Essential Install | Products
It’s night time for KEF
KEF has gone high-
concept with its
latest design
KEF has launched a Special Edition of its popular
LS50 Wireless Digital Music System – the LS50
Wireless ‘Nocturne’ by Marcel Wanders.
The internationally-renown designer, together
with KEF head of acoustics Dr. Jack Oclee-Brown,
brought the ‘Nocturne’ experience to life during
a Q&A session moderated by renowned Dutch
technology journalist, Vivianna Bendermarcher,
at the launch of the system.
With ‘Nocturne’, the inherently circular nature of
KEF’s Uni-Q driver and musical notation symbols blend with architectural and rhythmic
elements to create a sophisticated design, says KEF. Selected elements of the design, also glow in the dark. The
system has been created to lend a vibrant luminous visual quality and magical atmosphere to its surroundings.
“There is an orchestrated tempo to this medley. By allowing for individual discovery of the musical elements, the
design possesses a distinctive rhythm all on its own.” Marcel Wanders says. Gabriele Chiave, creative director at Marcel
Wanders, adds, “We wanted to honour the nocturnal concept. The eloquent depth to the light and dark shades,
textures and patterns allude to what you would experience in a dream-like state.”
Based on the original LS50 Hi-Fi speakers, the KEF LS50 Wireless is consistent with KEF’s mission to bring
exceptional levels of audio quality to contemporary music lovers who require harmony between their devices. The
system offers a set of high quality wireless connectivity options: 2.4GHz/5GHz Dual-band Wi-Fi Network connectivity
and Bluetooth 4.0 aptX.
KEF’s Uni-Q driver technology places the tweeter in the exact acoustic centre of the bass/midrange cone, so that
both act as a single point source that disperses the sound more evenly throughout the room than any rival speaker.
The LS50 Wireless system uses a 192kHz/24-bit high-resolution digital signal path throughout, and a dedicated DAC
(Digital-to-Analogue Converter) for each channel, for sound quality.
More information: KEF kef.com
A new moon
Renaissance Audio’s
new MOON 240i
integrated amplifier
Renaissance Audio has introduced the new MOON 240i integrated amplifier, featuring a 50W amplifier, moving
magnet phono stage, five digital inputs, high-resolution DAC and an OLED display.
It is MOON’s entry-level amplifier, but is probably all the amplifier that most will ever need. With a wide choice of
connectivity options, the striking 240i is designed to be the one-box centrepiece of a music and home entertainment
system.
The sound quality is all MOON: organic and detailed, with exceptionally well controlled and tuneful bass, coupled
with a wide and airy soundstage, says the maker. The 240i will even drive inefficient and complex low impedance
speaker loads without difficulty and is designed to get the most out of any music source.
Key features include three line-level inputs including a front-mounted 1/8in mini-jack for personal media players,
five digital inputs which consist of USB (hi-res audio), SPDIF (2) and Optical (2), headphone output on 1/4in jack,
OLED type screen, simple set up via on-board software menu, moving magnet phono preamplifier
input and analogue inputs are configurable to pass-through mode, when using a home-theatre