KEF LS50 Meta

Having heard both now in totally different setups I can say I do think the claims of the new meta’s sounding clearly different from old are likely true but still hard to say. 

Neither is a slouch by any means. 

I started a separate thread that I will post to with my observations regarding the two once the metas arrive. That will be more apples and apples. Stay tuned.

@mapman  If you are going to have both versions in the same room can you test out the following claim.

the LS50 Meta can also be operated close to a wall or in the corner of a room. We literally moved the compact loudspeakers and stands in front of the wall and one after the other used the supplied inserts to reduce and close the bass reflex opening. They effectively compensate for the bass emphasis caused by the setup.

This would a big deal for people with small rooms.

I will try that. I’ve tried my originals both close to wall and a good ways out, not quite near field. They work pretty well either way but soundstage and imaging is better further out as it typically is with most modern speakers.

I do use a sub so that factors in a great deal with the bass. Alone the old ls50 bass tends to benefit from wall reinforcement like most smaller speakers. 

I've been listening to pair of LS50 Meta's the past few days. I am very impressed with these speakers. Are they the most accurate, detailed, or full range speakers? Nope. Are they extremely engaging and fun to listen to? YES! There is an energy in the upper frequencies that is very "live" sounding that the originals lacked. They weren't bad, but these are at another level. They have amazing imaging, which I think is KEF's calling card, and these don't dissapoint. Great depth and space. I'm using a pair of REL T5i's for bass and I haven't turned them off to listen to LS50's on their own, but I'm getting a large dynamic sound that is close to whatever floor standers I've had in my room. The first evening I listened to these I did hear a flattening or slight smearing in the upper midrange, but haven't heard it as much since so maybe some break-in helped.The rest of my system is:

Odyssey Kismet amp
Don Sachs latest preamp
PS Audio DS Jr. DAC
REL T5i subs

This weekend I'm going to bring my other my Clearwave Duet 6 monitors back out and compare. The Duet's use Accuton ceramic drivers and high end crossover components and retail for double the cost of the LS50m's. I think they are certainly more accurate and detailed, but right now I couldn't say they are more fun to listen to. We'll see...