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KEF LS50 Speaker Stands

Just bought a pair of KEF LS50s and was wondering what height speaker stands I should get. The standard approach is to get the driver at ear height. I tried several chairs that I might use and they put my ears at 43 inches from the floor. Since the LS50 driver is in the center of the front baffle that makes it about 6 inches from the bottom of the speaker. In that case I would need to buy 36 inch high speaker stands. There are very few quality speaker stands that high and the speaker stands that KEF sells specifically for the LS50 are only 24 inches high. Am I missing something? At 24 inches that would put the driver at 30 inches from the floor. You would have to be practically sitting on the floor to get your ears at 30 inches. My question is do I follow the standard rule and get 36 inch speaker stands or follow KEF and get 24 inch stands.
neo2199

Showing 2 responses by turnbowm

turnbowm
353 posts
 
"good to know that ls50 is an exception to the usual rule for how to set standmounts at the right height for best performance..."

The LS50 is NO exception to the standard rule of making sure that the tweeters are at ear level. As I indicated, buying a new listening chair might be a preferred option.
turnbowm
353 posts
 
The tonal balance of the LS50s is affected by the height of the stands. Going higher than Kef’s recommended stand height of 24" (max.) will reduce the amount of bass due to less boundary (floor) reinforcement. I experimented with speaker height and found the most satisfying bass at 21" but the lower image height was an issue so I went with 24" (including spikes).

Buy a new listening chair if needed to get tweeters at ear level.
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