since you seem to be concerned with whether it's a audiophile speaker, perhaps you should listen to a bookshelf speaker of a higher class - e.g. see list >> such as Dynaudio Special 40, JA Prism, Harbeth P3ESR, Totem Signature One, Amphion Argon3S, Buchardt S400, Perlisten R4B, etc. to decide if there is a significant improvement FOR YOU. My guess is that there will be and you will want to explore it further if you can be happy with the LS50s, long term. |
My question as to whether or not these are audiophile speakers was really more from a perspective of fun curiosity. I love music and have all my life, but I’ve never owned ultimately real high end gear. However, over recent years I’ve been working my way in that direction. I have KEF reference 103.2 speakers and many other pairs which I consider to be pretty solid. However, again was just kind of curiosity as to how audiophiles would classify these meta speakers. As I mentioned above, the price I am looking at for a used pair is pretty low. I’m beginning to suspect that the ads may be bait for people to pay online as my attempts to purchase these things directly from the seller via local pick up seem to be ignored, unless the seller has something else going on that’s keeping him/her away from their listing. However when I have sent questions, I can tell that they are “seen” but I am not getting a response.
Want to thank everybody for their input on the speakers, I don’t think my room is too big as I will only be sitting about 6 to 8 feet away so it seems they would work out nicely. Who knows, maybe I’ll ultimately be able to buy them…🙃 Thanks for everyone’s input! |
KEF is one of the largest speaker manufacturers. I'd say it's a brand across inexpensive consumer products to high end audiophile speakers, from 500 to 50K. Strictly speaking a $1500 speaker would fall outside "audiophile". But who really cares about these labels? |
johnnotkathi I really wouldn't care if someone else considers a speaker to be "audiophile", because that is subjective.....and often related to budget. My $3,000 Clayton Shaw Caladans (which are great speakers), would not be considered audiophile by a great many. Before I bought mine, I did a comparison for bookshelf speakers, with: Buchardt Audio S400 MKIIs ($2,400), KEF LS50s ($1,600), Philharmonic BMRs ($2,000), and Ascend Acoustics Sierra 2-EX ($1,700). They are all really good speakers in the $2,000 price range, but in the end I chose the Buchardt S400 MKIIs. The KEF LS50 Meta were great in my office, where I was listening about 5' away. However when I moved them to my main system (about 8' from listening position), they could not compete.....as other have said, I think they are near field speakers. In my room the Buchardts and the BMRs were the cream of the crop, and I could have been happy with either. The BMRs were back ordered about 4 months, and I am impatient, so kept the Buchardts....and have not regretted that decision, but I've often thought about the Philharmonic BMRs. |
@vthokie83 that's a great story. I do think highly of the Buchardts. However, buying new speakers was my biggest mistake. I spent an enormous amount on my speakers and I could have saved 50% if I had bought used. And I could have spent that on another upgrade. Oh well. I still learned a lesson. |
