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KEF Celebrates 55 Years with LS50 Wireless Speakers

By Rachel Cericola

Back in 2012, KEF celebrated its 50th anniversary by releasing the LS50 Mini Monitor Speaker. Five years later, the company is planning another party for music fans.

For KEF's 55th birthday, the company will release the LS50 Wireless, a complete and fully active music system. This new set looks and sounds very similar to the one released just five years ago. It features an FEA-designed cabinet, KEF's Uni-Q driver, constrained layer damping bracing, a precision-made curved baffle, and an elliptical flexible sound port.

The hook here is that the LS50 Wireless has 2.4GHz/5GHz dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX, so you can stream music from your phone, tablet, and computer. The LS50 Wireless also has its own dedicated app, so iOS and Android users can control sources and volume, as well as tweak the sound via three levels of customizable EQ settings.

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The LS50 Wireless has many of the same acoustic features and as the LS50, which was released five years ago. Photo: KEF.

It also differs from the previous release because this model has an end-to-end 192kHz/24-bit high-resolution digital signal path, two dedicated DACs per channel (so four total), a streaming pre-amplifier, and factory-optimised amplification in a bi-amp dual-mono configuration (200 + 30 watts per speaker).

Other LS50 Wireless features include a time-correcting DSP crossover for the perfect alignment between low and high frequencies, an asynchronous USB connection, a digital (TOSLink) input, left/right RCA line-level analog inputs, and a subwoofer output (which is also controllable from the iOS/Android app).

KEF is currently taking preorders for the LS50 Wireless, with plans to ship this December. It will be available in grey/red, black/blue, and white/copper finishes, priced at $2,199.99 per pair.

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The LS50 Wireless has four 196kHz/24-bit high-res DACs, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support. Photo: KEF.

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