX said:

 

I doubt many people have to opportunity to hear these or other speakers live before purchasing.  Not to mention they could sound very different depending on where they are playing. 

Good point.

 

Here in the UK there are plenty of opportunities to demo the Kef’s.

 

I had one shop Demo and one at a recent show where I purchased them for a nice price (same dealer as demo).

 

But I’d have to say that the 2 listening sessions sounded a little different to home use.

 

Only to be expected as all rooms sound different. However what I find attractive about the Kef is the fine tune DSP capabilities which helped my room no end.

 

 

Unfortunately I also heard the Kii 3 at the same show which blew me away.

 

Such an immersive sound, fine detail and tonal richness. If I was a little deeper in the purse I’d have those without blinking.

 

Such is lifeJ

[George Hincapie]

1 hour ago, shoom said:

Good point.

 

Here in the UK there are plenty of opportunities to demo the Kef’s.

 

I had one shop Demo and one at a recent show where I purchased them for a nice price (same dealer as demo).

 

But I’d have to say that the 2 listening sessions sounded a little different to home use.

 

Only to be expected as all rooms sound different. However what I find attractive about the Kef is the fine tune DSP capabilities which helped my room no end.

 

 

Unfortunately I also heard the Kii 3 at the same show which blew me away.

 

Such an immersive sound, fine detail and tonal richness. If I was a little deeper in the purse I’d have those without blinking.

 

Such is lifeJ

 

I have no time to demo anything sadly. Busy job in London all week then family responsibilities at the weekend. And I would only ever want to listen in my system in my house; how a component sounds at a dealer is as much use to me as a chocolate fireguard...

[realhifi]

1 hour ago, George Hincapie said:

 

I have no time to demo anything sadly. Busy job in London all week then family responsibilities at the weekend. And I would only ever want to listen in my system in my house; how a component sounds at a dealer is as much use to me as a chocolate fireguard...

I have never found a component to sound dramaticly different from when I heard it at a shop to when I heard it in my home. I must just have tin ears but invariably if I like the demo I like it in my home. Guess I’m just lucky. 

[George Hincapie]

1 hour ago, realhifi said:

I have never found a component to sound dramaticly different from when I heard it at a shop to when I heard it in my home. I must just have tin ears but invariably if I like the demo I like it in my home. Guess I’m just lucky. 

 

Really? Speakers can sound hugely different between different rooms in my experience. Other components perhaps less so...

[erniejade]

On ‎9‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 10:50 AM, DarwinOSX said:

 

I just received brand new replacement speakers and they did not have the May firmware update.  I've done several firmware updates including to these with no issues.

 

 

You did yours on a Mac correct?   Outside of an IPAD, I have Win 10 so I have been afraid. 

[DarwinOSX]

2 hours ago, erniejade said:

 

You did yours on a Mac correct?   Outside of an IPAD, I have Win 10 so I have been afraid. 

 

Yes on a Mac laptop connected by USB to the Kefs which is a pretty dated way of updating firmware.

There is no iPad updater.

[DarwinOSX]

2 hours ago, George Hincapie said:

 

Really? Speakers can sound hugely different between different rooms in my experience. Other components perhaps less so...

 

Totally agree of course.  Room can make a huge difference.

[jaspal kallar]

7 hours ago, shoom said:

 

Unfortunately I also heard the Kii 3 at the same show which blew me away.

 

Such an immersive sound, fine detail and tonal richness. If I was a little deeper in the purse I’d have those without blinking.

 

Such is lifeJ

 

 

Thanks for that information, having heard the Kit Three's (at a dealer) I was wondering if the Kef LS50W could come close to the Kii's (at a price much closer to my wallet).  I will at some point of course, at a dealer, demo the Kef LS50W.

[firedog]

2 hours ago, jaspal kallar said:

 

 

Thanks for that information, having heard the Kit Three's (at a dealer) I was wondering if the Kef LS50W could come close to the Kii's (at a price much closer to my wallet).  I will at some point of course, at a dealer, demo the Kef LS50W.

Obviously the Kiis are better, especially in bass reproduction. As always, there is clearly a diminishing returns curve as you go up in price. The question is how much you are willing to pay to get to the top of the curve. Take into account that with the Kefs you will also need to buy one or two subs to make a fair comparison to the Kiis. 

[shoom]

18 hours ago, jaspal kallar said:

 

 

Thanks for that information, having heard the Kit Three's (at a dealer) I was wondering if the Kef LS50W could come close to the Kii's (at a price much closer to my wallet).  I will at some point of course, at a dealer, demo the Kef LS50W.

Maybe the real trick is to find the best sound for what we can afford to pay.

 

For my part I’m glad to have had the chance to hear both speakers as they show what a holistic design approach can achieve.

 

Both eye openers IMHO offering seriously good sound at their respective price points.

 

Go and have a listen to the Kef and let us know what you think.

 

You may be surprised.

[jaspal kallar]

On 9/25/2017 at 8:47 PM, firedog said:

  Take into account that with the Kefs you will also need to buy one or two subs to make a fair comparison to the Kiis. 

 

Good point, I forgot about that, I would really like to avoid any sub(s) if possible (since this kind of defeats the simplicity of the all in one solution).

 

9 hours ago, shoom said:

Maybe the real trick is to find the best sound for what we can afford to pay.

 

At present the Kef LS50W's is what I could afford comfortably (price wise) but I'm usually fine waiting a bit (saving up) if I feels it's what I really want. I plan to listen to the LS50W hopefully in not too distant future.  

[DarwinOSX]

The Kefs only connect to one sub.