![]() Or to put it differently, the crossover region-i.e., the midrange between roughly 1 to 4 kHz-sounded so clean and natural to me that I almost didn’t know what to think of this speaker. The LS50 is the first speaker I’ve reviewed where I couldn’t hear the crossover. The common problems of a poorly implemented crossover-narrowing dispersion in the midwoofer, “cupped hands” coloration, and tweeter distortion-drive me nuts. I can’t help but focusing on the crossover when I listen to a speaker. In all that time, I’ve found that for me, the most important element of speaker design is the crossover between the midrange (or midrange/woofer) driver and the tweeter. I’ve been reviewing speakers since 1991, and measuring them since 1997. A little experimentation told me that the LS50 is not at all fussy about positioning I ended up toeing the speakers in to point straight at my head, but they didn’t sound all that different when I pointed them straight out. I placed the pair of speakers atop my kitty-litter-filled Target stands, powered them with a Krell S-300i integrated amp, and used my Pro-Ject RM-1.3 turntable and Firestone Audio I?TW USB DAC as sources. ![]() (Weirdly, the inside of the port is made from soft, pliable material instead of hard plastic.)Īfter hearing the LS50 do its thing at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, I couldn’t wait to give it a spin in my own listening room. The oval port is shaped to minimize turbulence and prevent nasty “chuffing” sounds as the air moves in and out. The coaxial driver assembly, heavily influenced by the Blade’s drivers, puts the tweeter inside the woofer so all frequencies of sound emerge from the same source, and the drivers can’t interfere with each other. The curved front baffle not only looks cool, it also minimizes reflection of sounds (or diffraction) from the front of the speaker. Its ultra-rigid, dense, heavily braced, compact enclosure is designed so it doesn’t mar your music with extraneous vibration or resonance. The LS50 certainly seems to have the goods. That phrase, twisted to near meaninglessness by cynical marketers, is supposed to refer to a product against which others can be judged. It’s a throwback to the LS3/5a, a beloved, BBC-designed minimonitor for which KEF made the drivers.Īt $1,499/pair, the LS50 isn’t cheap, but KEF designed it as a true reference-grade speaker. It’s the first affordable application of the technology developed for the $29,999/pair Blade. It’s a celebration of the company’s 50 th anniversary. KEF made the LS50 minispeaker for lots of reasons.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |