KEF LS50 wireless

The Wireless LS50 uses a class D amp for woofer and a separate class AB amp for tweeter. Neat! I wonder if the class D amp is a direct digital implementation (like in the similar but more expensive Dynaudio wireless speakers) or a conventional analog class D amp? A direct digital amp would be really cool because the conversion to analog is at the last possible place--the amp voltage rails connecting to the speaker driver inputs. The only thing that would be more "direct" would be a speaker driver whose mechanical action somehow converts digital to analog. Now THAT would be something!

 

If it was a direct digital implementation, they would have to have an ADC in there, too, since it has analog inputs.

 

They do have an ADC.

The crossover is digital (24/192). So is the room and timing correction.

 

Ah, true.

I don't like how much longer they are now, it looks bizarre. Maybe it's because I'm so used to seeing them in their normal form factor. I'm definitely curious to hear them, though.

 

And it's really nice that we can bypass that ADC with digital inputs. As for timing correction, I'd be really amazed if they have opted for phase linear filtering.

 

KEF hail from Maidstone, Kent - England and make speakers. Chord hail from Maidstone, Kent - England and make amps and FPGA DACs. The LS50 Wireless has a Chord CAT shielded cable connecting the two speakers..... I wonder who designed and produced the amps and DACs for the LS50 Wireless speakers?

 

Oh god, if I see a single glowing jelly bean on a pair of LS50s I'm going to be out so fast.

 

These are up for preorder now, $2100.

 

Ooh! Early Christmas!

 

$2200, I somehow dropped the price 100 between seeing the price then coming to post, lol

 

Still $299 better than I was expecting ...

 

Anyone has bought or heard this speakers yet?

 

Still lurking.

I like the idea of a all-in-one setup, from transport to transducers, as long as the whole chain is done properly.

I'm gonna wait for user impressions and reviews before I drop that amount, though.

 

KEF LSX out. Looks like a smaller, lower powered LS50 at half the price.

https://gearpatrol.com/2018/11/01/kef-lsx-speaker-system/

 

Definitely a cool desktop setup. Obvious comparisons are from the pro world, Genlecs, JBL et al.

 

Sucks that it doesn’t have USB DAC input...
It would have been perfect, then.

 

I ended up getting a pair because my friend was working at Visions Electronics and got it way below MSRP(1500-1800CAD). They are my first pair of speakers so I can not comment on how good they are but I enjoy the flexibility with the DSP and being able to switch between Bluetooth, pc, and optical. Other than that the only thing I can mention not related to SQ is that the app and set up can be very finicky, I have had the app crash several times and the initial set up(pairing and wifi connection) took about an hour.

 

Did you just say you got a pair for $1500? That's such a good deal...

This ain't worth $1100. It looks like it should cost $500 at most.

 

hahahaha yeah and the iloud micro and JBL 305. The bluetooth LS50 is somehow even worse than the passive LS50 as it tries to go even lower by boosting the low end with DSP. KH120, A7X, HEDD 07 type stuff manhandle these and can actually be used on axis without getting stabbed by crunchy KEF treble

"KEF are big Porta Pros." - @HitmanFluffy