![]() According to Sehdev, "The lower component count for 1st order network allows us to use better quality components for the price." (footnote 1) The LS50 crossover has a third-order low-pass filter and a second-order high-pass filter the Q350 has first-order filters for the high and low passes. ![]() The Q350's Uni-Q driver includes a damped loading tube for its tweeter, which, Sehdev says, "gives a gentler termination at the back of the tweeterimproving response at the bottom and reducing harshness." While the motor systems of the LS50's and Q350's drivers are the same, the Q350's specified sensitivity is slightly higher: 87dB/2.83V vs the LS50's 85dB/2.83V. The Q350 doesn't have the same constrained layer damping as the LS50." There is a single horizontal brace in the middle of the cabinet. The Q350's box material is 0.59" MDF, with a 1.34" thick front baffle. The Q350 has a similar, 6.5" Uni-Q array with an aluminum midrange-bass cone, a 1" aluminum dome tweeter, and a stamped-steel basket, in a 14.5-liter, 16.75-lb, generic-looking MDF box.Īccording to Dipin Sehdev of KEF America, the stamped basket "is equal in rigidity to the cast one" because "We designed the chassis using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) to increase its strength. The LS50 has a 5.25" Uni-Q coincident array with an aluminum-magnesium alloy midrange-bass cone, a 1" aluminum dome tweeter, and a cast-aluminum basket, in a 7.5-liter, 15.8-lb cabinet made of MDF and a sculpted structural foam solid molding. ![]() I'd logged a lot of hours with KEF's reference-quality LS50, and I wondered if comparing it to its lower-priced, Q-series sibling might disclose not only another high-value stand-mounted bookshelf speaker, but also show me some things about the effects of cabinet mass and crossover slope on loudspeaker performance. I was first drawn to KEF's Q350 because I wondered how a larger version of their signature Uni-Q driver than the one used in the LS50 would sound in a less expensive, vinyl-wrapped enclosure of larger volume and thinner walls. These differences in degrees of directness and exposure made me excited to be reviewing a British loudspeaker that could accomplish such things while costing only $649.99/pair. Voices, instruments, and recorded atmosphere not only felt more expansive everything seemed more exposed, more sacred, more directly communicative, possibly even more darkly transparent. Three minutes in I was staring blankly, eyes closed, swaying slowly in my seat, astounded by how much larger and more serious every note had become. During the hour preceding my removal of the KEF LS50 loudspeakers from their spiked, rough-iron stands, I was lost in the recurring still moments, reverberating tones, and contemplative spirit of Sir John Tavener's Eis Thanaton and Theophany, in the recording by soprano Patricia Rozario, bass Stephen Richardson, and Richard Hickox conducting the City of London Sinfonia (CD, Chandos CHAN 9440).Īfter replacing the LS50s with the not-yet-broken-in KEF Q350s, I restarted Eis Thanaton.
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