September 2022

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LS60 Wireless

KEF’s largest ‘network
ready’ loudspeaker- Wilson Audio LoKe
Dial-up the deep bass withthis new active subwoofer

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UK £5.99 Aus $15.99

Wireless-capable, floorstanding three-way active loudspeaker
Made by: GP Acoustics (UK) Ltd, Maidstone, Kent
Supplied by: GP Acoustics (UK) LtdTelephone: 01622 672 261
Web: www.kef.com
Price: £5999LOUDSPEAKERKEF LS60 Wireless
Boasting wireless connectivity with high-res digital sources,
the LS60 W combines style with substance and great soundReview: Jamie Biesemans Lab: Paul MillerIn the decade since the launch of the LS50,
in celebration of KEF’s 50th birthday [HFNJul ’12], there have been rumours about afloorstander to complement the popular
bookshelf model. But whatever these wishful
thinkers had in mind, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t
as outlandish as the LS60 Wireless. As thename indicates, it’s both a nod to the 60thanniversary of the brand and its technicalevolution by incorporating active electronics –DSP, DAC and amplification – and streaming.
The result is a pair of matched speakers
that connect with each other, wirelessly (upto 96kHz/24-bit) or wired (upto 192kHz). No further kit isrequired, just a power outlet
per speaker. But don’t wander
off muttering ‘this isn’t real
hi-fi’. Sure enough, at £5999
the LS60 Wireless isn’t ‘entry
level’, but it might still be themost accessible or realistic wayto get something akin to a KEF Blade [HFN
May ’22] parked in your living room.

leveraged a number of its proven concepts,including the 12th-generation coaxial,
time-aligned Uni-Q driver with rear outputabsorbing metamaterial disc [HFN Jun ’21],
and, from the Blade flagship, pairs of forcecancelling woofers to complete this Single
Apparent Source (SAS) design.
However, as the LS60 Wireless is a lot
smaller, KEF couldn’t use the Blade’s passive
bass drivers. Instead, it incorporates the UniCore array first seen in the EISA Award-winning
active KC62 subwoofer, where two long-throw
woofers are planted back-to-back and usedifferently sized, overlapping
voice coils to keep the unit
compact. The LS60 Wirelesscontains two such arrays, for a
total of four 135mm drivers.
The entire three-way
ensemble is then governed byphase-corrected crossovers
in DSP and three amplifiers.
Notably, KEF selected 500W and 100W
Class D modules for the bass and midrange
sections, respectively, but a ‘traditional’
100W-rated Class A/B amp for the tweeter.

‘Its full-bodied
mid is ideal
for crunchy
guitar playing’

Slim and sonicFacing the super-slender, but not superlight 32kg LS60 Wireless, it’s hard not tobe impressed. At barely 13cm broad, it’sremarkable that KEF has managed to fit a
100mm Uni-Q driver into the baffle. The
109cm height certainly makes for unusual
proportions for a loudspeaker, but visually this‘way of the monolith’ does work – even if you
add in the broader plinth which is necessary
to keep the LS60 Wireless stable.
Three colour finishes are offered, including
the Royal Blue with gold-coloured Uni-Q
pictured here, but it’s the small footprint
that’s the real design statement. Of course,
while this brings more flexibility as to where
you might choose to place the LS60 Wireless,the presence of side-firing woofers also means
you should be mindful of adjacent walls – andalthough there’s some mitigation for this in
the speakers’ accompanying app, there’s noglobal ‘room correction’ on offer.
Impressive as the LS60 Wireless looks, it’sin the technology where KEF has moved thegoalposts out of the football field and into thecar park. The Maidstone-based company has

Streamer’s dream
When it comes to connections and streaming,the LS60 Wireless takes its cues from the LS50Wireless II. This includes an HDMI ARC input,
next to optical and coaxial digital inputs, plus
an analogue RCA input to connect any legacy
line source (including a turntable and phono
preamp). With the addition of KEF’s secondgeneration W2 streaming platform, driven by
the KEF Connect app [see boxout, p51], theplatform extends to Chromecast, AirPlay 2 andRoon compatibility, Spotify Connect, UPnP,and Bluetooth. All told, you’re set to stream
music in just about any way you could wish.
Now, if you are wondering if KEF might
be contemplating a passive version of theLS60 then, well, don’t bother. KEF’s VP ofRIGHT: Available in Royal Blue, Mineral Whiteand Titanium Grey, the LS60 Wireless hosts KEF’s
12-generation Uni-Q driver (with 19mm tweeter
coincident with a surrounding 100mm alloy-coned
midrange), plus two pairs of its Uni-Core driverarrays, first used in the KC62 subwoofer

Reprinted from Hi-Fi News for global distribution | www.hifinews.co.uk

KEF CONNECT APP
KEF Connect replaces the KEF Control and Stream apps built for the LS50 Wireless[HFN Oct ’17] and LSX. Introduced for the LS50 Wireless II, it can also control thenew LSX II and benefits from a slicker interface. After connecting to your network
it quickly detects the LS60 Wireless via Bluetooth and lets you configure thesystem in a few easy steps. You’ll need to keep the Connect app to hand as your‘remote control’, particularly if you are keen to tweak settings using the ‘easy’ and‘expert’ room eq options or access the in-app music services, including Amazon,Deezer, Qobuz and Tidal. If you prefer, you can stream directly from Spotify or use
Chromecast or AirPlay to play music from the services’ dedicated apps. Playing fromyour NAS via wired UPnP or listening to streaming radio is also
possible. Equally handy is the ability to wake up the LS60 Wirelesswhen an analogue or digital signal is sensed.
Although you can control multiple
speakers via KEF Connect, currently
there’s no real multiroom functionality
built-in. This is possible, however, via
AirPlay 2 or Chromecast, but the latter
requires some additional configuration
via the Google Home app.

Technology, Jack Oclee-Brown, is adamant it
won’t happen. The only way the slim designof the LS60 Wireless can function is through
DSP control and the active Uni-Core forcecancelling woofers – the same just can’t bedone passively, we’re told. ‘In terms of bothabsolute performance and flexibility, active
has a significant advantage.’

Ready to rock
Even though these are reasonably heavy
loudspeakers, installing the LS60 Wirelessproved to be refreshingly easy – in part
thanks to some nifty packaging, but mainly
because of the well-designed app. Aftersetting the duo up in my room it took only afew minutes to start listening.
Curious about the LS60 Wireless’s
low-end performance, and whether thesingle-apparent-source concept could workwith slender units like these, I selected awide-ranging playlist consisting of dynamic,rocking content. I ended up listening backto-back to The Killers’ moving portrayalof American Midwestern life on Pressure
Machine [Island Records], and the rousing
Fear Of The Dawn album [Third ManRecords] that Jack White released earlier
this year. Normally I would use Roon for this,but as the LS60 Wireless’s certification
was not ready at the time, I streamed
the 96kHz/24-bit FLAC files via the‘universal’ Bubble UPnP app.
Rock ’n’ roll proved to be not a badgenre for these speakers, as it encouraged
them to show off an ability to render bass
drums with punch and present a full-bodied
midrange ideal for crunchy, overdriven
guitars. White’s opening track, ‘Taking MeBack’, impressed with the feeling of control

from thespeakers,
with welldefined bass and snare
drums that seemed
to stop and start ona dime. And when the track shifted into ahigher gear, there was no hesitation on thepart of the LS60 Wireless to follow suit.
The Killers’ ‘In The Car Outside’ and‘Quiet Town’ have a slightly cleaner soundthat didn’t stress the system’s four Uni-Corewoofers, but it did allow me to appreciate
the speakers’ coherence, presenting a broadsoundstage that highlighted, especially, thevocals of singer Brandon Flowers.
Be warned, though. It’s tempting to keep
turning up the volume, because these DSPcontrolled speakers keep the performancebalanced and safe. Is there a hint ofcompression when you hit stratosphericvolumes? Possibly, although at that point
rattling furniture and angry neighbours arelikely to be more immediate concerns.

A Star is born
The LS60 Wireless’s HDMI ARC connection
makes it ready for TV sound, where its
ability to put out a massive but controlled
low-end and roll along with deliberately
dynamic content (there’s a lot of explosions
and gunshots on telly these days) turned
out to be a boon. Additionally, even a

www.hifinews.co.uk | Reprinted from Hi-Fi News for global distribution

r PMLab
reportKEF LS60 WIRELESSLEFT: To cool the electronics, air isdrawn up around the plinth and exits
behind the connection panel. The latter
hosts Toslink/coaxial digital inputs, HDMI
eARC, wired and wireless Ethernet (alsofor connection between the speakers)
and analogue/line-level ins on RCAs

piece. The sense of depth, especiallywhen the French Horns resound,
could almost have convinced me I
was present in the Philharmoniker
concert hall, where the recording
was made – if I wasn’t watching iton the screen in front of me. I guessthat’s one of the shortfalls of live
concert films…

Light touch, deep bass
More refined, low-key songs fromThe Killers’ Pressure Machine, suchas ‘West Hills’ and ‘Runaway Horses’,featuring singer/songwriter Phoebe
Bridgers, display another side tothe LS60 Wireless. Although thespeakers tend towards the neutral
KEF ‘sound’, eschewing any treble
lift that will cause your ears toprick, they do present music in anaturalistic fashion and with a lighttouch, which means you get thefeeling that what you’re listening tois close to what the artist intended.
With, for example, KEF’s passive
LS50 Meta [HFN Jun ’21], this is
one of the key reasons why it’s
important to match the speakers
with complementary electronics. Ofcourse, there’s no such worry with
the LS60 Wireless and its built-in andentirely complementary electronics.
And the success of this holistic
approach is revealed in the speakers’
mix of subtle detail and deep, tight,
glorious bass.

HI-FI NEWS VERDICT

music-minded diet can benefit from
Blu-ray – John Williams’ The Berlin
Concert [Deutsche Grammophon
00028948617135] lets you enjoy
the audience reaction – missing on
the other media versions – when
‘The Imperial March’ from Star Wars:
The Empire Strikes Back starts up.
And boy, does it get going.
KEF’s active pairing demonstrates
its acumen here, both in thethreatening opening parts and theslow build-up in the middle of theIt’s hard to fault the LS60
Wireless, outside of its absenceof any room correction platform.
KEF’s slim speaker really does
perform like a compact versionof the Blade(s), without the hassleof hunting for matching sources
or amplification. The modern
looks and integrated approach
might put off traditional hi-fi
buffs, but the LS60 Wireless istrue high fidelity for people whojust want to enjoy their music.

Sound Quality: 86%
0-------- 100

With its line/digital inputs and fully integrated Class AB and Class
D amplifiers, KEF’s LS60 Wireless has no meaningful ‘sensitivity’that might be compared with a standard passive loudspeaker.
Neither does it have any meaningful ‘impedance’ – the internal
amplifiers are certainly driving a reactive load (the Uni-Q andbass units) but are direct-coupled – there is no passive crossover
here – and cannot be swapped out for amplifiers of the user’sown choosing. The forward responses plotted here [with all eq.
adjustments defeated, see Graph 1 below] are only arbitrarilyreferenced to 90dB SPL/1kHz but show a strong upper bass andgently declining mid/presence. The 4.5dB kick upwards between
12kHz-18kHz is largely responsible for the ±2.5dB and ±2.3dB
response errors, but pair matching is a tight 0.9dB from 800Hz16kHz. The sharp breakup of the Uni-Q dome – just inside the96kHz sampling bandwidth – at 44.8kHz (+4dB more vigorous in
one speaker, and ~14dB higher than the mean midband level) is
revealed here in addition to some mild response ripples between
500Hz-1.5kHz. Both are visible in the CSD waterfall [see Graph 2],
revealing the associated resonances, but the band from 2-20kHz
is evidently very clean indeed, courtesy of MAT.
The venting up via the plinth and out from the rear of theconnection panel is for cooling purposes only, not for bass
loading or tuning. In fact the two pairs of 135mm ‘Uni-Core
Force Cancelling’ woofers work into a sealed enclosure, offeringa 30Hz-380Hz bandwidth (–6dB) and a combined, diffractioncorrected bass extension of 34Hz. This is better (lower) thanmight be achieved from a purely passive loudspeaker of similarcomplement and dimensions, but that’s just one advantage of
KEF’s actively-driven, DSP-governed bass tuning. Through-speakerlatency is ~15msec while harmonic distortion is a reasonably
uniform 0.3-0.5% (100Hz-10kHz re. 96dB SPL) – another benefitof this sophisticated digital/active configuration. PMABOVE: Response including nearfield summed drivers[green shaded area], freefield corrected to 1m[yellow], ultrasonic [pink]. Left, black; right, red0 dB-90.0-18
1.3-272.7-36-45
2005001k2k5k

10k20k4.0msec
60kHzFrequency in Hz >>HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONSABOVE: Dome resonance at 45kHz and woofer modes
up to 2kHz but the MAT absorber ‘cleans up’ above

HI-FI NEWS SPECIFICATIONSPair matching/Resp. error (200Hz–20kHz)

1.9dB/ ±2.5dB/±2.3dB

LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz)

34Hz / 50.0kHz/49.4kHz

THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m)

0.25% / 0.3% / 0.4%

Power consumption

32W (each speaker)

Dimensions (HWD, w plinth) / Weight (each)

1090x212x394mm / 32kg

www.hifinews.co.uk | Reprinted from Hi-Fi News for global distribution