KEF LS50 Wireless II Powered Bookshelf Speakers - Pair (Titanium Grey)

As someone who appreciates high quality sound and wants that with the convenience of multi-room functionality that Wi-Fi streaming provides, this speaker system is an absolute revolution.It says a lot about the situation that I spent way less time setting up the new system than I did taking down the old one. I estimate that I replaced more than 170 lbs of equipment with around 40 lbs that this pair of speakers (including built-in amps and etc) weighs. So much less clutter! Setup was effortless and effective, the sound is better (and it was previously quite good, until recently, when my old power amp died) and the functionality is spectacularly better. This system offers an extremely simple and direct route to decent to very good sound (better at the price than I could achieve with lots of careful effort over many years) and all the functionality that I, personally, currently want.I used an inexpensive old subwoofer with the old setup. I continue to use it with these new speakers. I think I would be happy without the subwoofer, but like the tiny bit of additional rich low-bass and kick that it provides.That points to something that astonishes me about this system. The KEF Connect app equalizer made it very easy to account for the situation of the speakers in the room and to incorporate the subwoofer. I'm a software developer, and think they did an extremely good job with the human factors of the app. I don't need or want the app to provide the functionality that my streaming music players provide – as another reviewer said, let Google and App and Tidal, Roon, etc do that. I'm very pleased with how well the app does what I need it to do. Similarly, the remote control gives me a convenient way to adjust the volume, mute, and on rare occasions when the I need to override the automatic source detection, change the source.I haven't yet said anything specific about the sound, and I'm still finding out how it is. So far, I'm delighted. I'm finding more clarity, richness, and dynamics than I've experienced before in my home. I continue to go through different parts of my collection, as the mood strikes, and discover myself enjoying aspects of the music that I hadn't noticed before. People often talk about the almost palpable imaging that Kef's coincident-centers Uni-Q drivers provide. It's true, and it enhances the experience. The thing is, I haven't found any downsides. As I said, they're still new, there's more to discover. But I'm happy. (-:I've only had the speakers for a few weeks, and am wary of an "all eggs in one basket" dependency on them. I will be dependent on KEF and/or after-market repair services if something breaks. That said, this is KEF's second iteration of the model, which could mean that a lot of the bugs have been shaken out. Plus I was in a bind with the old system when my power amp died, and that's the case for any component in the multi-component chain. It's all trade-offs.Ultimately, I got a high quality, exquisitely well-integrated system. Provided that they're reliable, for anyone who streams music in their home, these are the best prospects that I've encountered for getting high fidelity and high functionality at anywhere near this price, more so than anything else I've seen up to now.

These are fantastic speakers. The clarity ,detail, and imaging exceeded my expectations. They have a warmer tone to them that I was not sure I liked at first. I tend to prefer sound on the slightly brighter side of neutral but after they broke in I was very happy with what I heard. The KEF Connect app is decent, better than some and worse than others. You can control inputs through the app on your phone, connect directly through Airplay for YouTube videos, and PC using Tidal. The Wi-Fi connection glitched on me when I had connected and played through Tidal on my PC, than switched back to the app again using Tidal on my phone. At that point, selected songs would not play and I had to disconnect the power and let them reset. Save some early app glitches that software can fix, the rest of the app and its features are easy to use and intuitive which is welcome. They communicate wirelessly between themselves and come with a cable that when connected, improves the quality ceiling and could eliminate drop-outs if encountered. I would recommend these to anyone wanting great sounding speakers in an all-in-one space saving package.

A long time ago I was entranced by Kef 104ab speakers. Even then, Kef made speakers that were a superior price/performance value compared to their competitors. After I bought them, I learned the 104's were murderously hard to drive. It took at lot of effort, time, experimentation, and money to figure it all out, but it was worth it. It was what had to be done back in the day to get a really optimized system for demanding speakers.The LS50 Wireless II's outperform the 104ab's in all respects.. and that's impressive. But THEY have all the amplification issues completely resolved right out of the box due to carefully optimized amplifiers, DAC's and crossover management. The Kef application make it so simple to optimize their EQ for your listening space, which is not a thing with passive speakers! Set up is simple. You don't have to go through the personal growth experience to get them optimized or find amplifiers that are ideally matched for them!This is a great system for listeners who want to just use and enjoy their music and not want to futz with their equipment for it to work well. I know how to do it the old fashioned way, but it's a luxury to get this level of performance and system integration with so little effort!

I tried this unit as it fulfilled three criterions: Powered , Small Form factor, and pleasant aesthetics.I fell in love with how they looked and the build quality was top of the line. The sound when combined with the Kef KC 62 was amazing. Loved it.The issue I had was as follows:Within 2 weeks of testing, there were 3-4 incidences of loud crackle/pop sound followed by the speaker going into error mode ( power led flashing) . I had the speaker setup as wireless primary / secondary. My typical usage was airplay / kef app + amazon music.I do have another wireless sounder in the same room, perhaps it's an interference issue. But at 4500 dollars ( with Kef KC62 + stands ) , I wanted something that was flawless.I am talking to customer support and they are responsive enough for now, and seeing if replacing the LS50ii may solve the issue ( wondering if the unit is defective). .. If I find another unit, I will revise this review.Overall, wanted to keep it , loved many things about it, but not sure why it has this type of issues at this price point.