I will sell you a pair in black if you’re interested. Matching kef stands too.
The Kube 12 wasn’t released when I bought the 400b…so I can’t say much about the value side. The reviews are very positive however. I recommend you listen in a showroom, if you can. My room is 16 x 14ft and the 400b provides more bass than I’ll ever need. Today, I would probably go for the 12 and spend some of the balance of what I’d saved on not getting a 400b on getting the room acoustics set up for my liking.
My purpose is not a nearfiled listening, I need two pair of normal hi-fi speakers, bold and present, my room is 4,5x4,5mt they will be 40cm from the back, 1,5mt from the walls and I will seat 2,80mt from them.
I need a full-rounder system because I listen any kind of music, a particular like heavy metal and prog metal but I never focus my listenings only on them (I listen rock, pop, dance even jazz and volcal jazz as well).
Once I had the LS50 passive, paired with a Roksan K3, I didn’t like them at all, they shouted in my medium sized room, instead of playing.
Now I have a 5.1 system, the fronts are a tweeter, a mid woofer and two woofer for basses. I wished for an upgrade, wishing to not struggle with the setup, and so I looked at these LS50 active that has everything inside and tuned from the manufactorer (source, amp, dac, cable, etc.).
That’s why I open this thread.
I just ordered them and I wait them in a couple of days. I bought them new because I can send back them without any issue. I could be interested in stands, now I have Atacama 7i, if the experience with the Kef will be good (not as you describe then) I could be interested in they own same brand stands.
My room is similar sized as yours. Excluding the subwoofer for music listenings, how do you find the Kef in terms of filling the room?
I read something more about these two subs (400 and 12) and I think that your sub it’s way more sofisticated then the Kube. The Kube is an ordinary sub (similar to my B&W 610, but better), while the 400 has its own tecnology that for what I read should be more “clean” and better fitting for music (fasted pace bass).
If these LS50W will satisfy me, I think I will not have remorse in buying that 400 even if it’s very expensive (for a sub). I think that a sub is something you won’t change easily, it’s something that can stay with you in your entire audiophile life so it should deserve some money more.
What I didn’t do when I bought the Kefs was ‘wait’ until they were properly ‘broken in’ before adding the sub. In other words, and this is subjective, I didn’t play them for about 100 hours after I bought them. The reasoning is too detailed to go into here but it’s solid, and had I waited, they would have sounded a whole lot better, bass included. And then I could have made a more informed decision on the bass to partner the LS50Ws. Coulda woulda shoulda…
But I didn’t wait, I bought the 400b and after about two months and I had to dial down the bass. It was too much for my room acoustics and so I ended up spending more on bass damping etc. to accommodate the power of the 400b.
You will not regret buying the 400b. It’s incredibly versatile and well engineered. I haven’t turned the 400b off since I bought it. I didn’t want buyers remorse! As for the Kefs, the voice integrity and overall sound is simply tremendous for the size and price point. The bass for metal is the bonus that the 400b brings to my particular setup. If you can try before you buy, I’d recommend this route. However if you can’t be prepared to spend on room acoustics to tune the sounds to your preference, this is the best money well spent once you make the investment in the hardware.
If I understood good your post, you are advice me to AVOID to buy immediately a sub and wait a 100 hours of playing, before to spend good money on a subwoofer.
I’m unlucky, I cannot listen the LS50W before to buy, but, I just bought them and I can easily send back if something is wrong.
I really am confused about the general opinion about these. Many people swear that they could fill any room until 40sq meters other says that they are better suited for nearfield purposes!
Hi @RiseFall123. That’s the problem unfortunately when you post a question online. Everyone has a different opinion.
I think you’ll be fine. I have a pair and they fill my room no problem. I think they’re better with a sub, but they’re very good without.
You will need to run them in, although they open up quite a lot in the first 5 hours or so, and then continue to improve over the next 20-30 hours of playing.
If you have the option of playing them for 5-hours before deciding, and can still send them back if you need to, then you’ve no worries.
I’m sure you’ll find they fill your room no problem, but that’s just my opinion. I have had mine for 16months and absolutely love them!
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I played mine for a couple of days before I added the sub, because I wanted to give the Kefs full-range music to run them in.
After I added the sub, I did a little re-tune a couple of months later.
You can choose cross-over frequency from within the Kef App, it’s easy to play around with. I started off crossing over at 50Hz, then tried 80Hz, then settled with 100Hz after playing some test-tones. Some people will tell me that’s too high a frequency, but it works in my room because I had a huge ‘null’ at 80Hz from the main speakers.
The great thing is, you can play around with these things easily from your armchair with the Kef App and Roon.
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Just listened to “Shoot to Thrill” at 80% volume. There is no question that the room was filled!!!
I had a sound meter on and it peaked at 93dB at my chair!
Don’t be fooled by the size of these speakers, they can kick bottom!! 
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Buy them (ls50w) in confidence. They handle full spectrum from soft and subtle to full bore heavy metal at high sound pressure levels. My listening space is ~7m x 7m with 3m ceiling.
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To all the (kind) commenters above me, just to be clear, I already bought them (they still didn’t arrive yet). 
Just to make you aware that this guy:
Says that for metal the passive are better than the active. The mids of the passive should sound more “real” and less “digital” according to him.
What do you think?
Don’t agree… in fact… just the opposite. I had the passives before I got the actives.
For passives you’re very much dependent on the amplification used. I had a very good £2000 AV amp and I was aware that it wasn’t doing the LS50s justice so I was looking around for a good stereo amp, then discovered the LS50W.
I sold my passives and bought the actives. They’re loads better. Reports say you have to spend serious money on amplification for the passives to even sound as good as the actives.
I prefer the mid range performance. It is much smoother and more analogue than the passives were, however… I was feeding them with an AV amp. A very good AV amp, but still an AV amp nonetheless.
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Better so… what alarmed me is that this guy just tried my reference album for metal a little bright presentation (Black Album by Metallica) and said that the passive suit better.
I am aware that it could be just a question of source and mastering too…
There are someone here that uses the KEF LS50W for movies purposes? I mean just 2.1?
Black Album sounds great, I only listened to it the other day!
I use my LS50W in a 5.1 system for movies. I have a passive LS50 centre and two old Mission 7DS surrounds. I feed the LS50w with analogue FL & FR (variable level RCA) from my AV amp, a Pioneer SC-LX85.
What that means? You simply connect the RCA cable from PRE-OUT to the KEF? Do you keep the LS50W volume fixed?
I am trying to using them with Roon but the playback doesn’t start. Roon see them, everything is ok but… playback stuck. I rebooted Roon and the router and the KEFs. What can I try?
Yes, I keep the volume on the Kef’s fixed and vary the level on the AVAmp. This is just for movies.
When I’m playing music, I use wireless input on the Kefs and change volume with the Kefs remote, or in Roon.
The LS50w remember the last volume level that was set for each input, so when I go back to line-in it is already pre-set.
How have you connected your Kefs to the router? Wireless or wired?
Wireless… I think I solved this. Was the firewall. Roon was blocking the incoming connection. Now I am testing them for the first time.
Enjoy! Take it steady. You can play them at reasonable level while you’re running them in, but don’t go mega-loud just yet.
Give them a few hours!
I just was listening to a song, I had ten stucks with that error message. I rebooted the router a couple of times and then I listened for about 60 mins without issue. I hope it won’t be a big issue for the future.
So why connect via wi-fi?
The router is in another room. 
I already bought them, so… just testing them. Yesterday I only listened to non-metal stuff, but still testing and burning in.