KEF LS60: Distance from wall behind them

It should not matter since they have DSP to adjust for placement.

I just set the LS50 W2 to wall mode, and it changed something -3 dB, not sure what. The LS50 W2 are 28" from the wall behind them. I imagine I prefer the sound now with that setting, seems a bit less colored

Don't know about LS 60 vs KEF Reference but FWIW always found speakers placed only a few feet from the walls behind them tend to sound flat imaging wise (probably with enhanced bass) whereas a monitor speaker usually had greater clarity and 'depth' of image when placed out about 4 to 5 feet from the wall but with some loss of bass (unless you found a bass node to set them in). That's the reason many folks use subs with small speakers. Try placing the 60's in the same place you have the Reference's and see if it sounds better (to your tastes) than so close to the wall. Its a trade off that I would vote for even if I had to get subs to flesh out the bass.

I have no problem setting the LS60s where the Reference 1s are now.  The Reference 1s are augmented below 80 Hz by a pair of Velodyne HGS 15s with acoustic room correction.  I assume there will be no problem using the subs with the LS60, but might bypass the crossover of the SMS-1 bass manager given the KEF Contact app has bass management.  Im not sure how Contact and the SMS-1 will play together.

How are you liking the ls60s compared to the ref 1s?

Haven't heard e LS60,. just read and seen reviews.  Kal Rubinson's review for Stereophile was the most convincing.  At 87, I'm aiming to simplify with a setup that's easy to use but sounds good.  The KEF Reference1s, driven by the  Ayre KX-5 Twenty preamp and VX-5 Twenty amp, sourced by Ayre QX-5 Twenty Roon-ready DAC and DX-5 DSD disc player is a tough act to follow.  I'll be keeping the Ayre disc player and phono amp.  it's most likely I'll buy a LS60 next month before I sell existing gear.

@dbphd ,

Because they are not rear ported they can go much closer to the wall than your Reference 1’s and like @yyzsantabarbara said, they have DSP, so you can set the sound the way you like. 
 

All the best with your new speakers.

I had a demo of r11 and r3 meta models last weekend and also ls60. The ref 3s were sublime. The r11s pretty close and the Ls 60s held their own amazingly well especially for their size. I was sold. 

@dbphd Bass management and crossovers are two different beasts, and one is definitely not a substitute for the other. The only exception to this is that most AVRs bass management does crossover as well as level and EQ. 

IIRC the Velodyne SMS-1 does both low-pass crossover and bass management. The first is a simple setting of frequency and slope, the second entails acoustic measurement of sound generated in the room. You can let the SMS-1 seek a solution based on the measurements as it adjusts its way along the spectrum or you can tweak the bands if you’re so inclined, and there are lots of things to tweak. Full range analog goes from the Ayre KX-5 Twenty preamp to the SMS-1. I’m assuming analog will go from the pair of LS60s to the SMS-1, but the KEF Contact app may low-pass it. I may be wrong. Of course the SMS-1 sends room corrected analog to the pair of HGS-15s.

You replaced REF 1 with LS60? Why? 
 

I thought the Dynaudio Focus XD 60 was going to be sublime! It was not although super clean sounding. Amazing for vocal intelligibility on tv. Music. Ayyy. Ok ish. 

I haven't replaced the Reference 1s with LS60 yet, but I have a rack of Ayre gear and at 87 aim to simplify.  Kal Rubinson's review in Stereophile suggests they provide excellent sound quite close to Blade 2s.