So you may have read where I stand with the Kef LS50 from the other thread I posted a while back. I am still looking for a bookshelf to replace it. I keep going back to the Focal Aria 906. And now that it is on sale it makes it more attractive. Anyone hear both in the same room. If so what is...
forums.audioholics.com
@PENG may have some comments now that he has the BMR. I don't know if my opinion held true with him or not!
I don't know much about the Meta version of the LS-50, but I think it is still safe to say that the character of the speakers will be very different (as I said in the link). That may mean that you end up loving one and disliking the other; or more likely, (because they both have such a following) it may be that the difference is a net positive!
That is the way I look at my Martin Logan e'stats - they sound different from my BMR's (or any other speakers), but I want both! I can take a favorite song and by swapping speakers (rooms) it is a different presentation while still being a wonderful reproduction of my favorite music!
All of that said, for me, the LS50's were a disappointment. I tried hard to like them - I bought them
twice! ... and returned them twice.
I recognized so many aspects were superb - imaging, very nice highs, great detail, etc.
However, I always felt the presentation was off. If I closed my eyes while listening to piano, instead of hearing a piano in the room with me, it always seemed as if the room reflections were missing; as if the piano was in the next room... so I might imagine I am in a hotel lobby (without the noise) looking directly at the piano being played in the lounge through an open set of double doors, but not the same room!
I know I am the "freak" because these speakers are so universally loved! My best explanation is that I play in bands and my best friend from 7th grade on is a phenomenal piano player and I kept my piano (after my daughter stopped taking lessons) just so there would be a piano for him to play when he visits! So I am very used to hearing live piano in the same room from around 6' to 20' away. Maybe if my experience was hearing piano from the audience of a music hall, I would not notice anything "off"!
I hope you understand that I am not trying to insult your LS50's at all. I am trying to relate what I perceive as the most substantial difference between them and the BMR by sharing my experience. I suspect if you get the BMR's and listen to some piano, you will detect what I am talking about except instead of having the sense that one is wrong (like I do), you will simply enjoy a difference (as I do with my e'stats)!
HTH!