KEF LS50 Meta Bookshelf Speakers

The World's First Speakers with Metamaterial

Great loudspeakers disappear, leaving just the music. LS50 Meta is such a loudspeaker. The incredibly immersive sound means you lose yourself in your favourite music. Savouring every nuance as layer upon layer of instrumentation is delivered with exceptional acoustic accuracy anywhere in the room.

Introduction

"If I have seen further, it is because I stand on the shoulders of Giants."

This famous quotation, attributed to Sir Isaac Newton, illustrates how progress is made in virtually all scientific disciplines - progress is evolutionary, rather than revolutionary. So it is in the development of speakers and techniques developed for one model are carried through to subsequent designs and added to.

That small loudspeakers could be serious hi-fi reproducers was proved in the 1960s with Laurie Fincham's Maxim design for Goodmans. Grossly inefficient, with a cone tweeter and rudimentary crossover, this speaker was outdated by the 1970s, but nevertheless inspired the BBC to design the larger, but still diminutive LS3/5. Originally designed for 1/4 scale auditorium acoustic modelling, this design was soon recognised for its suitability as a monitor in the cramped surroundings of BBC Outside Broadcast vans. The design was subtly changed to become the legendary LS3/5A when the KEF drive units, with which the speaker was equipped, were modified.

As time went by and loudspeaker design progressed, it was again time to review the capabilities of the LS3/5A and in 2012, to mark the 50th anniversary of KEF, the original LS50 was born. As the name suggests, the LS50 Meta is a development of the original LS50, and again redefines what a small monitor loudspeaker can do.

Philosophy

"Of all art, music is the most indefinable and the most expressive, the most insubstantial and the most immediate, the most transitory and the most imperishable. Transformed to a dance of electrons along a wire, its ghost lives on. When KEF returns music to its rightful habituation, your ears and mind, they aim to do so in the most natural way they can... without drama, without exaggeration, without artifice."

These words set the company's philosophy from day one and they are as relevenat today as they have ever been. Continuing research into materials and engineering has always driven KEF's quest for innovation, with the added element of ensuring that the resulting designs work within a typical domestic environment. Everybody deserves great sound.

LS50 Meta

Both LS50 Meta and LS50 WIreless II feature a 12th Generation Uni-Q driver array featuring an industry-first - Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT).

This particular Uni-Q driver, whilst being inspired by that of the R series, has been engineered with regards to the overall system design.

Firstly, the addition of MAT has necessitated considerable redesign of the driver structure, allowing KEF engineers to further refine technologies such as the tweeter gap damper.

Secondly, where R Series features 3-way designs, LS50 Meta is a 2-way loudspeaker, meaning the midrange driver must cover a much wider bandwidth, down into bass frequencies. Whilst excellent for integration, this does provide challenges in regards to performance. With this in mind, KEF engineers made a number of changes to the motor system, suspension, surround and cone of the midrange driver to deliver as smooth a performance as possible.