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KEF LS50 Need Help

I have been auditioning the KEF LS50 for a week now. Very nice speaker overall and clearly understand why it is so well reviewed. The speaker sounded very poor out of the box and loosened up after about 2 hours and finally started to sing. I have 25+ hours on them now (of course KEF says 100-200 needed????).

The bottom line for me is that they do not have enough bottom end for my taste, and the vocals an high pitch violin, etc. can seem too loud and a bit harsh at times. My gut feeling is the speakers will not change much more from now? This is a reference type speaker in my opinion. I guess there is always a thin line between perfect detail and rich soulful sound. I am looking for both (like most people) with a slant towards the rich and soulful side for me. I am upgrading my dedicated listening system from Klipsch KG4. (not a bad speaker by the way, different league of course)

I am considering two options going forward. ($3,000 budget max and prefer closer to $2,000) I kinda knew I would need a sub when I decided to try the LS50.

1.Try a sub (and soon) before my return window expires. SVS SB it most probable to due generous demo policy. The KEF R400 would be nice to try but cost more than the speakers?? I would consider it if gave me the results I want.

2.Return LS50 and find a suitable floor standing that will not need a sub, like Salk Song Tower ($160 shipping each way- bummer), or possibly KEF R line, or other??

I guess I am hoping for some input from those with similar experiences and the choices you ended up making.

My set-up
McIntosh MC 2150 solid state
Parasound Halo P5 pre-amp
Airport express via Toslink to Preamp DAC
Rotel CD player via digital coax to Preamp DAC

I currently use Tributary A1 Silver RCA cables and Tributary 12AWG Speaker wires. Blue jeans digital cables 14 x 19 room carpeted 75% or the area
torxx
tom6897's avatar
tom6897
1,484 posts
 
I have the LS50's in a second system and do not share your exp.

I am driving mine with a Naim XS -2 and Tara labs cables. 12x18x8 feet
room. Carpet, sofa, leather chair, 24" custom stands, PS Audio P
cond. and AC-10 power cord.

I suggest you let them run full on over the weekend with some dynamic
music at 85db+.

You may need to tweak your set-up?...

P.s I am not a fan of cables with silver in them. I feel they harden the sound
and take neutrality and warmth away from the music. Feel free to disagree.
My systems are considered to be just on the warm side of neutral without
sacrificing speed, dynamics, transparency and timbre.
wolf_garcia
6,742 posts
 
Get a good sub...you only need one and a well designed sub can (and should) audibly disappear. They don't have to be expensive (I bought a used REL and it's astonishing), and they can make main speakers seem to open up big time.
audioconnection
1,271 posts
 
In your 14 x 19 room in order to experience rich soulful emotion in music you need to have an even in room bass response.
While minis and subs might be a good lifestyle choice there is no substitute for a well designed full range to support your music .
Most all of today's speakers are designed similar to what you have in a box add a woofer or two and you get the point. The highest performance loudspeaker designs today are sophisticated multi enclosures with drivers placed in their own ideal structure. I would make sure you don't miss an audition with the latest Vandersteen Sig II
Its well written manual offers a support system that makes set up easy
It blows my mind what you get by comparison and Made in USA to boot
JohnnyR Vandersteen dealer for 20 years plus
yyzsantabarbara
5,010 posts
 
The sound does improve a lot around 200 hours. However, these are small monitors and you are not going to get huge bass out of them. I use them on my home office on a desk for near-field listening and it is incredibly good for that purpose. If I had these speakers in a bigger room I would be disappointed. I like the LS50 so much that I am thinking of getting the KEF Blade for my main rig in the future.
wolf_garcia
6,742 posts
 
Yes there IS a substitute to a "well designed full range speaker"...adding well designed sub to your KEFs! After all, a "full range" speaker is a speaker with a built in sub of some sort, powered or otherwise. An advantage I've found with my REL is that I can turn it up or down easily to instantly compensate for bass heavy or bass light music. A good thing since I don't use room correction gizmos and my preamp has no tone controls. A main speaker that cleanly goes down to 25hz would be too big and expensive for my listening space and I really like the sound of small baffle speakers anyway (Silverline Preludes currently). If you run a sub being careful of its level and have it take over right around the low frequency cutoff point of the mains, it can be a seamless musical addition that that you will never want to do without.
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