LS50 Meta

I don’t accept your premise. There’s no reason B&W, Philharmonic or other audiophile brands should not be suited for Hip Hop or R&B. The implication there is that these genres are not produced to audiophile standards and I think that sells those producers short. It sounds like you have a preference

For pure trance listening I run KEF LS50 Meta on a decent amp - imaging is insane for those layered synths and breakdowns hit hard. If budget tight Edifier R1280DBs do surprisingly well for the price. Avoid Bluetooth speakers, wired clarity matters here.

For a give cabinet and drivers the active speakers give a greater range, more bass and lower cost than the passive version. LS50 Meta with an amp that is in total double the cost of the Kef LS50 II wireless is claimed to be better. Kef themselves claim that they could not make a passive version of t

KEF LS50 Metas for near field listening are phenomenal. You will likely want to add a sub as they roll off early. Would pair very nicely w the H90. The KEF will give you a critical, detailed listening experience. The Ascend recommended above are going to be deeper, with wider dispersion. The KEF are

I've been very impressed with my Oberon 3s. I "downgraded" from KEF LS50 Metas and a KC62 sub to just the Oberons and the reality is that the wide dispersion and generous bass response of the speakers alone are just way more enjoyable for my typical ambient, off-axis listening. On-axis midfield list

I don't like the idea of active speakers with proprietary streaming software. There's too much planned obsolescence built into one speaker. Many people are agonizing over the KEF LS60 streaming software for example. I'm not saying that you should get all separate components. But rather get a decent

To answer some questions: Wiim Amp Ultra is not any more complicated to setup than the KEF LSX2. Wiim also does have WiFi streaming built-in right out of the box. Your room isn't huge, but the KEF LSX do have fairly small drivers on their own, which may be underwhelming in the bass department, espec

Just wanted to say that the main reason you want to add a sub, is not just for extra rumble, but so that you’re clearing up the mids and highs as the lower frequencies are shifted from the LSX’s to the sub. In saying that - I’ve heard the LSX II’s firsthand and agree with you that in a nearfield set

I came to the same conclusion as you (LS50 Meta + Rel T5x), and here's why. The R3 Metas have a highly shelved bass response that is hard to work around when you're trying to blend in a subwoofer. You could try to fight it with a couple of different PEQ settings, but then those would be lost to you

This was my recent solution. Smaller room, so nothing crazy- but I bought LS50 Meta 3’s and was a little underwhelmed (as expected) by the lower end. Added a REL T5x and absolutely love the pairing with the KEF’s. Oh and I also left the port plugs in since I only have about 9” to the back wall.