KEF LS50 Meta (Pair, Mineral White)

I see a lot of reviews here saying they sound bad. It's simply not true, because then I see what they are running, and its a very low tier amp. Your "200" watt Emotiva BasX or similar class amp simply does not have the torque that these speakers need. I know, I own several Emotiva amps. I'm an audiophile, and have lots of gear, it's the hobby. I'm running these off comparably priced equipment, all of my gear is in the price wheelhouse of the Ls50. My amps are Orchard Audio class D GaN monoblocks with GaN power supplies. I run a Gustard X26 Pro dac, dual mono dacs, dual mono power supplies, excellent clocks. This speaker goes down to 3 ohms. Your cheap amp is likely begging for mercy at this impedance regardless of "200 watts". You need high quality. Give these high quality components and this speaker is AMAZING. I have 7 sets of speakers. All different types, Magnepans, CSS Audio, bunch of stuff. These speakers are worth every penny! But bear in mind their performance sits right where the price range is. These are not $10000 speakers for 1600. You get what you pay for. That said, in the 2K range, they are probablyunbeatable, for overall performance. Another caveat though is I have a pair of subs, near field, 3 feet off the ground, perfectly tuned with these speakers. You need a setup like this for perfect full range sound. If you're an audiophile, I recommend starting with these, make sure you have nice, NICE components to back them up, and a pair of subs when you can do it. I'm running 2 RSL Speedwoofer 10s. If you just buy these, you don't own subs, and your equipment is like $200 dac, no preamp, $500 amp, low level stuff, you're going to wonder what all the fuss is about and return them. Do them right, you may never shop for speakers ever again.

After considerable research, I got a pair of these speakers. They are superb - best of quality for their price range. Excellent sound quality! And, they are hugely attractive!

These are not party speakers, these are speakers for enjoying in small rooms at moderate levels. If you understand that, you will probably like them. It's obvious by the design, a 4" woofer with a concentric tweeter, that they are not meant to move a ton of air. Distortion rises quickly when you crank the volume. You can mitigate this somewhat by integrating subwoofers, but it's still a limitation. With that in mind, you don't need a huge amp or a subwoofer to enjoy the LS50 Meta. With basic components and at reasonable levels you will get neutral tonality, low distortion, wide dispersion, large soundstage, and clear imaging. Hard to beat, just don't expect to drive them with a 40wpc amp. If you want sub-bass extension, they will benefit from integrating a subwoofer. Just like every other bookshelf speaker. Now look at the waveguide. It's a work of art.

Really wanted to love these KEFs. They are definitely Not bad at all! sound is clear and lush but a tad too warm, robbing a bit of clarity and transient attack. My old ELAC UNI-FI sound a bit more natural with piano notes on classical uncompressed music and being so natural they are extremely close in resolution to the KEFs. KEFs sounded a tiny bit better with orchestral music (more resolving) and more inviting with jazz piano trios or folk singers. but difference is so little, i went back to the natural presentation of the ELACs. KEFs do have a bit more resolution retrieval capabilities, but the warmness steals part of its resolution capabilities. KEFs are also (surprising) more picky about placing and sweet post is narrower than the ELACs. For a fraction of the cost of the KEFs, those ELACs are still a home run in my book. Both sets of speakers (as well as other pairs including Revel M16, Triangle BR03, Elac Carinas, JBL 4309) were all powered by a Marantz Model 30 (100W into 8ohms, 200W into 4ohms). With that huge amount of power, the ELAC unifis can really sing. with less capable amplification the KEFs might have been better than the ELACs. By the way, I also like the ELAC unifis a tad more than the Carinas or the JBLs.

KEF LS50 Meta deliver exceptional clarity and precision. Paired with the UniFi amplifier, they excel with classical and spoken audio—sharp highs from the aluminum Uni-Q driver outperform soft-cone systems. Compact yet acoustically potent, they expose detail rather than compensate for weak sources. Passive design demands quality amplification. High-fidelity bookshelf speakers that elevate any properly built system.

These image as good as any speaker i have owned, but i find that the enjoyment of imaging wears off, sort of like imaging is listening to equipment rather than music. Ultimately i find my older (made in England) speakers more musically engaging and emotionally satisfying, though perhaps less “neutral”. Also, I could not get these to blend with my subwoofers. They are a little thin sounding on their own, but this might contribute to their superior imaging. Adding the subwoofers (including weeks of positional and crossover adjustments) always detracted from what the LS50s do well. Perhaps it would be different w a KEF subwoofer.

I finally found some speakers that sound fabulous at around 70 db. No need to blast these, they deliver the goods on clarity, detail, and imaging at comfortable volume levels. However, they don't sound good at low volumes. I have never had speakers that exhibited zero cabinet resonance like these. I wouldn't use these in a large room, but for smaller rooms they are incredible. These speakers deliver quick, powerful dynamics while listening to challenging classical music. The only downsides are they can't project a big sound wave into large room, and although the bass they deliver is super high quality, it isn't very deep.

I am still trying to figure out why Amazon asks for ratings of "Sheerness" and "Thickness". ??? / Anyway, I read and watched reviews of these speakers before diving in, and then ended building my AV system around them. They are not my first KEF's, so I knew that KEF brings precision and quality-of-build. I am getting older and have less time to try out "poser" speaker that may look glorious but do not have the physics and acoustics behind them to possibly sound exceptional. At some point, I became interested exclusively in either full range electrostatic or ribbon speakers, or something with phenomenal time-alignment such as a point source. These co-axial driver mini's are that second category. I played them at first full range and they were great and also surprising in the base. Then I decided on more realism and less stress on their drivers by throwing a Velodyne 1.2 killowatt, powered subwoofer in the mix. My center channel is produced by a 3-driver Martin Logan speaker with a ribbon tweeter and it is fantastic as well. I have moved my full-range electrostatics to the backish, sides of the room for surround sound. (They are Acoustat 1+1's with the Medallion transformers.) I had to kill sound reflections off our oak floors with a very fluffy rug, a rug pad, and various furniture. This is even more important with these KEF's on their native, metal, sand-filled stands which are kind of short and close to the floor. The soundstage is fully 3D at this point, and I never knew that there was so much difference in source material. I am very happy with these speakers and they also look fantastic with their designer colors. I chose the off-white, and eventually bought a TV stand to match the KEF's and their bolted-on stands. These speakers are the cat's pajamas! ;-)

En remplacement de mes Tannoy dont un haut-parleur avait lâché (les teufs des ados, c'est pas toujours une bonne idée pour les enceintes Hi-fi). Très belle présentation so on aime le style. Très qualitatif. Le son est très clair, très transparent, avec une scène précise. Grande qualité de son pour des enceintes de taille modeste. Prévoir des pieds pour les dégager des murs (je ne les mettrais pas dans une bibliothèque). Rendement faible, il faut de la puissance pour les faire chanter. J'en suis au début de mes écoutes, mais je passe beaucoup de temps à les écouter, CD, streaming de qualité, etc. avec beaucoup de plaisir. À associer avec un caisson de basses, où se trouve leur faiblesse, pardonnable au vu de leur taille. Bref, très content de mon choix. Seule réserve, un rendu très brillant des aigus, mais je pense que c'est dû au fait que mes anciennes enceintes étaient moins performantes dans ces fréquences et que je dois m'habituer à cette plus grand fidélité à ce spectre. J'organise des concerts chez moi, et si je compare avec les instruments entendus en live, finalement, on a le même phénomène. Je me demande si un ampli plus "rond" ne leur conviendrait pas un peu mieux (j'ai un Yamaha).

Bought these to replace a pair of LS 50s based on the glowing reviewed of the Meta. They were not wrong, the sound is deeper, fuller, and more dimensional. They are the perfect speakers at this price point.

Uniq driver sayesinde yatay kullanıma da uygun, fotoğraflardaki gibi, güçlü bir amp kullanılması performansını ortaya koyuyor, ses karakteri muhteşem, tüm frekanslar dengeli, ne tizler sizi yoruyor ne de baslar arka planda kayboluyor, enstrümanları net duyabiliyorsunuz. Kesinlikle tavsiye ederim, indirimde fırsatı değerlendirdim yoksa daha düşük bütçeli Dynaudio Emit 20 tercih edecektim ama aklım da bunda kalacaktı, Amazon sağolsun, ne varsa Amazon’da..!

Ich habe die Lautsprecher seit zwei Jahren und bin nach wie vor absolut zufrieden. Der Klang ist klar, kraftvoll und ausgewogen, die Verarbeitung hochwertig und das Design zeitlos. Egal welche Musikrichtung – sie liefern immer wieder ein beeindruckendes Hörerlebnis. Langfristige Freude an erstklassigem Sound und elegantem Design – 5 Sterne

Ik ben uiterst tevreden van deze speakers. Heb vele reviews en vergelijkingen gekeken/gelezen, en ben ontzettend blij dat ik voor KEF gekozen heb. De service was alsook super.Na bestelling meteen een mail gekregen van de verkoper om een mogelijk misverstand te vermijden met de kleur.En meteen nadien om te bevestigen dat mijn pakket verstuurd was. Echte aanrader.