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How does this make sense, any sense? Any sense at all??

I was just looking at Stereophile's  recommended components, for speakers. 
Within the Class A restricted extreme low frequencies category are:
KEF LS50 at $1500  and
Wilson Sasha at $38,000.
Why would you pay 38 grand when you can get the same category for 1500?  Why I say?

Even worse!!!
In the full range Class B category we have the KEF Ref. 5 at $20,000.
Why would you wanna pay $20,000 for a speaker that is outclassed by the same family (KEF LS50) at a fraction of the price?
How does this make any sense????
Stereophile, seriously.  Let 'er rip homie. 


shtinkydog
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,172 posts
 
The thing to realize is A speaker must do exponentially more work as the frequency drops. Way way way more work must be done to deliver extended flat bass in a larger room. It makes sense then that it will cost way more for a speaker to do a top notch job in a larger room.
It’s really that simple. Most good quality speakers can do an adequate job otherwise, personal preferences aside.
The caveats are keep the room small for best sound on a budget and powered subwoofers are your friends.

The other thing to remember is technology continues to improve allowing smaller speakers to do way more than in the past, similar to how computer technology continues to get faster and better and in smaller packages. So expect to pay a premium for truly the best speaker technology and design in a smaller package. Joseph audio comes to mind there.

The kef ls50 offers a lot of that in a small and affordable package but is still best suited to smaller rooms alone and the amp needed to drive them to their max might cost something of a premium. 

Hopefully, this helps.
b_limo's avatar
b_limo
2,274 posts
 
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=34Em8BkZYnI

The title of this thread reminds me of the Chewbacca Defense 
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 
Stereophile has consistently exaggerated wildly the acoustic properties of the LS50.  This is just one manifestation of a particularly regrettable and much larger trend.
hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,974 posts
 
+1 @br3098 Your post is *the* answer to the OP.
m-db's avatar
m-db
970 posts
 
Stereophile prefaces their Recommended Components with a general explanation. They can only review what has been offered to them for review by a manufacturer. I'm guessing there are products they simply decline to review.

The more often you read reviews you'll gain an understanding of the aspects of a products strengths and weaknesses by the particular reviewers descriptive language. As a business periodicals rarely hard pan a product under review.      
Recommended Components: 2019 Edition Loudspeakers

Loudspeaker Systems

Editor's Note: Class A "Loudspeakers" are sufficiently idiosyncratic and differ enough from one another that prospective customers should read Stereophile's original reviews in their entirety for descriptions of the sounds. I have therefore just listed every system or combination that at least one of Stereophile's reviewers feels, as a result of his or her experience, approaches the current state of the art in loudspeaker design. (Note that, to be eligible for inclusion in Class A, the system must be full-range—ie, feature bass extension to 20Hz. It must also be capable of reaching realistic sound-pressure levels without any feeling of strain.)

For those unconcerned about the last few hertz of low-bass extension, we have created "Classes A, B, and C (Restricted Extreme LF)" for those speakers that are state of the art in every other way. Candidates for inclusion in this class must still reach down to at least 40Hz, below the lowest notes of the four-string double-bass and bass guitar.

In addition, such has been the recent progress in loudspeaker design at a more affordable level that we have an extra class: E, for "Entry Level." Someone once asked us why Stereophile bothers to review inexpensive loudspeakers at all: In effect, aren't we insulting our readership by recommending that they buy inexpensive models? Remember: It's possible to put together a musically satisfying, truly high-end system around any of our Class D and E recommendations. That's why they're listed-and why you should consider buying them.



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