new kef ls60s just arrived

I had listened to both LS60 and the Pearl.

Both of them are priced the same and very capable performers. LS60 is more refined and sounds very smooth. A bit too smooth I think because instruments sounded kind of artificial, probably because of overly enthusiastic up-sampling. 

The Pearl is livelier and more detailed, but the high might be a tad sharp to some. 

But at their price point, I struggle to think of a passive setup that is as good. For the non-audiophiles or audiophiles with fuzzy wives/gfs, they are very attractive propositions. 

Surprised Darko did not mention Pearl Sub, a just add speakers sub, in his video. 

In retrospect I see no reason not to put my Ayre DX-5 DSD, QX-5/20, and KX/5/20 in a 21" Salamander rack, with the VX-5/20 of the floor below the TV between Blade 2 Metas.  Not quite as neat as the LS60W, but not far off.

db

We’re in Montecito, on the other side of Santa Barbara from you, probably around 15 - 20 minutes from UCSB. I look forward to hearing your setup. I have to keep an eye on the prospect of moving to a retirement community in town, with likely downsizing. Still, I could envision using my Ayre QX-5 Roon endpoint and an Ayre integrated with a pair of Blade 2 Metas.

db

@dbphd They kicked me out of Santa Barbara and now I am in Goleta next door to UCSB. Once I sell my Thiel’s I am going speaker less until this Poor Man raises the cash for the Blades. Been saying that for a decade now but this time I have all the gear in place along with a decent room. I am sharing this room with my son’s playroom (again Poor Man blues).

I will get you over for a listen. My room is not amazing but in the past week I have had my CS3.7’s in this room and I now know the Blade will work there. Tons of space in each side of the speaker before I hit a wall. the ceiling is 25 feet high.

It may take a bit of time because I fit Kenjii’s profile of a Poor Man

BTW - I will get you to listen to my RAAL SR1a + VM-1a. I expect the Blades will be a bit better. The SR1a + VM-1a is better than my Thiel’s. Another reason the Thiel's are going.

OMG!!!! Kenjit is BacK! Yayyyyy. Missed you man.

I think what may be missing in the previous posts is KEF’s integration. I recently replaced Ayre separates, LS50 Metas, and KEF KC62s with LS50W II and the KC62s. The KEF DSP app for the LS50W II integrates the speakers with the subs to achieve a well balanced sound even for large orchestrations. KEF obviously knows a lot about integration. The LS50W II switches seamlessly between Roon and HDMI ARC when the signal input is switched. I use a Cox remote to control TV, including volume, and an iPad for Roon.

I wish yyzsantabarbara lived in Santa Barbara so I could hear the Blade 2 Metas. I use KEF Reference 1s with Ayre 5/20 separates in my main setup. Three Velodyne HGS-15s with acoustic room correction augment below 80 Hz; the Reference 1s are high-passed above 80 Hz.

A poor man’s Blade seems special to me.

db

its just a poor mans blade. Nothing special.

Darko’s video was good. I will hear them sometime soon.

But yes for me it would be a “sound bar”. Something I could hook up to a TV/Apple TV and have a complete system that the wife and kids could use daily but I could also put music on from time to time. That to me is how these products will be used. Something that looks nice and sounds nice with out a mess of wire/boxes.

I am not a huge Kef fan so they would never be in my main system but as a second system? Sure why not, they are pretty good with no real flaw. Maybe these will change my mind on Kef. The pro options are just a little too ugly for my tastes.

But most of use have a bunch of extra gear. I have 4 pairs of speakers, multiple amps, etc and just build out the living room with the extra gear I have around. My second system is now much better than what I started the hobby with as a main system… my wife is pretty tolerant though. I could put a big pair of JBL horns in the living room and she would not care. Her only request is no gloss black boxes.

The LS60 got me moving to either sell my Livingroom gear and buy the LS60 or stick with my original plan to buy my final speaker.

One result of this was that I was able to try my old KEF LS50 passive with the new KEF KC62 sub. I used a CODA 07x preamp (XLR to sub) and a KRELL Duo 175XD amp. Now I know the LS60 is optimized for driver amplification and also has DSP for placement. However, the sound I was getting in my small room with the LS50 and electronics I have made me think I need to get something much better than the LS60 to really surpass what I have now.

To do this, I need to sell my Thiel CS3.7 speakers and once I do, I will be getting a KEF Blade 2 META. Seems you only need 9" from front wall placement for this speaker. I can do a bit more than that. You can put the LS60 anywhere because of the DSP feature.

I will be using the Benchmark LA4 preamp, AHB2 mono amps, and Musetec 005 DAC, Audience FrontRow speaker cable with SPEAKON, with KEF Blade 2 META. I think this much, much more expensive setup will be way better than the LS60.

There will be an upcoming Stereophile review of the KEF Blade 2 Meta using the AHB2 (and maybe the Topping pre90 preamp).

"Sound Bar"? Did someone really compare these to that?

Darko says this product among others represent Future Fi ie the future of high fi. He did a nice video on the topic! I tend to agree with most of his analysis save perhaps writing off high res as not a useful future thing.

Future Fi

I’m a proud owner of two qualifying future fi products so far as well as a user of several of the services.

Let the beatdown commence. Knuckledraggers first lol...  I'm sure opinions will vary.

Yeah maybe. Price is high for the average person that is not super into hifi. For the longterm guy who has nice power/pre amp not really a good option. Probably right for the audiophile who needs a “sound bar” for the living room second system and has extra cash. 

The idea behind something like the Kef 60s is enticing; the issue is longevity. The LS50 wireless had issues with failing electronics. Shipping back a broken LS60 to have the electronics repaired is quite a risky endeavor. I've personally experienced speaker loss at the hands of UPS. 

The speaker was carefully packaged in its original shipping container. UPS drove a forklift through it. I eventually got my money back, but it took time and effort. 

Unlike major appliances, TVS, etc, there is no repair network to service the product at home. 

Who just got a pair of Kef LS60's?

Tacky

I wonder how do these powered speakers deal with vibration. Is it actually a non-issue after all?

Agree!

Odd:

Looked for them in the "for sale" section here @ A'Gon and didn't see any ads.

However, read positive pro reviews elsewhere.

DeKay

Cool. Thanks.