The resolution of depth and width is extraordinary, voices sound natural and have exactly the right size and volume. Despite its small dimensions, the LS50 fills the listening room very convincingly with music. KEF's monitor speaker have an amazing stability to the sound and certainly has floorstander qualities - for a compact speaker with a 5.25 inch driver, this is more than remarkable. It can obviously not play really low bass, but down to 60-70 Hertz the LS50 sounds crisp and precise, without artificially adding anything. It sounds even larger when positioned near a wall while still looking great.
Kef Uni Q Driver For Mac
I never comment on the packaging of the products I review, but I have to make an exception here. The LS60 Wireless ships in two tall cartons, each package weighing about 85 pounds. The driver who delivered my review sample helped me get the speakers onto my front porch. But how would I get them out of their cartons and into their listening positions?
KEF's current line of reference speakers are hand-built in the UK to exacting standards.The brand new drivers are matched within a +/- 0.5 dB tolerance and seamlessly integrated into a very rigid front baffle,a specially engineered new material made from five layers of aluminum sandwiched in a dense composite resin."KEF's Reference series loudspeakers" achieve bench mark performance by paying exhaustive attention to detail across all aspects of the design;crossover components are not just selected for frequency response, but for lowest distortion.Each set of speakers is individually measured and a frequency plot signed by the technician who built the speakers is provided.These are incredibly well-made loudspeakers and both the large floor-standing Reference 5,the stand-mounted Reference 1 and full size Blade models can be auditioned at kemela.
KEF's Q series has been recently updated with new drivers, cabinet configuration and crossover elements. These speakers are the perfect balance of cosmetics, sound quality and price.Design and Manufacturing LegacyWhile there are other companies that build their own drivers, KEF has a noteworthy history of introducing new cone materials(vacuum formed polystyrene, Mylar polyester, Bextrene) and developing better engineering that allowed much higher voice coil temperatures thanin other similar-sized drivers. Many other loudpspeaker companies started life using KEF drivers into their own speaker designs, made easier with full spec "Driver Data Sheets", and the huge demand created was acknowledged with two prestigious Queen's awards for export.A BBC commission to build monitor loudspeaker accelerated KEF's own speaker building efforts. To meet the demanding standards,computers were used for rapid prototyping of crossover design and to exactly match pairs of drivers essential for stable image location in stereo reproduction.The development of these methods enabled the famous Model 104, to be a "domestic" loudspeaker that met broadcasting standards.The subsequent Model 105 was one of the first speakers to include time-aligned drivers. Raymond Cooke (1925-1995) was made OBE in 1979 and later became president of the Audio Engineering society.
Because the LS50 meta uses coaxial drivers, vertical performance is as good as the horizontal performance. If we look at the ceiling and floor reflections, for instance, they closely mimic the direct sound as well:
The LS50 Wireless II features 100 watt class A/B amplifiers (known for their smoothness) for the the high frequency drivers, and 280 watt class D amplifiers (Known for their powerful, punch and clean bass) powering the midbass drivers. The sound is powerful, musical, and accurate. There is also a built in streamer and DAC with plenty of digital inputs.
Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT) is a highly complex maze-like structure that eliminates the unwanted sound of the back wave of the driver, resulting in a purer, more natural performance. This back wave often reflects through the front of the driver causing smearing issues and distortion. The maze like chambers in the MAT are tuned to specific frequencies, and up to 99% of the back wave is absorbed by MAT. The performance benefits will blow you away.
The LS50 Wireless II is a perfect desktop speaker. It's small size, and powered design make is a clutter free option for your office. The Uni-Q driver is a perfect speaker for near field listening. The coaxial design means the all of the frequencies produced emanate from a single point, producing a uniform, coherent sound field even in close proximity to your ears.
The X300A is a two-way bass reflex design with a 5.25-inch magnesium and aluminum alloy woofer and a 1-inch vented aluminum dome tweeter. The wide-dispersion Uni-Q driver array, with the tweeter positioned in the center of the woofer cone, is a classic KEF trademark and similar to the one in KEF's $30,000 Blade system. There are no speaker grilles, so the driver array is always on full display, and in my opinion at least, it looks really sharp.
Our test Apple iMac 27-inch computer recognized the X300A immediately, both for default audio listening in iTunes, and for monitoring recording in Logic Pro X. For the latter, I found I had to turn off the speakers to re-enable headphone listening, which then caused Logic to reload my current project, as it treated the X300A like a new audio interface; not a big deal, but something to give thought to if you're thinking of using the KEF X300A as a pair of studio monitors. I also tested the X300A with a Lenovo ThinkPad laptop running Windows 7; the system recognized the X300A and installed drivers on its own, and everything played perfectly as a result.
The headline change for both models is the use of Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT), a synthetic material that has a complex maze-like structure capable of absorbing 99% of unwanted sound emitted from the back of the driver. Its use results in a considerable reduction in distortion, beating traditional techniques that typically absorbs around 60% of the unwanted noise.
The LS50 Meta consists of a 12th-generation Uni-Q driver array, with a point source configuration that aims to deliver an even sound throughout the room. It consists of a 25mm high-frequency tweeter with a vented aluminum dome with MAT applied, accompanied by a 130mm aluminum cone woofer.
Accompanying the LS50 Meta, the LS50 Wireless II offers similar styling but with improved functionality. Housing a 100W class A/B amplifier for the tweeter and a 280W class D amplifier for the mid and bass driver, the speaker outputs a lot of power, and can do so at up to 108 decibels.
After the success of the LS50 Wireless, the KEF LSX features their Uni-Q driver array, that radically improves stereo imaging across a much wider listening area allowing more people toexperience better sound.
If you're new to home hi-fi audio and want to get started with an integrated solution that includes a digital-to-analog converter, amplifiers, and speakers all in one enclosure, I recommend you consider a pair of KEF X300As. An exciting brand at B&H, KEF is a well-regarded hi-fi audio company because of its innovative and unique approach to driver design. Developed over the course of 50 years by sound engineer and company founder Raymond Cooke, the KEF Uni-Q driver combines concentric aluminum/magnesium mid-woofer and aluminum tweeter elements with a special Tangerine-shaped waveguide assembly into a virtual point source. This makes the music more coherent sounding than in designs that use separate mid-woofer and tweeter elements.
Ultrasone is also a manufacturer that comes to mind when discussing innovation in headphone technology. This company's recently improved S-Logic design uses an S-Shaped alignment of the drivers within the headphone ear cups to create a more realistic perception of sound in space, as sound waves are able to reflect from the ridges of cartilage that compose the outer ears (auricula) before being funneled into the ear canal.
The flagship Ultrasone Edition 5 are truly a thing of beauty, both in terms of implementing this innovative driver technology, but also in being objects with considerable aesthetic appeal. The Unlimited Edition of the headphones features Ruthenium-coated ear cups and Ethiopian sheepskin ear pads. The Limited Edition version of the headphones features ear cups made from aged Moor oak timber that is several centuries old, which is why only 555 pairs of the headphones exist in the world. Fortunately, some of these pairs are available at B&H, for audiophiles seeking a rather special experience.
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