Ls50 wireless II vs separates with passive speakers

LS50 Meta with SHD Power ($1499) is a good choice IMO.

SHD Power has amp, network streaming + Dirac Live.

Also if you decide to active later it has digital AES outputs so you can run Dirac Live with your active speakers.

LS50 Meta + Dirac Live should be better than the LS50 Wireless II since not only will it have superior DSP correction but also target curve can be personally tailored.

@alcoholbob - I was looking at adding the NAD C638 as a streamer/dac/preamp which also has Dirac Live and for $99 the full Dirac system. I think Dirac in a large kitchen is a must. 

I bought a pair of the new LS50W Mk2's a couple of months ago. I wanted to simplify my system and I like the idea that they were going to be "Roon Ready" albeit "Coming Soon." Kef released the speakers in September 2020 and 7 months later they are still promising "Coming Soon." The Kefs have a nice sound for casual listening and are great for TV. I gave up on them as I missed the qualities of my previous Linear Tube Audio separates. I also felt that KEF had baited folks with the "Coming Soon" marketing.

I am back with Linear Tube Audio and Spatial Audio and am very pleased...at great cost :-)

For a kitchen I can recommend KEF LSX's. They are a great value and you can stream to them.

I’ve had quite a nbit of experience with the original ls50 wireless and passives.  I owned ls50w’s and 3 friends bought them based on my recommendations.  I also owned the dynaudio xeo 5..

IfI were you, I’d look for a pair of xeo 4’s for the kitchen.  The cool thing about the xeo’s is that you can add more later and connect them all to the same xeo wireless transmitter.  You could put another pair of xeo’s in the bedroom for instance.  You could also use 1 xeo in mono in a hallway for instance.  Its a good way to get great sound throughout your home that sounds better than sonos.

The xeos with a bluesound node connected to the xeo hub would make for a pretty awesome setup.

Something about the xeo’s felt more reliable than the finicky kefs (version 1).

@varchard you may also consider the Devialet Phantom series of speakers. They provide very good sound quality as a single all-in-one solution, look good too, and are water resistant / okay to touch. The smaller Phantom II units take up very little space.