Dolby Atmos Tales of a KEF LS50 Wireless II User (featuring KEF KC62 Sub)

Audio Gear Talk KEF
1

So, yes, i simply want to hear this Sound-Bubble. Not so much for Music, but looking TV and Streaming i hate to know that it sounds so much better to have the full blown Atmos-Experience instead of only my beloved KEF LS 50 Wireless II with the great KC62 Sub which sounds great but flat.

So, first i thought i order the best Atmos-enabled Soundbar to integrate with my 65“ LG C1 OLED and this should be all i need, maybe removing my LS50‘s altogether from the TV and using only the Soundbar with the TV, using the LS50‘s only for Roon and AirPlay.

Said and done, the best available LG-Soundbar was ordered and after installing it i was immediatly dissapointed on the thin sound and the much to boomy cheap Subwoofer, but after all i got a glimpse of what‘s in there for me hearing Movies with a good Atmos Soundtrack. I even disassembled the LG-Sub and connected (via High-Level-Input) my KC62 to the WLAN-Module which worked and sounded so much better, but it still leaves me with the thin Sound of the Soundbar and no way to connect my active LS50s as Front Speakers.

All in all It was like climbing on a Rock, seeing something great on the Horizon but knowing that with your limited Toolset you will never reach to the Top. Now what? Reeding Tests on the Internet and Youtube, maybe i should try the best Samsung Soundbar Q950A or the big Sennheiser Ambeo? I resisted and still dreamed that there must be a way to integrate my active LS50 Wireless II with my KC62 into a Atmos-Setup. Speaking with a Home-Cinema Specialist from a great german Dealer there seems no way to integrate them.

So i just set my LS50 aside and dreamed further. What i didn’t want was a full blown Atmos Setup with AV-Amp etc. and another 7 or so Speakers. But there seems no way around it. The best Soundbars are around 1500 to 2500€, so i went out and ordered a fullblown AV-Amp from DENON (X4700H) for around 1500€. A Set of older Dynaudio Speakers i have lying around, but they are ideal as Surround Speakers, not so much as Main-Speakers. So what, i just have to try and will see how i go from there…

2 weeks later the DENON X4700H stays in my Living Room, and after a lot of trying and reading Manuals and Internet etc. i found my path to the Top: The X4700H Amp has the possibility to switch the Build-In Amp for the Front-Channel Speakers off and connect a separate external Amp (or actice Speakers!) instead to the corresponding Pre-out‘s of the X4700H, so there you have it: My beloved LS 50 Wireless II as Main Speakers in a full blown 5.4 ATMOS-Setup! YESS! Not for the Faint of Heart i guess, and you have to compromise a bit, but i can live with that. My 2 Bookshelf Dynaudios are ideal for Surround and 2 Sets of small 2-way Height Speakers give me the Bubble not only for Atmos but also for Auro 3D and several other Formats. I also added a Center-Speaker for 300€, my KEF KC62 Sub is the great Puncher and connected as Sub to the DENON instead of the LS 50.

For intimidate Roon-Goodness with my LS50‘s with KC62 i just switch the Denon off, plugging the KC62 to the LS50 instead of the Denon, switch settings in the KEF-Connect app, switch from AUX to WLAN and i‘m good to go High-Res! No compromise with Sound-Quality, every Detail, just me, ROON, my Music, my LS50 Wireless II with the gorgeous KC62. So within just 2 to 3 Minutes i can switch from High-Res Audio to Movie-Theater Mode.

And the Main Actor of my Movie & Highres-Dreams are my active KEF-Speakers with KC62 Sub. To me this is more then „…every Detail“ this is Sound unlimited!

Speaking of Dreams: Have you seen this new „Love Letter to Los Angeles“ Concert-Movie with Billie Eilish and Finneas on Disney? This is where great Shooting meets a great Atmos-Soundtrack!

I might further optimize my setup with better Speakers etc., but i think Dolby Atmos (at least for Movies) is worth my investment. I think we will even get more Quality Music with Atmos in the Future. With my Apple TV i try from Time to Time to look into new Music with Atmos on Apple Music, still very few are listenable, but this will get better and i just want to be part of this journey.

If you are a LS50 Wireless-User: How do you Atmos? Have you integrated youre KEFs into your Movie-Theater Setup or did you Still live in Flatland? What do you think about my journey? Should i meet a doctor…=:))

Your Dolby-Atmos Recommendations are also welcome, be it Movies or Music! Thanks for reading, comments and recommendations!

4 Likes
2

An absolutely excellent post, Bernd. So glad you achieved such a great result. I have a 9.1 setup centred on a Denon AVR, but have never thought of utilising my KEFs into the system - which I will now try!

1 Like
3

Thanks for sharing your journey, Bernd. Great travels… :smiley:

I’m still in Flatland, I’m afraid – and I doubt I’ll ever leave. That said, the LS50WII/KC62 combo sounds pretty glorious over here, every day and every night.

3 Likes
4

Great story and great example of getting the most out of what you have to achieve what you want. I’ve recently converted my system to Atmos (5.2.2) and am really enjoying the large selection of surround music beyond the blu-ray, DVD-A and SACD releases that I’ve acquired over the years. (Of course this means spending more time in Tidal and less in Roon :frowning:)

5

I would like to share my Dolby Atmos setup. It is all Kef speakers with a Denon AVR x4400h receiver. Main front speakers are LS50 wireless ll. All the others are from two sets (5 speakers one sub each set) of Kef slim line. This gives me four speakers in the ceiling (T201s) and four back speakers (T301s) two subs (T2s). The center channel is a horizontal T301. One leftover T301 (: This gives me a Kef 11.2 setup. Of course I can still use my LS 50 ll with my 10" Kef cube sub independently with Roon or Tidal connect. I can utilize Tidal Dolby Atoms music and videos through Plex on my LG C1 Oled ( use TV audio on the Denon) . Just for completeness I have the ability to play 8 tracks (Soundesign), cassette tapes (Denon DN-77OR) ,CDs (Playstation) and turntable for vinyl (Denon Dp-400). I use the built in preamp direct to the Kefs. Love my setup…sounds great. Hope I have given some fellow Roonies some ideas.

1 Like
6

Years later, hope somebody is still reading this XD … I also have the KEF LS50 Wireless IIs and would like to use them in my surround setup before going the soundbar way. Currently I still have a Pioneer AV Receiver with no pre-outs. With which output on the Denon and input on the KEF exactly did you use? The pre-outs are stereo RCAs and the KEF only has single coax, a small jack or HDMI inputs.
Thanks in advance :slight_smile:

7

Good one. Now it is forever embedded, but in a good way. :earth_americas:

–MD

1 Like