KEF’s LS50 loud-speaker was introduced in 2012 to celebrate the English manufacturer’s 50th anniversary. Usually, anniversary models are large, floor-standing “statement” designs with a price to match, but the LS50 was a mini monitor, priced at $1500/pair. I reviewed the Anniversary Edition LS50 in December 2012,1 writing that it was rare to find a loudspeaker that offers this combination of clarity and neutrality and concluding that within its limits of dynamic range and bass extension, the KEF LS50 “will provide Class A sound for those with small rooms.” Sam Tellig agreed with me, commenting in May 2014 that he found the LS50’s tonality “spot-on, more neutral than sweet. Soundstaging and imaging were top-notch. The definition was superb, ranking with the very best speakers at any price.” Stephen Mejias was equally impressed, concluding in June 2014 that with the regular LS50 in his system, “there’s just so much more to enjoy—more body, more beauty, more control, more music.” (The regular LS50 lacks the words “50th Anniversary Model” below the coaxial Uni-Q driveunit but is otherwise identical.)
I bought a pair of the non-anniversary LS50s after Stephen’s follow-up review, and I compared them with the equally superb-sounding but differently balanced and different-measuring Revel M106 in January 2015.2 Since then, I have used my LS50s as the primary reference for my reviews of stand-mounted loudspeakers.
The Metas painted a transparent window into the recorded soundstage, not just with this recording but with everything I played.
SPECIFICATIONS
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 2021 من Stereophile.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة January 2021 من Stereophile.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Louis in London
No jazz-centric visit to New York City is complete without a trek out to Queens. At 46th Street in Sunnyside stands the apartment building where famed cornetist Leon Bismark \"Bix\" Beiderbecke's alcoholism finally killed him in 1931.
Believing in bricks and mortar
North Carolina hi-fi dealer Audio Advice has been busy lately.
Musical Fidelity AI
In 1989, I bought my second pair of Rogers LS3/5a's from a guy on Staten Island who had them hooked up to a Musical Fidelity AI integrated amplifier.
Burmester 218
As much as I tinkered with a little crystal radio as a child and started reading stereo magazines in high school, it wasn't until my early 30s that I half-stumbled into the higher end of the hi-fi sphere.
Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature
The \"Bowers\" in the name of British manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) refers to founder John Bowers, whom I got to know fairly well before he passed in 1987.
Hegel H400
STREAMING INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER
SVS Ultra Evolution Pinnacle
How many times have you been told by parents and teachers that everything successful must be built on a strong foundation?
RECOMMENDED RC2024 COMPONENTS
Every product listed here has been reviewed in Stereophile. Everything on the list, regardless of rating, is genuinely recommendable.
Paging Dr. Löfgren
It started one evening when I was killing time watching YouTube videos and stumbled across a 2017 talk given by Jonathan Carr, Lyra's brilliant cartridge designer.'
Music among the Fairchildren
Pull down the shades, find a comfortable seat, and come with me on an imaginary journey to the year 1956. The Eisenhower-Nixon ticket wins reelection, the United Methodist Church begins to ordain women, and a can of Campbell's tomato soup costs 10 cents.