Topic: r100 vs Ls50

[Empress20]

I enjoy the KEF R100 review, and then reread the review of the KEF LS50,though medyo matagal na din ,pero appealing pa rin ang ls 50. How would you compare the two speakers, their strengths and weaknesses? They are similar in drivers and construction, and also similar in price.
both speakers po ay hindi ko pa napapakinggan.Btw ang speaker  ko ay floorstander HEYBrook which is hindi ko ipagpapalit kahit anong speaker.
thanks!

[sientobente]

I was able to compare the R300 to the LS50. Both powered by a Musical Fidelity M6 pre/pro at DCM. The LS50 sounds clinical and lean. While the R300 sounds warm and bass heavy. The R300 also has a noticeable increase in scale than the LS50. Big difference between the 2. Overall, if it's me, I'll choose the LS50, the cleanliness in sound is to die-for. Also, all my speakers are warm sounding. The LS50 brings in a totally different character than what I have. It may lack bass but it's nothing a well integrated sub like REL can fix.

[qguy]

LS50

Frequency response (±3dB)   79Hz - 28kHz
Sensitivity (2.83V/1m)   85dB

R100
Frequency response (±3dB)   56Hz - 28kHz
Sensitivity (2.83V/1m)   86dB


For that kind of money, I would be looking at other speakers, both are hard to drive, both have limited low frequency response, unless you have a small room and your listening taste is somewhat limited to female vocals and such then these may work. I had my share of small bookshelf speakers, (AE,, Celestion) they were ok at the start but eventually their small size starts to show once you start playing music that that demand  IMPACT at the lower registers EVEN at lower volumes...

[ricky]

Yung ls50 is a giant killer speaker. We were amazed by how good it sounded for a very compact speaker. Ang tanong ko nga, paano nya nakaya yon. For the price panalo talaga. Sana it comes out in red color.

[speed_kills]

I'm curious, what kind of amp power will you need to drive the LS50's properly since it has low sensitivity?

Like which brands/models sound nice with the LS50's?

[qguy]

A lot of small speakers have a hump in the bass from 60 hz to 120 hz region, this makes them sound "bigger" compared to a bigger speaker with no hump Sadly that hump makes it sound bigger makes instruments that play in that region a bit exaggerated and looses definition

Yung ls50 is a giant killer speaker. We were amazed by how good it sounded for a very compact speaker. Ang tanong ko nga, paano nya nakaya yon. For the price panalo talaga. Sana it comes out in red color.

[ricky]

A lot of small speakers have a hump in the bass from 60 hz to 120 hz region, this makes them sound "bigger" compared to a bigger speaker with no hump Sadly that hump makes it sound bigger makes instruments that play in that region a bit exaggerated and looses definition

Hump or no hump, overall verdict is for the price and size its a good speaker. Listened to it after trying out a much bigger speaker and honestly i was still impressed. Same tracks pinakinggan ko kaya nasabi ko ok sya.
Will i buy it? If its in red , inuwi ko na sya kahapon hahaha. Weird yun black/bronze and white/blue combi nya for me, parang computer speakers lang ang tingin ko.

[qguy]

I heard it at one of the shows,  yes, that the effect of the hump, it will sound bigger than a speaker with no hump, even if the other speaker is much bigger

Hump or no hump, overall verdict is for the price and size its a good speaker. Listened to it after trying out a much bigger speaker and honestly i was still impressed. Same tracks pinakinggan ko kaya nasabi ko ok sya.
Will i buy it? If its in red , inuwi ko na sya kahapon hahaha. Weird yun black/bronze and white/blue combi nya for me, parang computer speakers lang ang tingin ko.

[Arulco]

I enjoy the KEF R100 review, and then reread the review of the KEF LS50,though medyo matagal na din ,pero appealing pa rin ang ls 50. How would you compare the two speakers, their strengths and weaknesses? They are similar in drivers and construction, and also similar in price.
both speakers po ay hindi ko pa napapakinggan.

Those speakers are on the detailed side but the R100 sounds more trebly compared to the LS50 which seems more natural sounding and is more revealing and resolving of the source material. I highly recommend that you to try auditioning them and let us know what you think. 

I'm curious, what kind of amp power will you need to drive the LS50's properly since it has low sensitivity?

Like which brands/models sound nice with the LS50's?

I'm using a modest NAD C326BEE with the LS50 and they got synergy IMO. No hint of compression, clipping or distortion while sounding dynamic and delivering slam as needed. I even brought the 326 to the largish demo room before when I was testing the LS50. It was pretty loud already at the 10 o'clock mark. I guess that's NAD's PowerDrive doing it's job even with only 50W to spare.

Weird yun black/bronze and white/blue combi nya for me, parang computer speakers lang ang tingin ko.

Now that you mentioned it, I'm actually using the LS50 as glorified computer speakers. 

I have to say though, the LS50 sounds great in a near-field desktop setup. Its as if it was designed for studio monitoring applications by KEF.

Overall, if it's me, I'll choose the LS50, the cleanliness in sound is to die-for. Also, all my speakers are warm sounding. The LS50 brings in a totally different character than what I have. It may lack bass but it's nothing a well integrated sub like REL can fix.

I concur however it was a P.I.T.A. to integrate my SVS SB12NSD with them (as is the case with many stereo speaker-sub configurations) but it was all worth it in the end. Now the pair really sounds big while retaining all the qualities that made the LS50 such well renowned mini monitors. Being able to distinguish minute details like how the vocals and instruments were miked and the subtle effects processing used in the recording/mixing studio made my jaw drop when I first heard the LS50 at home.