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Rega RX1 vs KEF LS50 Meta on wall?

kristoffer

Danish Hi Fi NERD
Ok. I need new speakers and budget wise the LS50 Meta is the absolut limit.
My son has knocked over my old DLS R55 floor speakers a couple of times now, so I need smaller speakers that can be fitted on a wall. I listened to the RX1 and couple of years ago and really liked them. I really like the Rega sound and already have a lot of their gear already. I don’t have the time nor the opportunity to listen to either before I buy. I live quite a way from my dealer.

I mainly listened to rock such as Radiohead and electronic music. I also use my speakers for movie watching, so the ability to reproduce voices well is crucial. Another mandatory thing is the new speakers have to be mounted to a wall. So my question is then would the KEF even work well on a wall?
I know the Regas should do fairly well.
Everywhere I have read and looked people mention that the KEF is a fuller speaker and has much better bass response and that’s why I now have second doubts.
My amplifier is an elderly Carat A57 with 2*80 watts in 8 ohm and 160 in 4 ohm.
The speaker cables are Rega Duet.
My next upgrade will be a Rega Elex R amp.

My listening room is about 215.28 square feet / 20 m2.
 
Strong vote here for the Neat Iota. Great for your kind of music, a nice ribbon tweeter offering detail and clarity including voices, loads of colour choices. Neat even recommend some inexpensive wall mounts.

One of my favorite hifi purchases ever. Simply a super enjoyable speaker that is always ready to party. I only moved mine on because I moved my hifi to a much bigger room. Still miss them today!
 
Kef LS50 on a wall....hmmm out of the box, no they will sound dreadful.
They like some free space and the bass isn't balanced for use close to a rear wall.
However they are supplied with a 2 part foam port bung which allows you to either foam line the port or close it.
Either option will make it sound far better on a wall, but be aware you will have no low bass as they start rolling of fairly sharply at 90Hz when used as a closed box.

In this situation you really would benefit from EQ.
 
Any of the Rega bookshelf sized RS/RX/Kyte works close to rear wall, but I wouldn't put them on wall-brackets if the port is getting blocked, there need to be be some air.
LS50 need to be away from wall, I had mine some 25-35cm out, but that is really down to room.
 
^^ look into something like MiniDSP

FWIW as these models are previous generations. I bought the original LS50 to use in a second system, I ended up needing to use them up against a wall and they just didn’t do the business. Bought some RS1 and they were superb, regret selling them. I put them on the Rega wall brackets once I was sure they worked up against a wall and enjoyed them until selling them on here just before we moved house.

Amps tried were Naim UQ2 and the majority of the time a Rega Brio-R. Sources were cheap PioneerDVD and SBT into original Rega DAC.
 
Just got them set-up temporarily and so far so good. I am surprised of the amount of bass these small speakers can deliver. At higher vol. I can actually feel air from the bass.
Compared to my DLS they sound a bit smaller of course, but they have a lot more details, are far more able to disappear in the soundstage ( before I could always locate where the speakers where playing from) . Voices and pianos sound lovely and they really make a beat come alive. Initial experiences are good. =)
 
Having lived with the speakers for about a week I have a few observations.
This is a really quick and “fun” speaker. It sounds precise and detailed. It can output a fair amount of bass when it has to, but the bass always remains detailed and precise.
Instruments sounds “right “ and voices sound lovely.
The soundstage is also good and the speakers have a good ability to disappear and just deliver the music.
In time I want to team them up with a Rega Elex-R and a sub.
 
I forgot to mention one more thing about the RX One. You can almost never tell whether the bass/middle drive or the tweeter is playing. In other words the integration between speaker units is very good and it sounds like sound is coming from one place instead of noticing whether bass or treble is playing.
 
Having owned the Rega RX One for a while, I am happy. They never sound harsh or uncomfortable, imagine well, have nice bass and if you give them a beat they will really boogie! I have them on the wall on account of children and this is of course not ideal, but in day to day it works perfectly fine. They are hooked up with Rega speaker cables to a Elex-R.
 
I own the non meta LS50's and they prefer a bit of space. You can use the bungs but they sound bunged up (pun intended} and better without. Don't think you will get the best out of them on the wall.
 
I had LS50 Metas and they failed miserably in my room due to placement issues. I had them 70cm from a rear wall and the bass was horrible. Actually I couldn’t get the bass to work (and not boom) no matter how I placed them. As above, adding the bungs only served to constrict the sound.
 
I had LS50 Metas and they failed miserably in my room due to placement issues. I had them 70cm from a rear wall and the bass was horrible. Actually I couldn’t get the bass to work (and not boom) no matter how I placed them. As above, adding the bungs only served to constrict the sound.
Exactly the same experience with me.
 
Kef LS50 on a wall....hmmm out of the box, no they will sound dreadful.
They like some free space and the bass isn't balanced for use close to a rear wall.
However they are supplied with a 2 part foam port bung which allows you to either foam line the port or close it.
Either option will make it sound far better on a wall, but be aware you will have no low bass as they start rolling of fairly sharply at 90Hz when used as a closed box.

In this situation you really would benefit from EQ.

I have Kef R100 (roughly the same speaker as LS50) and currently use them against the wall. With closed ports I get flat response, in room, down to 80 Hz, then it continues at ca -6 dB down to 40 Hz, with open port response down to 45 Hz but with a little hump around 125 Hz. So there no 'sharp roll of' with closed ports. Measured in the real world and dependent of my room.

EQ can always be beneficial.

The sound quality in the bass, independent of how one chose to use them, isn't very good.
 
Having owned the Rega RX One for a while, I am happy. They never sound harsh or uncomfortable, imagine well, have nice bass and if you give them a beat they will really boogie! I have them on the wall on account of children and this is of course not ideal, but in day to day it works perfectly fine. They are hooked up with Rega speaker cables to a Elex-R.
I have just bought a pair of RX1s for a bedroom system, I am thinking that wall mounting would be the best way to go. Did you use the Rega brackets to wall mount your RX1s?
 
Yes. No problem, but you have to drill small holes in tne speaker. The brackets come with really easy to follow instructions.
 


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