new kef ls60s just arrived

The LS60 got me moving to either sell my Livingroom gear and buy the LS60 or stick with my original plan to buy my final speaker.

One result of this was that I was able to try my old KEF LS50 passive with the new KEF KC62 sub. I used a CODA 07x preamp (XLR to sub) and a KRELL Duo 175XD amp. Now I know the LS60 is optimized for driver amplification and also has DSP for placement. However, the sound I was getting in my small room with the LS50 and electronics I have made me think I need to get something much better than the LS60 to really surpass what I have now.

To do this, I need to sell my Thiel CS3.7 speakers and once I do, I will be getting a KEF Blade 2 META. Seems you only need 9" from front wall placement for this speaker. I can do a bit more than that. You can put the LS60 anywhere because of the DSP feature.

I will be using the Benchmark LA4 preamp, AHB2 mono amps, and Musetec 005 DAC, Audience FrontRow speaker cable with SPEAKON, with KEF Blade 2 META. I think this much, much more expensive setup will be way better than the LS60.

There will be an upcoming Stereophile review of the KEF Blade 2 Meta using the AHB2 (and maybe the Topping pre90 preamp).

Darko’s video was good. I will hear them sometime soon.

But yes for me it would be a “sound bar”. Something I could hook up to a TV/Apple TV and have a complete system that the wife and kids could use daily but I could also put music on from time to time. That to me is how these products will be used. Something that looks nice and sounds nice with out a mess of wire/boxes.

I am not a huge Kef fan so they would never be in my main system but as a second system? Sure why not, they are pretty good with no real flaw. Maybe these will change my mind on Kef. The pro options are just a little too ugly for my tastes.

But most of use have a bunch of extra gear. I have 4 pairs of speakers, multiple amps, etc and just build out the living room with the extra gear I have around. My second system is now much better than what I started the hobby with as a main system… my wife is pretty tolerant though. I could put a big pair of JBL horns in the living room and she would not care. Her only request is no gloss black boxes.

its just a poor mans blade. Nothing special.

I think what may be missing in the previous posts is KEF’s integration. I recently replaced Ayre separates, LS50 Metas, and KEF KC62s with LS50W II and the KC62s. The KEF DSP app for the LS50W II integrates the speakers with the subs to achieve a well balanced sound even for large orchestrations. KEF obviously knows a lot about integration. The LS50W II switches seamlessly between Roon and HDMI ARC when the signal input is switched. I use a Cox remote to control TV, including volume, and an iPad for Roon.

I wish yyzsantabarbara lived in Santa Barbara so I could hear the Blade 2 Metas. I use KEF Reference 1s with Ayre 5/20 separates in my main setup. Three Velodyne HGS-15s with acoustic room correction augment below 80 Hz; the Reference 1s are high-passed above 80 Hz.

A poor man’s Blade seems special to me.

db

OMG!!!! Kenjit is BacK! Yayyyyy. Missed you man.