I had the original LSX speaker and found them challenging on the desktop, sounding small with pretty fuzzy imaging and somewhat harsh and tiring. Forget getting through zoom calls comfortably. I much preferred them at a distance as my “summer house” speaker (we rented various different places during COVID), where I felt they became much more easy going and pleasant, with generally fuller lower mids and smoother sound (if a little more “mid fi”). I now own the unfortunately out of production Dynaudio Xeo 10’s and these are wonderful on the desktop, with better imaging, larger scale, natural tone and more forgiving, while having possibly better resolution. I only play at lower volumes, which might play into my experience with the Kef’s (I find some components just does not work at low listening levels).
Really good review and presentation. I like the precision and poise you put up for reviewing the product than simply giving out a bunch of literature snake oil most other channels give
Listening to this review through my KEF LSX II + KC62 sub combo, thank you for a thorough and interesting review. Even though you recommend not using a sub I have to say that when selecting the KC62 as the sub in the KEF app the integration between the LSX II and KC62 is seamless and they sound like one big pair of stereo speakers, not a sat+sub combo. So I am very happy with this combo. But the top end is not as good as in my KEF LS50 Meta's, hopefully the KEF LSX III will include Meta technology.
To be clear, I’m not recommending for or against subs, but rather to try the speakers without a sub first. Especially on a desktop with music as the primary media. Glad the KEF sub integration worked so well!
@@thomasmartin2219 Thank you for the clarification, I agree that in a desktop setting a sub is not needed. I use this combo in my TV/living room, where it works perfectly for both TV and music.
They pair up well with the Kube 8 MIE. I'm using them over optical from my discrete PC soundcard. Also been playing my Bandcamp playlists from my phone over BT. Got them placed at ear level, sub is under desk slightly offset left.
It would have been nice to indicate that this was the LT model in the title. I had considered these for a bedroom system until I found out they did not support Roon. The review did not mention that.
Great speakers but little pricey for a desktop. Kanto Yu4 looks like a better alternative for a desktop for powered speakers with 4:44 140 watts peak power, its cheaper, includes RCA inputs, built in phono pre-amp for a turntable, Auxiliary, optical, subwoofer, Bluetooth and a small remote.
The Yu4 aux/phono input is a nice touch. To be clear, the Yu4 is low-res streaming only and has 35 watts per channel, though it is much less expensive. We haven’t heard them so that’s a big unknown.
Those would make probably substantially less bass than a pair of Polk ES20's and a decent DAC/amp which would cost less than half that. I mean sure the minimalistic aspect is nice but... eh
The Fives appear to be discontinued. Pure logic suggests the Klipsch’s in this series are more appropriate for in-room than desktop use (due to the distance between tweeter and woofer and the narrow dispersion of horns). Also, the Klipsch’s will require a separate streaming box to do high-res ($100 or so, perhaps not a big deal).
I’ve been using them regularly for Teams and Zoom calls. They work fine. Clear and clean. For that application I mostly want speech intelligibility and they deliver.
The lower bass cutoff frequency of the LS50 should make sub integration easier, but that depends on too many factors to be sure. If you are using the LS50 at a room, rather than desktop, listening distance (say 6-8 feet) we've found the LS50 to be a little more even in response. Again, that depends on a lot of variables.
@@thomasmartin2219I recently configured LS50 Meta with a sub in one of my interior design projects and it sounded out of this world. I used Yamaha NS-SW300 sub and Cambridge Audio AX-A35 Amp with the mains going into the sub and the speakers being fed through the sub after tweaking the crossover, thereby not letting the KEF’s do any major bass lifting and instead give out max detail in the mid’s n highs. People were simply going bonkers listening to it. No matter what we threw at it barring death metal and the likes, everything from even Marilyn Manson to Beethoven sounded just at home in a 12x15 room. If I’m doing an extra set of personal system for a different space, this is what i’m going for
I had the original LSX speaker and found them challenging on the desktop, sounding small with pretty fuzzy imaging and somewhat harsh and tiring. Forget getting through zoom calls comfortably. I much preferred them at a distance as my “summer house” speaker (we rented various different places during COVID), where I felt they became much more easy going and pleasant, with generally fuller lower mids and smoother sound (if a little more “mid fi”). I now own the unfortunately out of production Dynaudio Xeo 10’s and these are wonderful on the desktop, with better imaging, larger scale, natural tone and more forgiving, while having possibly better resolution. I only play at lower volumes, which might play into my experience with the Kef’s (I find some components just does not work at low listening levels).
Really good review and presentation. I like the precision and poise you put up for reviewing the product than simply giving out a bunch of literature snake oil most other channels give
Thank you for the kind words and thank you for watching!
the color on these are gorgeous
Really good review!
Great review, Tom. Your videos are stupid good.
Thanks for watching!
Well at least I’ve got stupid part nailed! Thanks!
What a great video! It’s super refreshing to hear from someone with a ton of listening experience!
Listening to this review through my KEF LSX II + KC62 sub combo, thank you for a thorough and interesting review. Even though you recommend not using a sub I have to say that when selecting the KC62 as the sub in the KEF app the integration between the LSX II and KC62 is seamless and they sound like one big pair of stereo speakers, not a sat+sub combo. So I am very happy with this combo. But the top end is not as good as in my KEF LS50 Meta's, hopefully the KEF LSX III will include Meta technology.
To be clear, I’m not recommending for or against subs, but rather to try the speakers without a sub first. Especially on a desktop with music as the primary media. Glad the KEF sub integration worked so well!
@@thomasmartin2219 Thank you for the clarification, I agree that in a desktop setting a sub is not needed. I use this combo in my TV/living room, where it works perfectly for both TV and music.
They pair up well with the Kube 8 MIE. I'm using them over optical from my discrete PC soundcard. Also been playing my Bandcamp playlists from my phone over BT. Got them placed at ear level, sub is under desk slightly offset left.
It would have been nice to indicate that this was the LT model in the title. I had considered these for a bedroom system until I found out they did not support Roon. The review did not mention that.
The kef app does allow easy sub integration (especially with kef sub).
Great speakers but little pricey for a desktop. Kanto Yu4 looks like a better alternative for a desktop for powered speakers with 4:44 140 watts peak power, its cheaper, includes RCA inputs, built in phono pre-amp for a turntable, Auxiliary, optical, subwoofer, Bluetooth and a small remote.
The Yu4 aux/phono input is a nice touch. To be clear, the Yu4 is low-res streaming only and has 35 watts per channel, though it is much less expensive. We haven’t heard them so that’s a big unknown.
Those would make probably substantially less bass than a pair of Polk ES20's and a decent DAC/amp which would cost less than half that. I mean sure the minimalistic aspect is nice but... eh
Can I connect my Audioengine S8 subwoofer to these speakers?
How are they compared to Klipsch The Fives?
The Fives appear to be discontinued. Pure logic suggests the Klipsch’s in this series are more appropriate for in-room than desktop use (due to the distance between tweeter and woofer and the narrow dispersion of horns). Also, the Klipsch’s will require a separate streaming box to do high-res ($100 or so, perhaps not a big deal).
How do they sound for vocals like zoom calls etc for voice clarity ?
I’ve been using them regularly for Teams and Zoom calls. They work fine. Clear and clean. For that application I mostly want speech intelligibility and they deliver.
@@TheTASmagazine thanks I have my eyes on the stone white ones. Will buy
I have the LS50 meta with a small Rel sub. I wonder how these compare to mine.
The lower bass cutoff frequency of the LS50 should make sub integration easier, but that depends on too many factors to be sure. If you are using the LS50 at a room, rather than desktop, listening distance (say 6-8 feet) we've found the LS50 to be a little more even in response. Again, that depends on a lot of variables.
@@thomasmartin2219I recently configured LS50 Meta with a sub in one of my interior design projects and it sounded out of this world. I used Yamaha NS-SW300 sub and Cambridge Audio AX-A35 Amp with the mains going into the sub and the speakers being fed through the sub after tweaking the crossover, thereby not letting the KEF’s do any major bass lifting and instead give out max detail in the mid’s n highs. People were simply going bonkers listening to it. No matter what we threw at it barring death metal and the likes, everything from even Marilyn Manson to Beethoven sounded just at home in a 12x15 room. If I’m doing an extra set of personal system for a different space, this is what i’m going for
They look great. I'll have to try them.