MA GS20 -> Kef LS50

stevos

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Hi,

I am toying with switching from my current Monitor Audit GS20 floorstanders to a some Kef LS50s, as i feel floorstanders are not ideal in my room and not needed with 2 decent subs. Long term plan is to move the main speakers wider to allow for a large projection screen.

Any thought on whether this would be an upgrade sound wise?
 
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I know its quite an old thread, but even though the Kef's are very accurate the Golds are always going to come out on top.

If you find they are not working in the room, have a look adding a pair of the bugs to the rear ports. Also look at where you have the speakers placed. All speakers can sound poor if you have them to close or far away from the wall. You can also find that if they are enclosed, they can sound like they are in a box.

Do remember that the LS50's are also rear ported and even though they have an extremely good following, you can mount them in the wrong place too
 
The Golds seem to have a fairly harsh high end, most of the time they sound amazing but occasionally the harshness can really show and it takes me out of the movie/music. Other than that they great, which is why i brought them all them years ago.

Not sure if it is room problems or the speakers.
 
Not sure if it is room problems or the speakers.
Lots of hard surfaces will cause that. Laminate flooring, lots of glass. Photo of your room would help.
 
ultimately the main reason i want to switch from floorstanders is stand mounters is i want a larger screen.

I find i don't use my projector much as it no longer has that big bang it used to have when i had a 50" tv. I can't get my floorstanders wider, so switching to standmounters and looking to wall mount is my plan.
 
Do you find that they open up after an hour or so. It's quite common for Gold of that generation to sound a little harsher until they are warmed up. Its something I've heard many times from customers. Usually its after a few days break and then

As for moving to stand mounts, the issue you are commenting about looking at a larger projection screen. by this I feel you mean a wider screen. This will not be sorted with a move to stand mounts as the speakers will still need to be at a similar height and if you cannot manage with the Gold's, the LS50's are going to give you the same issue.

Maybe look at something a little different by going to a proper sub/sat solution like from M&K. This way you will marry the two components together to generate a floorstanding solution whilst bring even more to your theatre system

This should enable you to gain the width required to being a larger projection screen into the mix whilst bring a natural musical experience to your system. M&K helped spawn the 5.1 cinema experience and know a thing or two about how it really is meant to work. With Music, you usually find that they are extremely good (in fact one setup correctly is almost impossible to distinguish between the two with many picking the sub/sat over the traditional setup) as they blend correctly allowing to you bring a seamless bridge unlike many sub/sat solutions
 
Its a good point on the front vs rear ports, back to the drawing board. Your also right on the warm up, generally takes around 20mins or to ease up on the brightness, its not a huge change but its noticeable if you focus (i rarely do notice it).

I have never got the whole hifi vs av speakers, its sound and reproducing sound waves, which don't care if its AV or hifi, either it can reproduce the frequency or it cant / distorts.

My plan is to move the AV rack from the front right, to a under-stairs cupboard (that oddly opens into the back of my lounge) and that will allow me to move my right speaker wider. The challenge is the left speaker, and my current thought process is to place it on top of the front sub (using some serious isolation pads) or wall mount it above the front sub.

From my main seating position (only one i care about) the main speakers tweeters are a tad below ear level, so having stand mounters/book shelf speakers a little higher won't be a bad thing.

This has been in my thought process for a few years, but with the lockdown i am more focused on it.
 

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As you've rightly mentioned, it's lockdown for many people and it won't hurt trying to move your rack. That'll mean all the cables and stuff need moving, but its an experiment to start with, so it can look kinda scruffy before you make it right to check out what you can do.

Do a measurement once you've move the speakers to see what size of projection screen you can squeeze in as that X9900 really needs some play time. I do understand what you mean about not using the projector as much since getting a larger TV. I've found the same thing, however I do when I really want to bring something a little more than the TV can offer as no TV can match what a projector delivers when you're in the mood (mines only an 84" diagonal)

If you're looking for a group of measurements, I've added our "projector screen" list from our website so you can take a quick look at the widths available to you :)

The bay window will add an effect with the centre compared to the L/R channels, but you're amp should get a grip on it. I would say that using a larger amp will certainly bring more control over those Golds as the SR7010 is really is only a baby amp for those speakers. We used to use an AVR600 to make push them properly, which give you an idea how far you can go to bring more out of them before replacing them
 

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