KEF LS50 Speakers - Pair - $998

There is an absolute shit ton of these on the used market. Many people get floored when listening to these in the showroom because of their detail, but don't have enough quality warm amplification to tone down the harshness. Hard to pair with electronics.

That said, yes, this is easily the best price you'll ever see for these puppies.

wish the LSX goes on sale too

These have been on sale a lot for this price, I even bought the all black versions for the same price at one point

Eventuall sold, and bought the ls50 Wireless, as the interpreted and matched Dac and Amp sound incredible

paul29m wrote: ↑There is an absolute shit ton of these on the used market. Many people get floored when listening to these in the showroom because of their detail, but don't have enough quality warm amplification to tone down the harshness. Hard to pair with electronics.

That said, yes, this is easily the best price you'll ever see for these puppies.

Makes sense, although I think you are referring to preamps and DACs since solid state amplification alone generally does not colour sound. I've also heard that they need 200 hours break in time according to KEF, so maybe people don't wait for them to calm down. I only have 15 days to decide whether to keep them.

U4LIFE wrote: ↑ These have been on sale a lot for this price, I even bought the all black versions for the same price at one point

Eventuall sold, and bought the ls50 Wireless, as the interpreted and matched Dac and Amp sound incredible

I've heard the wireless are way better even, but of course the price is high. What is the best price the wireless have ever been at?

U4LIFE wrote: ↑ ]

I've heard the wireless are way better even, but of course the price is high. What is the best price the wireless have ever been at?

I heard the KEF50W when I was in a mall in Kuwait City. Incredible. I also would love to find them at less than the $3000 price I always see them.

baldclub wrote: ↑ I heard the KEF50W when I was in a mall in Kuwait City. Incredible. I also would love to find them at less than the $3000 price I always see them.

visions-electronics-kef-ls50w-1999-2288184/#p30984767

warpdrive wrote: ↑ visions-electronics-kef-ls50w-1999-2288184/#p30984767

I want to buy a pair today if I can get the LS50W at that price...

What's the likelihood of being able to get a deal from Visions in person today?

chatbox wrote: ↑ I want to buy a pair today if I can get the LS50W at that price...

What's the likelihood of being able to get a deal from Visions in person today?

Might want to contact the OP in that thread and see if he has a contact.

I’m op from that thread, markups are stupid high in the LS50w, just go to 2001 audio or visions and show them the price, they should match it.


Also unrelated but there a pair of LSX for $1042 on amazon warehouse deals https://www.amazon.ca/gp/offer-listing/B07JDX5Q15

I got these speakers a few months ago for the same price. It seems like they have been on sale for a few months now and $998 is the new regular price. They sound really good, the mid and high range is where this excel at. They don't have much bass so you need to pair it with a subwoofer if you listen to anything bass heavy. The speakers are pretty sensitive so you need a decent amplifier for them. I have a 60 watt class a/b amp, and feel like that is barely enough . I Personally would go for the wireless version if you can get it on sale, I've seen them for as low as $2,400. The wireless version comes with with a built in class a/b amp in each speaker rated for 200 watts.

Overall I prefer the R300 a lot more than the LS50w. The R300 do not really require a sub for a 3 way bookshelf. A little warmer/darker sounding. The LS50W isn't so far off from the R100.

Perfect timing OP was searching for some studio monitors. I'm no audiophile but I'm always looking for high quality things for a decent price.

How would these compare to a JBL Control 29AV-1?? My gym uses these but they are expensive from BestBuy..

I'm looking to fill out a fitness studio that's 2000 sq feet... (For a friend).

Would these KEF speakers be appropriate and fill out that space?

Also looking to get the full system.....pre amp, dacs, receiver, the full shebang.

I need a sensei to teach this audionoob...

TIA

Edit:. Looking at getting 2-5 speakers to fill out a rectangular room But want the gurus advice as to what the best set up might be for something like that. Hanging from 20 foot ceilings.

MisterMister wrote: ↑ How would these compare to a JBL Control 29AV-1?? My gym uses these but they are expensive from BestBuy..

These KEF are passive speakers, meaning you need to have an amplifier. They are also home use speakers, so wrong type of speaker for fitness studio.

If anyone is looking for a pair of these in Titanium color and lives in Montreal. I saw an open box pair at Centre Hifi on Jean-Talon. I asked to see them, they were in perfect shape as far as i could tell. They were asking $698.
Maybe could be negotiated even further.
That was last Friday so not certain it’s still available. Better call first.

Store location
6925 Rue Jean-Talon E
Montréal QC H1S 1N2
Canada

I would agree. I tried LS50 with my old amp, and they sounded just terrible. No bass, instant fatigue. You have to find the "right" amp to tame these beasts.

I opted for the LS50W. They cost $1000 more, but way cheaper than upgrading amp, pre-amp, dac etc, plus you get wireless functions thrown in. It's a steal. The LS50W has built-in (obviously custom dsp tweaked to the kef uni-q drivers) 200w for mid/woofer, 30w for tweeter. No need to guess around with matching equipment. Compact, simple design - no amp/pre-amp/dac boxes lying around.

One word of caution. When I got the LS50W's home, they sounded worse than the LS50! I ran both together for comparison. I almost gave up.

Even though I never quite believed in breaking in speakers, I decided to just give it some time. The LS50W's blossomed over two weeks. Best $2000 I ever spent on audio equipment.

Yes, you can negotiate them down to $2000.

paul29m wrote: ↑ There is an absolute shit ton of these on the used market. Many people get floored when listening to these in the showroom because of their detail, but don't have enough quality warm amplification to tone down the harshness. Hard to pair with electronics.

That said, yes, this is easily the best price you'll ever see for these puppies.

The speaker "suspension" does need to breakin' . The sound will flow vs brand new tight speakers. My R300 sounded barely acceptable but after time the muddy vocals transformed. This is definitely not a matter of "training" my ears. I was really unhappy with the R300 but the vocals had this congested sound. Once the suspension loosened up the speakers are very good for the price point.

The amplified LS50 cannot be tweaked. On board dac handles the digital files. Having passive LS50 at least you can change amplification and change the sound by using different dacs.

Yes, I agree with your break-in experience. The LS50W out of the box sounded totally confused, harsh, unfocused..., much worse than the broken-in LS50, and definitely not up to KEF imaging standard one would expect. But they slowly came into being over about 2 weeks - coherent, sweet, pin point imaging. And boy, they can go LOUD! I'm perfectly happy with the sound FOR THE AMOUNT I paid.

Which brings me to your second point about the R300. I don't want to hijack this LS50 thread into a comparison between R300 and LS50, but as someone who had played with both LS50 and LS50W, side by side, I just wanted to share my experience with the active versus passive LS50 speakers. I'm sure the R300 sounds great, and your point about the ls50w "built-in DAC cannot be replaced" is also true.

But a built-in DAC inside active speakers is a double edged sword. It offers KEF a chance to incorporate a built-in DSP to tweak the LS50 Uni-Q drivers (mid/woofer and tweeter individually) to the engineers' ears. And I think that's what makes the LS50W sound so different (better to me) from the passive version. BTW, the DSP is user customizable for easy speaker placement, and adjustable gain and crossover frequency for a sub.

The main points I want to drive home to anyone considering the LS50 speaker lineup is this....

For the price difference between the passive and active speakers, ask yourself - can you buy a correctly matched 230w amp, pre-amp, dac, dsp, and wireless functions (not the best, I don't use it)?

If money is no object, and you like to experiment with a whole bunch of external boxes, then go with passive speakers like the R300 (R3 is current version), or for that matter, the KEF Reference One (for $10k, I was blown away by those, both sound and price tag

In addition to price, do you prefer an audio system that's minimalist (just speakers) or maximalist (speakers plus a shelf full of boxes)?

notslow65 wrote: ↑ The speaker "suspension" does need to breakin' . The sound will flow vs brand new tight speakers. My R300 sounded barely acceptable but after time the muddy vocals transformed. This is definitely not a matter of "training" my ears. I was really unhappy with the R300 but the vocals had this congested sound. Once the suspension loosened up the speakers are very good for the price point.

The amplified LS50 cannot be tweaked. On board dac handles the digital files. Having passive LS50 at least you can change amplification and change the sound by using different dacs.

Great deal on some good speakers if you know what your buying.