KEF ls50 - Highly Recommended

We've had the Motive range for getting on for a couple of years now, and it hasn't really taken off for us. For such a small speaker (even the floorstanders), they seem to be very space hungry, which I think is at odds with their size, as most people want them for their size. We still have them, and they sound good, but judging by our demo room, I think they'll perform better on a carpetted concrete floor rather than our "500 year old" suspended floor. Obviously the Motive 3's aren't so bad, and are very good standmounts, but they're up against quite a lot of competition at just under £1k.

We've now got the Petite SX and Elite SX in, as that is a more popular price point for us - they're definitely much better performers.

Thanks David,

The Petite SX are the likely candidate for potential future upgrade although cost a good bit more then LS50's Hence why I was interested to compare LS50 against Motive 3. Also very similar price.

Agreed the Motives need a bit of space and I have on carpeted concrete. On decent stands they are very good indeed. Need careful setup however it seems.

I have a little blutac then stands unique carbon fibre risers between speaker and stand which works wonders for these speakers! As always finding a balance. I'll try and take snaps and post in coming week!

What areas do the SX gain over motives particularly please?

Cheers

Ambrose

Stands can sometimes make or break a standmounter, especially in certain rooms. It is quite possible you could put a superior speaker on an inferior stand and it'll not sound as good as the inferior speaker on a superior stand - obviously a lot of variables, so not a definitive statement. Obviously you have a good matching amp for them with the Nait 5i.

I have to admit, while I've heard them sounding great on a few systems, they've never really done it for me, probably in the same way that PMC i-Speakers with small drivers never did. I can only put that down to the smaller mid/bass driver not giving me enough of what I want. I tend to prefer speakers with mid/bass drivers at least that of the Elite/Petite (around 5.5" as a general rule) or more. I've always found drivers above 5" far more effortless in their delivery, and produce a more natural sound when it comes to voice or instruments that have a lot of midrange energy. I used to find that with M&K AV speakers years ago too.

Thank You, ErwinC, I'll give them a try.

Neat Petite SX have a 6.5" driver - the speaker pretty much is the driver!

http://www.neat.co.uk/p_pages/petite.php

I'm just referring generally to drivers of around 5.5" or more

Now, keep in mind that I've only had these for a day.  So, I find new gear takes awhile to really understand.  But, my initial impressions are that this is a small speaker that is competitive with significantly more expensive speakers.  The mid range is wonderfully clear yet very natural sounding.  These speakers let you hear deep into the recording but they are not harsh or strident.  They do not have powerful bass, but the bass is well balanced and still satisfying.  The bass is also very clean and sounds very accurate to me.  Acoustic stringed instruments sound fabulous. 

I played with position quite a bit last night and I found if I got too close to the corners of my room, the bass diid sound boomy, but moved out about 20" they sound great and clean.  I also found they worked best with more toe in than I'm used to.  I have them pointed almost directly at my chair.  These are great speakers for the price.  I've heard a lot of speakers and these are very very good.

So might they be keepers then Jax?

I'll I can say right now is they should be short listed by anyone looking for a small accurate speaker that remains entertaining dispite impressive levels of detail and clairty.  Even if your budget is twice what these sell for, they should be on your list. 

Given that you have gone from floorstanders known for lots of bass, how are you finding them on that front? I know you said they are accurate, but do you think you would need or want to run a sub with them, or are they ok without?

I run my Spendor SA1's without a sub so clearly am no bass hound, but my OH is always moaining about the lack of bass. If I change speaker it will need to be to somehting with a bit more in this department!

Try listening to No Doubt's Hella Good on them - this track seems to show how solid and powerful the bass can be. It's not the be all and end all of bass tracks, but I was quite surprised how good this sounded on them after being used to how good the track sounded on Reference 4.2's...

               What stands are you ls50's on jaxwired ? 

                 Also try Avalon by Roxy music, stunning sound.