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KEF LS50 Speaker Stands

Just bought a pair of KEF LS50s and was wondering what height speaker stands I should get. The standard approach is to get the driver at ear height. I tried several chairs that I might use and they put my ears at 43 inches from the floor. Since the LS50 driver is in the center of the front baffle that makes it about 6 inches from the bottom of the speaker. In that case I would need to buy 36 inch high speaker stands. There are very few quality speaker stands that high and the speaker stands that KEF sells specifically for the LS50 are only 24 inches high. Am I missing something? At 24 inches that would put the driver at 30 inches from the floor. You would have to be practically sitting on the floor to get your ears at 30 inches. My question is do I follow the standard rule and get 36 inch speaker stands or follow KEF and get 24 inch stands.
neo2199
avanti1960
1,509 posts
 

RTFM (READ THE FINE MANUAL)  ! 

24" max height for bass floor reinforcement AND keeping the tweeters BELOW ear level to smooth the treble response.  

The treble response rises on axis and therefore should be slightly below ear height as they are designed. 

So many people F Up on this and wonder why they don't sound very good.  

Also pay attention to the port plug options as listed in the manual- one, two or no plugs depending on distance to the back wall.  

 

avanti1960
1,509 posts
 

KEF response is wrong.  Has nothing to do with international seating height.  It has to do with too much treble on axis at ear height.  

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,478 posts
 

I listen to my ls50 metas  at tweeter level using 36” stands.  I’m pretty tall.  Read the setup instructions on the manual. It’s not intended that you aim the tweeters directly at you.  Metas have better horizontal dispersion than originals.  You have to just experiment and see what you think sounds best.  Like any speaker setup.  
 

Then I have my original ls50s on very low Isoacoustics stands just a few inches off the floor.   That sounds good as well but different.  High end more rolled off.  YMMV.  

ddd1
261 posts
 

Drivers optimally a little below ear height is what I read.  I used 28" stands from Skylan.

zlone
765 posts
 

My LS50’s sound best at ear level. Anything else and the whole soundstage is shifted up or down. However, I have found they also sound best to me with only a slight toe-in, i.e. not pointed directly at the listener. 

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