KEF Launches $2,200 Wireless Music System With Bluetooth, Wi-Fi

KEF launched a wireless, active version of its LS50 music system for its 55th anniversary. The LS50 Wireless features KEF’s Uni-Q driver, four digital-to-analog converters, a streaming amplifier and a bi-amp dual-mono configuration separated into 200 plus 30 watts per speaker, said the company. The system offers an end-to-end 192 kHz/24-bit hi-res digital signal path, KEF said. Spotify is the first service integrated into the KEF app, and the company plans to add more, a spokeswoman emailed us. Wired connectivity options are Bluetooth 4.0 with the aptX codec and dual-band 2.4 GHz/5 GHz Wi-Fi. Wired inputs are asynchronous USB type B, optical and RCA line-level, it said. The system’s app, for iOS and Android, has features for network setup, streaming, playback and control, and three customizable equalization settings, KEF said. On plans for a multiroom solution, LS50 Wireless has DLNA network protocols built in, allowing users to run multiple speakers in different rooms using software such as JRiver Media Center, she said. In that type of setup, the router needs to have the bandwidth to deliver the music; if it's not robust enough, dropouts can occur during hi-res streaming, she said. The $2,199 system is due in December. The wired LS50 speakers currently sell for $1,499 from KEF Direct.