the special edition of KEF’s flagship speaker gets inspiration from the dark of night
In music, a nocturne is a composition that evokes the qualities of night. Think of Chopin – who wrote 21 nocturnes for the piano – or Mozart’s orchestral Serenata Notturna. And think of how wonderful the sounds of those compositions would be coming out of the new KEF LS50 Wireless ‘Nocturne’ speakers. A collaboration between British audio brand KEF and Dutch designer extraordinaire Marcel Wanders, the Nocturne is a special edition of the already superlative LS50…. now clad in the black of twilight.
Inside, the LS50 Wireless ‘Nocturne’ possesses the same top-notch tech, like dual-band Wi-Fi support, Bluetooth 4.0 (with aptX support) and a bespoke digital-analog converter (DAC) for each channel. The speakers utilise a 192kHz/24-bit high resolution signal path to ensure top-shelf sound quality, with a KEF Uni-Q design placing the high-frequency section right in the centre of a single driver.
Outside, though, the LS50 ‘Nocturne’ gains a cool nocturnal edge – a ‘fractured’ face design and glow-in-the-dark components evoking a sci-fi atmosphere that wouldn’t look out of place in The Matrix. The circular patterns emanating from the face plate are inspired by city skylines, ballet routines and visualisations of orchestral tempo, adding visual interest to already-present sonic excellent. “We wanted to honor the nocturnal concept,” Marcel Wanders creative director Gabriele Chiave says. “The eloquent depth to the light and dark shades, textures, and patterns allude to what you would experience in a dream-like state.” That might sound like standard PR hyperbole, but who can argue when the results sound as good as this?
