KEF ls50 meta’s are on the way

The Metas are reviewed in this months Stereophile. The measurements look very good and JA liked them better than the originals. The one thing I didn't see in the measurements were the off axis response results. On-axis was very flat from 300 Hertz and up, and the speaker had exceptionally clean spectral decay. I would love to hear them some time.

Regarding off-axis response the KEF blurb says they disperse evenly throughout the room and indeed that is what they seem to do.    The tonality holds up well even where I sit at my desk in between and somewhat to the their rear.  That is no easy trick and very impressive.  I'm a bit surprised it has not been talked about more.    Audiokinesis would be very impressed with that I suspect!  They say it's a combo result  of the new waveguide and curved baffle. Seems like they nailed it pretty well this time around.

I’m at my desk again in between the speakers as seen in the pic link above.

Sounds like a very good pair of headphones but more spacious from there :-). Dispersion!

Hope to get some more listening time in from the sweet spot on couch near rear wall (not in the pic) very soon and will report on that.

So far, I might question some of the more extended bass claims I have read on the new metas elsewhere but otherwise no surprises given what I read prior to buying. They live up to the published claims extremely well to-date. These are very good small monitors within their limits. Somewhat better than the originals perhaps in ways only a real hardcore audiophile would care about. Adding a powered sub (Klipsch sw308 located near rear wall in my case) removes those limits at least for my smaller 12X12 room just like before. I think even most audiophiles would have trouble pointing out faults. Lots of detail, nothing harsh, very smooth, big soundstage, and excellent imaging and dispersion.

System summary:

Logitech Squeezebox Touch -> Audioquest optical TOSLINK ->mhdt Constantine DAC-> DNM Reson IC->Audio Research sp16 pre-amp -> DNM Reson IC -> Bel Canto ref1000m Class D monoblocks -> Niles speaker switch -> Audioquest cv-6 speaker cables -> KEF ls 50 meta speakers (titanium grey). 

Supplemented by same Audio Research sp16 pre-amp -> Audioquest ICs -> Klipsch sw308 subwoofer.

@mapman 

From a visual point of view, in person do you like the light grey or black color best?  Thanks

Having seen both colors, the titanium grey looks really nice in person (and I generally prefer black or wood tones when it comes to speakers).