KEF LS50 Meta LOUDSPEAKER

LOUDSPEAKER

- JOHN ATKINSON

KEF’s LS50 loud-speaker was introduced in 2012 to celebrate the English manufacturer’s 50th anniversary. Usually, anniversary models are large, floor-standing “statement” designs with a price to match, but the LS50 was a mini monitor, priced at $1500/pair. I reviewed the Anniversary Edition LS50 in December 2012,1 writing that it was rare to find a loudspeaker that offers this combination of clarity and neutrality and concluding that within its limits of dynamic range and bass extension, the KEF LS50 “will provide Class A sound for those with small rooms.” Sam Tellig agreed with me, commenting in May 2014 that he found the LS50’s tonality “spot-on, more neutral than sweet. Soundstaging and imaging were top-notch. The definition was superb, ranking with the very best speakers at any price.” Stephen Mejias was equally impressed, concluding in June 2014 that with the regular LS50 in his system, “there’s just so much more to enjoy—more body, more beauty, more control, more music.” (The regular LS50 lacks the words “50th Anniversary Model” below the coaxial Uni-Q driveunit but is otherwise identical.)

I bought a pair of the non-anniversary LS50s after Stephen’s follow-up review, and I compared them with the equally superb-sounding but differently balanced and different-measuring Revel M106 in January 2015.2 Since then, I have used my LS50s as the primary reference for my reviews of stand-mounted loudspeakers.

The Metas painted a transparent window into the recorded soundstage, not just with this recording but with everything I played.

SPECIFICATIONS