116 MACWORLD JUNE 2019
PLAYLIST REVIEW: KEF LSX WIRELESS MUSIC SYSTEMThe effect of the Treble Trim and Bass
Extension controls is subtle; I found that I
preferred the default settings. In particular,
the Extra bass setting sounded a bit boomy.
PERFORMANCE
I listened to a variety of selections from an
iPad via Bluetooth. First up was “Autumn in
New York” from the Heath Brothers’ album
After Midnight. The sound was beautiful;
the acoustic bass was deep and throaty,
the tenor sax was faithfully rendered, and
the piano and drums were nice and clean.
Ancient Future is one of my favorite
world-music fusion groups, so I listened to
“Semara” from the album Planet Passion.
Mathew Montfort’s scalloped-fret guitar
was crystal clear, as were the ethnic flute,
cello, tablas, and an Indonesian
metalophone (sort of a metal xylophone). I
was especially impressed with the sharp
transients of the tablas and metalophone.
“El Zaffa” from the same album has guitar,
electric bass, a string section, and various
ethnic percussion, and all were rendered
faithfully with superb delineation of the
instruments.
Next up was Billy Joel’s “River
of Dreams” from his album of
the same name. I was
immediately stunned by the
expansive imaging I heard. In
particular, the background
vocals were spread precisely
across the entire soundstage, and Joel’s
voice and piano were clearly delineated
along with the bass, guitar, and drums.
For a mostly electronic sound, I turned
to Loop Guru’s “White Light” from the
album Loop Bites Dog. The entire sound
was rich and full, with excellent synth bass.
Likewise, the imaging was quite expansive.
Moving on to orchestral music, I listened
to the Final Waltz and Apotheosis from The
Nutcracker by P.I. Tchaikovsky as performed
by Valery Gergiev and the Orchestra of the
Kirov Opera. The balance between the
different instrumental sections was superb,
and the dynamic range from the quiet
beginning of the apotheosis to the crashing
conclusion was artfully rendered.
Another of my favorite groups is
Oregon. “Rewind” from the album Beyond
Words consists only of guitar, soprano
sax, and acoustic bass, each of which
were reproduced beautifully with
excellent delineation.
In addition to Bluetooth, I connected
my Sony TV’s optical digital-audio outputIn this exploded view of the Uni-Q driver, you
can clearly see the complexity of its design.