KEF LS Luxe Review

Design

• Another KEF/Ross Lovegrove collaboration
• Choice of three finishes
• Bulk moulding compound allows for quite a complex cabinet shape

Not for the first time and not, I’m sure, for the last, a design collaboration between KEF and Ross Lovegrove has resulted in a swoopy, almost organically curvaceous product that sits at one remove from pretty much all of its nominal competitors.

The smooth, seamless, edgeless shape of the LS Luxe is possible thanks to the use of BMC (bulk moulding compound) in its construction – and the shape makes the cabinet less prone to the build-up of internal standing waves compared to boxier cabinets, too.

It also requires less internal bracing than a more traditional cabinet, which means there’s greater internal volume that is usually the case in an enclosure of these dimensions.

There’s some additional visual drama at the front and the rear of the cabinet, too. The front is dominated by the Uni-Q driver arrangement that’s discussed in the features section of this review, while at the rear there’s a quite complex aluminium heat-sink arrangement that uses its relatively large surface area to efficiently dissipate the heat generated by the internal electronics.

There’s also a quite sizable bass reflex port on the rear, too – its use of KEF’s Flexible Port Technology, which means the walls of the port are slightly pliant, ought to help keep internal resonance minimised.

The bespoke S-Luxe speaker stands are quite pricey (£799 / $799 / AU$1199), but if only for aesthetic reasons they’re worth considering.

I put the speakers on a pair of perfectly decent Soundstyle Z2 stands during this test, and they work well in sonic terms – but the way the speakers curve and taper towards the bottom of their cabinets means a lot of the (standard) top-plate of the stand is visible. It’s an inelegant look and not really in keeping with the carefully realised design of the system.

The speakers themselves are available in three finishes: dusk titanium, mineral white and the eclipse black of my review sample. I’ve seen all three, and I think it’s fair to say the LS Luxe are more colour-dependent than the vast majority of loudspeakers.

For my money, ‘eclipse black’ is not especially successful – it makes the speakers look lumpier than either of the other two finishes. Of course, you’re well within your rights to disagree. 

Features

• 760 watts of power
• 12th-gen Uni-Q driver array
• Plenty of connectivity

KEF’s Uni-Q driver technology that debuted back in 1988 is now a dozen generations old – and here the 12th-gen Uni-Q array consists of a 25mm aluminium tweeter behind an elaborate waveguide sitting in the throat of a 165mm aluminum mid/bass cone.

The idea behind this layout has never changed: it’s intended to deliver superior time-alignment and smooth driver integration. A rather more recent KEF creation, Metamaterial Absorption Technology, is positioned behind the tweeter where it negates the energy moving backwards from the tweeter dome and, in theory, allows for cleaner, purer treble response.

The driver module is mechanically isolated from the cabinet, and a decoupling chassis minimises vibrations from the motor system – in each case, reducing vibrations that might affect the cabinet structure is the idea.

Properly implemented, this arrangement ought to allow the driver array to deliver minimum distortion and maximum clarity. Elsewhere, the Velocity Control Technology first seen in KEF’s XIO soundbar, is on hand to measure the speed of movement of the mid/bass driver and compensate – in real time – for discrepancies in the expected and actual values. And tonal consistency at any and all volume levels is maintained by the company’s Music Integrity Engine. 

KEF has given the LS Luxe plenty of power, and of two different types. Each tweeter is driven by 100 watts of Class A/B power, while each mid/bass driver gets 260 watts of Class D amplification – a total of 760 watts feels like it really should be plenty, while frequency response of 42Hz – 28kHz seems more than adequate too.

You can take control of the LS Luxe in a couple of different ways. The system is supplied with a metal-fronted remote control handset that covers off the fundamentals like power, input selection and volume control.

More extensive control is available via the KEF Connect app that’s free for iOS and Android – as well as the usual playback stuff, it allows you to search for and store internet radio stations, integrate your favourite music streaming service(s), use Expert mode to fine-tune the system’s response in relation to the specifics of the space it’s in, check for firmware updates and plenty more besides. It can sometimes take a beat before it responds, but in general it’s a stable and usable interface.  

Connectivity

• Bluetooth and Wi-Fi
• HDMI input

There are plenty of connectivity options when the time comes to get some audio information into the hands of all these technologies. Wireless options, all under the control of KEF’s W2 wireless platform, consist of Bluetooth 5.3 and dual-band Wi-Fi – the latter means the LS Luxe is compatible with UPnP, the Connect versions of Qobuz, Spotify and TIDAL, Google Cast and AirPlay 2.

Internet radio is also available, and Roon Ready certification is expected early in 2027.

The primary speaker is in charge of wireless functionality, and it’s also where all physical connections are. An Ethernet socket offers optimum network stability, and in addition there’s an HDMI eARC socket, optical and coaxial inputs, and a 3.5mm line-level analogue input too.

An RJ45 socket allows the primary to be physically connected to the secondary speaker, the USB-C slot turns out to be just for charging external equipment, and there’s a pre-out for use with a subwoofer too. The secondary speaker has the RJ45 and a pre-out of its own, too. 

The KEF is capable with resolutions of up to 24-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD218 via any of its network inputs, and can support 24-bit/192kHz via HDMI and coaxial – the optical input tops out at 24-bit/96kHz.

Connect the speakers together using the supplied cable and all audio information is scaled to 24-bit/192kHz – this drops to 24-bit/96kHz if you connect the speakers wirelessly instead.

Sound Quality

• Revealing, authoritative and balanced presentation
• Excellent midrange communication
• Not the outright scale of sound you might be expecting

There are a couple of small caveats to everything I’m about to say about the way the KEF LS Luxe performs – I’ll save them until the end, because the uncomplicatedly good stuff is much more fun to write about.

No matter which of the KEF’s inputs you utilise – wired or wireless, digital or analogue – it’s an admirably consistent listen. Even if lower-resolution content is easy to spot next to Hi-Res stuff, the character and attitude of this system never falters. In every circumstance, it’s a beautifully balanced, eloquently revealing and profoundly enjoyable listen.

A 24-bit/96kHz Qobuz Connect FLAC file of Frank Ocean’s Super Rich kidsreveals a lot of what makes the LS Luxe such a pleasant sonic experience. The amount of detail, both broad and fine, it’s able to tease out and contextualise is straightforwardly impressive – no aspect of the recording is too subtle or too minor to escape the KEF’s attention. And it’s not revealing of detail simply for the sake of it – it’s all in the service of the overall picture.

The tonal balance is just so, and the same goes for frequency response. In both cases, the LS Luxe seems more than willing to wind its neck in and let the music it’s playing dictate terms – nothing is added and nothing is taken away when it comes to tonality, and there’s a complete disinclination to over- or underplay any area of the frequency range.

Low frequencies hit hard and with tremendous solidity, but the system is no simple thumper – bass sounds are textured and varied, and there’s such grippy control of their attack that rhythmic expression is coherent and persuasive.

The top of the frequency range is just as authoritative and just as nicely realised – treble sounds have ample crunch and bite, but they’re never in danger of hardening, and they have more than enough substance to keep the reproduction balanced.

And in the midrange, where your hearing is at its most sensitive and discerning, the KEF system communicates in the most eloquent and expressive fashion – no transient escapes the LS Luxe, no element of a vocal performance is too nuanced to elude it.

There’s energy and drive to the way the system presents music, but it’s of the considered and grown-up type rather than the eyes out on stalks alternative. That’s not to say the KEF can’t throw down hard when needs be – big upshifts in volume or intensity or attack in a recording are tracked faithfully, and even when you think the system is playing quite loudly it’s always able to get louder still. And it can move through these gears effortlessly, with no sense of stress.

So yes, caveats. The soundstage the LS Luxe presents is not the biggest you’ve ever heard – it’s open and carefully laid out and properly controlled, but there’s not quite the outright scale you might have been anticipating. And that’s the best-case scenario – the KEF LS Luxe is about as sensitive to the way its speakers are positioned as any stereo system I’ve tested.

Unlike the vast majority of stereo speakers, which prefer a little toe-in towards the listener’s seated position, the KEF are much happier when positioned almost directly straight ahead – get the positioning wrong and both the width and the height of their presentation can be quite badly impacted. So be prepared to spend a little longer than you might have expected ensuring the speakers are facing exactly the right direction…

Should you buy it?