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Michael Jude Galvin
See the complete review of the KEF LS50W Powered Music System
Being a huge fan of the LS50, I couldn’t wait to see what KEF could do for that extra $700. At least on paper, KEF did not disappoint. The $2199 LS50W looks to add a ton of value and performance for the modest premium over the passive version. In fact, it’s hard to believe anyone could seriously dispute KEF’s claim that to achieve the level of performance the LS50W offers, you would need to spend far more than $700 building a system around a set of LS50s.
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In the LS50W, KEF retains the UNI-Q driver configuration of the LS50, but KEF has also provided you the amplifiers. KEF powers each channel of the two-way LS50W with 230 watts in a bi-amp, dual mono configuration. Specifically, 200 watts drive each of the 5.25 inch woofers and 30 watts drive each of the one-inch tweeters. The LS50 is not the easiest speaker to drive and these numbers reflect that.
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While KEF may have been able to justify the $700 premium by stopping at the amplifiers, they didn’t. The LS50W also gives you a built in wireless streamer and an upsampling D/A converter. Connectivity options are numerous and include 2.4GHz/5GHz dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 aptX, asynchronous USB, toslink optical, and RCA line-level analogue inputs. An LS50W app (iOS and Android) facilitates network setup, music streaming, playback, and full DSP controls. KEF even throws in a remote control and includes a slick touch bar on the top of the master speaker.
Check back in shortly for a complete review.
See the complete review of the KEF LS50W Powered Music System