Best Buys Audio & AV 2019-#2KEF in colour: the red, black, blue and green (top image) versions of the LSX active wireless speakers
have the Kvadrat textile wraps around their sides; the white version offers a non-textile gloss finish.
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this to 24-bit/96kHz. Their internal amplifiers
deliver a quoted 30W to the tweeter and 70W to
the woofer; this compares with 30W and 200W in
the LS50W.
The same two apps can stream from Tidal
directly, and play files from home shares
(computers or NAS drives) via DLNA, but the
speakers will also make themselves available to
your Spotify app on any device, and have Apple’s
AirPlay 2 in addition to their Bluetooth streaming,
which includes the aptX codec. And there are
physical inputs too — optical digital (very handy
for TV audio), and an analogue minijack. There’s
a wired subwoofer output if you want more bass.In addition to a smaller UniQ module, the
cabinets are 24cm high rather than 30cm, and
the width is more than halved, making it slightly
slimmer from the front. The effect on the overall
cabinet volume is significant, reduced to around a
third that of the LS50W.
Yet KEF’s specs indicate remarkably little
loss of low-end extension from the shrinkage
— a quoted -6dB figure of 49Hz for the LSX,
compared with 43Hz for the LS50W.
One very useful change is the banishing of the
connecting cable, the LSX speakers able to pair
wirelessly and share music up to 24-bit/48kHz,
while adding an Ethernet link between them raises
The white LSX has a full gloss finish, while
black, blue, red and green have their contoured
front baffle in a matte finish like the LS50W,
while the sides are wrapped with fabric from
Danish textile manufacturer Kvadrat.
And the LSX sound? We loved it. Their bass
response is significantly loaded by the use of
digital signal processing (KEF refers to it as a
‘Music Integrity Engine’) so that their frequency
balance is especially impressive at casual listening
levels. Most systems lose relative bass strength as
level drops, but the LSX keeps the balance tilted
for a powerful and musical presentation. They
energised the room even at medium listening
levels, but didn’t then overly drown vocals when
we turned things up. They also showed the benefit
of streaming via Wi-Fi rather than Bluetooth,
the limited quality of the latter reducing slightly
the joys that the LSX can bring with a higher
quality signal. And crucially, compared to so
many standalone wireless speakers, these deliver
true separate stereo sound with a wide soundstage
assisted by the imaging powers of that Uni-Q array.
In this we applaud KEF’s marketing slogan for the
LSX — ‘Give your music the space it deserves.’
The true stereo LSXs deliver a higher level of hi-fi,
effective at medium listening levels from Bluetooth,
but far better using the Wi-Fi connection, where
they can be entrancingly effective music-makers
from such attractive and compact cabinets.KEF LS50W & LSX
wireless stereo speakers- Real hi-fi speakers for the modern world
- Cntain all you need for streaming hi-fi
- Physical inputs also available
LS50W
Price: $3495 pair
Drivers: Uni-Q 25mm aluminium dome inside
130mm magnesium/aluminium-alloy cone
Amplifiers: 30W treble, 200W bass
Inputs: Optical digital, minijack analogue,
USB-B, Bluetooth with AAC+aptX; Ethernet,
dual-band 2.4GHz/5GHz Wi-Fi.
Outputs: Subwoofer out; master-slave link
Dimensions (whd): 300 x 200 x 308mm
Weight: 10.2kg (master), 10kg (slave)LSX
Price: $1895 pair
Drivers: Uni-Q 19mm aluminium dome inside
115mm magnesium/aluminium-alloy cone
Amplifiers: 30W treble, 70W bass
Inputs: Optical digital, minijack analogue,
Bluetooth with AAC+aptX; AirPlay 2 (coming
in 2019); Ethernet, dual-band 2.4GHz/5GHz
Wi-Fi.
Outputs: Subwoofer out; master-slave link
Dimensions (whd): 240 x 155 x 180mm
Weight: 3.6kg (master), 3.5kg (slave)Contact: Advance Audio
Telephone: 02 9561 0799
Web: au.kef.com