Kef ls50 meta surround system8/6/2023 Those who find the form and finish of the LS3/5a to be dull or even dowdy will appreciate the more high-tech visual appeal. The flare and profile of the offset port is calculated to delay the onset of turbulence and the flexible port walls prevent resonances from colouring the midrange.Īvailable in four silky matte finishes black, grey, white and the Royal Blue Special Edition of our review samples, the LS50 Meta sports a contemporary modern look quite unlike wooden BBC-type designs. The Meta is no ordinary foursquare box design its curved dimensions are not only sleek and stylish but also ensure ultimate performance. Most LS3/5a wannabes follow its conventional design principles – separate woofer and tweeter housed in a traditionally styled infinite baffle (sealed box) cabinet. KEF produced the drivers for that classic design but that’s where comparisons end. Technical innovations aside, the LS50 Meta remains a 2-way bookshelf loudspeaker inspired by the legendary BBC LS3/5a monitor. “A superb example of point source performance, a master-class in coherence, articulation and focus.” Other improvements are evident in both the cabinet and the rearfiring flexible port, making use of state-of-the-art technologies, three of which also boast their own 3-letter acronyms. All clear? In practice, MAT works by absorbing 99% of the unwanted sound produced at the rear of the tweeter, reducing distortion to vanishingly low levels, for a cleaner and more accurate sound. I’ll leave it to KEF to give the concise report: “Metamaterials are specially developed structures that use existing materials in such a way that they exhibit new, desirable properties that are simply not found in naturally occurring substances”. I could provide a lengthy explanation of this technology but it would make your eyes water. Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT) is the main improvement in the Uni-Q design and is a joint development with the Acoustic Metamaterials Group. One definition of Meta is ‘referring to itself or to the conventions of its genre self- referential’, which makes perfect sense when you look at the lineage of this new loudspeaker, however that’s not the reason for its appendage here. The new LS50 Meta shares the visual style of the older model but there have been many significant improvements, not least in the Uni-Q driver array, now in its 12th generation. When the first LS50s became available I made it my business to hear a pair and shortly thereafter recommended them to a friend who still uses them with no intention of changing. The 12th generation Uni-Q unit now incorporates MAT technology to absorb 99% of unwanted sound from the rear of the tweeter. Attached to top-of-the-range Naim electronics, they produced a full-range yet utterly focused sound that remains one of my all-time favourite listening experiences I’ll never forget it. I didn’t book myself in for the show demo – never an ideal listening environment – as I knew they would later be heading to the show organiser’s acoustically tailored listening room and an invitation would be forthcoming. I had the privilege of hearing the Uni-Q driver system slightly earlier than that – when it featured in KEF’s Concept Blade loudspeaker, launched at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show in 2010. KEF’s Uni-Q driver array has been the centrepiece of the LS50 for ten years, the original model first appearing in 2011.
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