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LS50 and Classical

Hey everyone. I purchased a pair of LS50's (the originals, not the Meta's) about a year ago and my impressions are somewhat mixed. On rock, pop, jazz, blues and hip-hop they generally sound great. But 80% of my listening is classical and I find them somewhat 2-dimensional with the vast majority of my classical collection.

I don't have the space for floor-standers but I'm wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a bookshelf / monitor speaker that will give me more of the 3-dimensionality that I'm looking for. My budget would be up to $3000.

Other equipment:
Schiit Freya S Preamp (running balanced to power amp)
PS Audio Stellar S300 power amp
Denafrips Ares II driven by Volumio
Pro-Ject Debut Carbon with Ortofon 2M Blue
eshafran
deadhead1000's avatar
deadhead1000
714 posts
 
If you don’t have room for a sub, I’d suggest Harbeth p3ers or try the Totem bookshelves. There are so many good bookshelves now a days, you’ll get a lot of advice. Those are two brands I have owned and loved, although they sound nothing alike, I could live with either again. Both in your price range. 
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dbphd
1,628 posts
 
Kenjit is wrong.  I was listening to the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 7th this evening thinking the LS50s sounded very good.  Source was Roon via Ethernet to ultraRendu, Ayre QB-9 DSD DAC, and Ayre A7e integrated.  I have a pair of Velodyne HGS-10s I plan to try with that setup.  A pair of HGS-15 supplements my KEF Reference 1s very nicely.
oldhvymec
5,101 posts
 
K quit being an orifice.. Not like you.. :-)

Yes they do sound nice.. I second that. A nice bass set up.. Very nice..

The right speaker in the right size room with a good near field set up..

Doesn't get much better..

Regards
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 
No one has yet asked how big your room is, where the speakers are situated within the room, and where you sit to listen.  All of these are fundamental to achieving a good illusion of depth.  After that, we move on to room treatment.  There are many threads on both these topics.

If you want an excellent smallish speaker with great balance and great bass extension for its size, look no further than any of Fritz's models.  Talk with him about which model to choose.  Again many threads: just search Fritz.
ebanksms
92 posts
 
I agree with what was said previously about using the LS50s full range.

I use the original LS50s (sexy red ones 😉) in my bedroom system supplemented by a 12" SVS sub, and the sound is awesome.

My biggest complaint is that I spend too much time listening to music instead of sleeping!

Power comes from a Peachtree Nova integrated, fronted by a Marantz receiver that routes everything under 80hz to the SVS sub, leaving the rest to the LS50s. 

It took me a while to get everything dialed in but now the hardware dissapears. Originally I just used the Peachtree integrated but at moderate volumes the LS50s struggled with the full range signal. 

I'm saving up for one of the Parasound 2.1 preamps and a Purifi power amp. This will be partially funded by selling off the Peachtree. 

Mark


 
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