Speakers or room


I have a very lively room. Tile floors, large window and open area. If you clap there is a loud echo. Furniture is limited. I set up Kef LS50w and the sound is recessed not forward. The room is 26 x13 and even up close it doesn't sound good. Is it the room? What should I do ? Wife acceptance factor comes into play. 

128x128brianportugal

Showing 1 response by yyzsantabarbara

I have the LS50 not the LS50W so my take may not be correct. My LS50’s are in my small treated (with GIK panels) room, 12x11x9 and it sounds great, but without good bass. It is easy to see why the former editor of Stereophile uses them as his reference. However, when I have heard these same speakers in a bigger room they suffered in sound. Maybe your DSP capable LS50W are facing physical limits to what they can do in your big room.

You can easily go up in speaker monitor size and fill that room of yours. Some suggestions for this, that are similar to the LS50 sound but even better are the following:

TAD ME1 ($15K)
KEF Reference 1 ($5K used and really good)
Vivid Kaya S12 (not released yet, no price given, but I would want to hear this one)

Vivid Kaya 45 (floor stander but small)
Paradigm Persona 3F (floor stander)
Magico A3 (floor stander)

I love my LS50’s and the above mentioned speakers are what I demoed and considered to replace them in my small room (of course have not heard the Vivid Kaya S12)

https://www.soundstageglobal.com/index.php/shows-events/tokyo-international-audio-show-2019-tokyo-japan/902-tias-2019-laurence-dickie-outside-and-mostly-inside-the-new-vivid-audio-kaya-s12

I decided on the Yamaha NS 5000 as my final choice. They don’t sound like the LS50 but I wanted something out of left field for my office. They need a bigger room like yours for easy placement, but I know how to make it work in my small room with a lot more work.

There are plenty of integrated amps, like the new Hegel 390 ($6k), that require only 1 box to get you streaming digital.

There are also bigger active DSP speakers like the Kii and the Dutch and Dutch that are maybe an easier turn key solution for you. These guys are similar to the LS50W but should have tons more bass.