Question KEF LS50 or B&W 706 S2 Fronts

terryh

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Hello All,

Hoping to take a possible advantage of Black Friday deals and upgrade my front speakers. I'm currently using B&W M1 (MT-50) all round In 5.1 with a Marantz NR 1606 AVR. For TV, I'm happy enough with the sound but feel I could improve the sound when streaming music.

Due to room limitations, I have to go with bookshelf speakers, so far I have listened to B&W 707 S2's and was very impressed at the depth and range for such a small speaker. I do also plan to listen to KEF LS50's and Q350's but hear they are more difficult to drive? I might even stretch to B&W 706 S2's. Whatever I buy I plan to add a matching centre. Does anyone have any experience with any of these, or able to recommend other bookshelf speakers worth listening to? It's worth noting that they will have to be placed quite close to the rear wall.

I realise that my AVR is limited on power so, would it be worth adding a power amp to drive the fronts? I do plan in the future to upgrade my AVR but am thinking that adding a power amp now is something I can keep to boost whatever AVR I upgrade to in the future.

Any help and advise will be greatly appreciated.

TIA
 
A power amp would be needed to drive the LS50s, they do thrive on power. As you've rightly said the power amp can then cover any possible receiver upgrades in the future. As it stands though I don't think the 1606 will do the LS50s justice.
 
@gibbsy Thank you. I have a pair of Cyrus monoblocs amps, do you think I could use these? Not sure how I would connect them to the AVR to power the left and right fronts, any help/advise you could offer would be very much appreciated
 
@gibbsy Thank you. I have a pair of Cyrus monoblocs amps, do you think I could use these? Not sure how I would connect them to the AVR to power the left and right fronts, any help/advise you could offer would be very much appreciated
Never used monoblocs but there are members on here that do. Others more qualified will help no doubt.
 
Never used monoblocs but there are members on here that do. Others more qualified will help no doubt.

Thanks to some help and advise from another member, I now know how to set up my Cyrus Monoblocs. Thank you @Rambles 😊.

It's looking very likely I will be buying a pair of LS50's to use as fronts but will also want to upgrade my centre speaker. I know others have used a single LS50 as a centre but I'm not keen for two reason, aesthetically I don't like the look of a bookshelf speaker on its side (not enough room under the tv) and, I'm concerned that my amp won't be able to drive it. Can anyone e recommend a centre that will work with the LS50's and can be driven my my AVR?
 
If you're careful about what colour you pick with the LS50s then perhaps you could match that colour with the new R Series centre.....so let's say black......or indeed the new Q250C. They both should make a good match timbre wise as KEF's speakers do seem to mix and match pretty well.
 
Thank you gibbsy. I prefer the black gloss for the LS50s so the obvious choice would be the R2c, but at £400 over the Q250C, I'm not sure I can justify it to myself? I'll have to look at both and make a decision once I've seen them both in the flesh. Good to know that either will be a good match though, thank you.
 
Thank you gibbsy. I prefer the black gloss for the LS50s so the obvious choice would be the R2c, but at £400 over the Q250C, I'm not sure I can justify it to myself? I'll have to look at both and make a decision once I've seen them both in the flesh. Good to know that either will be a good match though, thank you.
It's actually a good time of year to look at speakers as there are discounts to be had, especially with KEF. I did manage to get 15% knocked off R300s at this time of year, although it was a while ago, with AudioT. If you're buying the front three at the same time then it worth asking the question. How much will you knock off if, is always the second question I ask the dealers. Never failed yet.
 
Couldn't agree more! The upgrade is inspired by Black Friday 😊.

I actually love the look of the R2c so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed I can get a deal on it. I'm also sure it will sound better than the Q250C, although with the limitations of my AVR, I'm not sure I can get enough out of it to justify the extra cost.
 
Couldn't agree more! The upgrade is inspired by Black Friday 😊.

I actually love the look of the R2c so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed I can get a deal on it. I'm also sure it will sound better than the Q250C, although with the limitations of my AVR, I'm not sure I can get enough out of it to justify the extra cost.
The R2C will sound better than the Q250C. I have the R200C and it is a very good centre speaker indeed.
 
If you do decide to use the monoblocks for the left and right the centre will have more power available to it. That will always be a benefit.
 
If you do decide to use the monoblocks for the left and right the centre will have more power available to it. That will always be a benefit.

Thank you, I did wonder if that would be the case. I do plan to use the Monoblocs for the left and right fronts, just waiting for the Camcon plugs to arrive so that I can set them up. I'm slowly leaning more and more towards the R2c and if the Cyrus amps work as well as I hope they will, it could just be all the inspiration I need to bite the bullet.
 
I prefer the black gloss for the LS50s so the obvious choice would be the R2c, but at £400 over the Q250C, I'm not sure I can justify it to myself?

You could try to get this one! :)

Sadly you missed one which went for 300£, but gives you some idea how much to pay...
 
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Did you end up getting a chance to listen to the B&W 706 and the LS50 back to back? I am far from an expert but demoed the 706 and the KEF R3 today and liked the 706s better. Adding an amp made a big difference in the sound of the R3s and got them closer to the 706s but it could just be my taste. I had been leaning towards the LS50s I wanted to hear them back to back with other speakers but the demo room did not have any set up. Now I am wanting the B&Ws but want to hear a well set up LS50 first.
 
@Clover11 unfortunately not, I have heard the LS50s and was very impressed, imho, better than the 707 S2s. I need a small pair of fronts and as much as I would rather have the 706 S2s or R3s, they are too big to suit where I am placing them. I was more than happy enough with the LS50s to make the decision to buy them. Not arrived yet but will hopefully have them next week. Be warned though, they do need a decent power amp to get the best out of them, just hope my two Cyrus amps will do them justice. I also made the decision to buy the R2c centre as well.

I think you need to buy whatever you're happy with. None of these are bad speakers but the LS50s are amazing for their size. Will update when I have them.

Good luck with whatever you choose 👍
 
Did you end up getting a chance to listen to the B&W 706 and the LS50 back to back? I am far from an expert but demoed the 706 and the KEF R3 today and liked the 706s better. Adding an amp made a big difference in the sound of the R3s and got them closer to the 706s but it could just be my taste. I had been leaning towards the LS50s I wanted to hear them back to back with other speakers but the demo room did not have any set up. Now I am wanting the B&Ws but want to hear a well set up LS50 first.
Hello. I have ordered bowers 706 s2 without demo as demo is not possible where I live . I will be pairing them with my old Harman Kardon 3380 stereo receiver. I have heard reviews that these speakers sound bright / harsh so one cannot listen for too long ? Did you have to do any tonal adjustments to 706 s2 ?
 

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