I'll be looking forward to reading what others say when they chime in. I am also considering the LS50s when I am able to upgrade into the next phase of my system. Interested to see what amps are recommended to pair with them.

I am in the same boat in regard to digital library. Regretfully most of my music library is low bit rate AAC. I have subscriptions to Tidal and Spotify which help mitigate much of my collection, but I am slowly re-ripping CDs, and obtaining better quality digital files of mu albums that are not available for streaming.

The Kef LS50s are an amazing speaker and absolutely could be a "life long partner." They are supremely neutral and offer a tremendous level of detail. There are only three things to consider:

1. They are a great speaker for a small to medium room. In a large room they will disappear.
2. At high volumes (>95dB) I have heard that the center tweeter limits the motion of the speaker and sound can get a little compressed. There is another thread on here where a particularly knowledgeable person had links to people testing the speakers and can visually demonstrate this
3. You will want a high quality, sealed subwoofer to pair with them

That being said, few people actually listen at those volumes for extended periods of time since it tends to cause hearing damage

I evaluated the Kefs and although I opted against them, I think they are extraordinary. I have a competitive speaker call the Revel Performa3 M105 which is the same price, has similar power requirements but is slightly more forward.

Assuming you will be in a smaller room and don't spend most of your time listening with the system "turned up to 11" the Kefs could be a great match. You are probably going to want an integrated amp which will be a preamp and power amp in one box. You can safely power the Kefs with a very modest amount of power, but you will find that to get them to sound great and blossom, you will want a bit more power.

Optimally, you will drive those Kefs with 70 to 100w to get the most out of them. I was driving my Revels with a 50w Brio R and at modest volume levels, I found that the sound was...thin. You will have a similar experience with the Kefs.

For integrated amps - here are a few options

1. Cambridge CXA-80 - an 80w integrated amp for $999. It has a nice internal DAC for your digital needs, a nice amount of power and is going to be pretty neutral in its sound profile. It lacks a phono stage which I don't think you really care about. The only question is exactly how you get your streamed media to it in digital format.

2 - NAD C 356BEE - This is an 80w integrated for $799. NAD makes fabulous power amps with a gorgeous, slightly warm sound. If you like a slightly warm sound, this is an amazingly good integrated at a great value. Available from Crutchfield, reviewers give it 5 stars. I have heard it driving Kef Rs and think is a darn nice integrated. You will need an external DAC with it to decode your digital media and it also lacks a phono stage.

3. Marantz PM8005, at $1199 is above your budget but is 70w so it will deliver adequate power and it is a little less warm than the NAD. It is just a hair to the warm side of neutral and a beautiful, integrated power amp. In own several Marantz amps (not this exact model) and am a big fan of the sound profile. It has a decent built in phono stage and no DAC.

The deal with any amp is that until you get it into your house with the speakers, you will not know how it sounds. I would strongly encourage you to buy an integrated from a source like Crutchfield with a liberal return policy so that if you are unhappy with the pairing, you can return it. Setup and your room can radically impact the sound.

Other things you will need -

Speaker stands - you will need something to mount them on. I have the OEM stands for my Revels but something like the Solidsteel NS-7s might not be a bad choice at $349. There are other options and the guys at Audioadvisor or Needledoctor will be able to recommend a good stand to go with the Kefs.

Subwoofer - You will want a subwoofer to get full range of sound from those Kefs. They do not have great bass response. Depending on your budget, you could spend between $600 and $10,000 on a subwoofer. I am going to assume closer to $600. I like three modestly priced subwoofers -

Sunfire HRS 8 - $849 from Crutchfiled is 1000w sealed sub that is ultra-refined. It is not "boomy" at all and will deliver highly detailed, precise bass. You can find this or the HRS 10 or 12 on Amazon for less. The HRS-8 goes to 22hz, the 10 goes to 20hz and the 12 goes to 16hz so you are going to get very full range of bass with any of these.

NHT CS 10 - 300w at $649 is a newish product from NHT. I historically would have recommended the B-10D but this is a replacement for those old units and actually has better bass response delivering down to 22hz.

SVS SB-1000 or SB-2000 - SVS is the lowest cost sealed sub (ported subs tend to be cheaper, home theatre subs that are not good for music) at $499. They make a quality product and I have never heard anything bad about them. My experience has been with the flagship BS-13Ultra which is $1599 and it is tremendous.

I personally own a Sunfire HRS 12 and a higher end Sunfire Tru SuperJunior 8. I have the Tru SuperJunior paired with my Revels. I was going to buy an HRS 8 but coincidentally was shopping just after the Tru line was discontinued and got the SuperJunior for less than I could get an HRS 8.

the other thing you will need is a way to get your digital audio to your integrate. There are a variety of options depending on the integrated amp you buy. With the CXA-80, Cambridge makes a Bluetooth adapter that you can use to stream to it. You could get an external streamer like a Bluesound Node 2 for $499 or an Auralic Aries Mini ($549) which both have internal DACs wo they could be paired with the Cambridge or the NAD/Marantz without issue. The Auralic comes with a 1 year trial of Tidal and support Apple AirPlay. Just a sweet feature set.

Other options would be the Marantz NA6005 ($649) network streamer (I own an NA7004 and their Reference NA 11-s1) and can't say enough good things about Marantz's sound profile from their DACs and they have built in Spotify. And for a low cost solution, the Pioneer Elite N-50 is pretty fabulous and has AirPlay built in for $299 on amazon.

Good luck. I know this is a lot to absorb but is a good place to start. Other people will likely have opinions and as you begin research, please feel free to follow up with any questions.

Bierfeldt is correct that you'll need to pair them with a good sub to get the most out of them (actually, he's spot on with everything). I own a pair that and when paired with my SVS SB-13 Ultra, the integration was seamless. I tried running them with my Acurus A250 (250 watts solid state) and then purchased a Vincent SP331 (150 watts hybrid). I honestly couldn't tell you one sounds better than the other but I was wanting to change my system around and the Internet is a powerful thing...

I have since retired the little LS50's (because the Internet promised better things) and I really should have stayed off of the net and kept them in my system. They truly are something special!

For speaker wire, I've been perfectly happy with monocore pure copper 12 ga wire. It's inexpensive as well, which is a bit of an oddity in this hobby.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

I'd also like to add that the pioneer elite N-50 is a great sounding unit and an absolute bargain. You can also hook up a nas to it to play your ripped CDs.

with limited experience with KEF LS50 (demo in local shop).
I tried it with my Marantz MCR611 and the shop's NAD C352 and Rotel R12. All three amplifiers
are not good with KEF LS50 at all. However, with this limited time and amplifiers with LS50,
I think you will need a really good Amplifiers to drive the LS50 to its full potential.

Before that I has KEF iQ10 at home, I drove it with my MCR611 and it sounds very open, spacious,
highly detailed, but without bass. A good subwoofer is needed. However, MCR-611 with Elac
debut B5 sounds better overall and more involving, though not as spacious and
as detailed. You don't need subwoofer at all. Room size is about 13'x14'x8.5'.

The MCR611 is a great little amplifier. I have the MCR-510 which was a non CD based model from a few years ago. I love it but it is way underpowered to drive those Kefs. It is 50w into 6ohms which makes it ~37w into 8ohms, maybe.

NAD has a C356 and a C326 model, I am not familiar with a C352. The 326 is 40w, again underpowered. If it was the 356, i would be a little surprised if they didn't sound good together. That should have adequate power to drive them well. Was it paired with a subwoofer? One thing I have learned about the Kefs is that the bass response is poor down. I think they are rated down to like 72hz. Without a matching sub they will sound....hollow or flat.

I have never heard that Rotel Amp. I have no POV on it but would think that 60w would be on the edge of adequate power. Could be the same situation where if you hear those Kefs without a sub, they can sound unpleasant.

Those Elac's are supposed to be amazing. Again, I haven't heard them but they go down to 46hz so the bass response should be dramatically better.

Let's do this sub $1500 -> Speakers: Elac Debut B6 - $300, Integrated Amplifier: NuPrime IDA -8 - $995, (integrated DAC, and wireless functionality) with the remaining $205 more than enough for cables: Audioquest Type 2 Speaker (terminated) $60 Audioquest Forest USB $35 These are retail prices

Spent the last 4 years in London, England and was there for launch of the LS50 and listened to them umpteen times. Not great and did not bowl me over. I suggest the system above, minimal amount of gear, cables and cost. You can live with this system and then audition speakers at your leisure, You should be able to connect your chromecast without a hitch. Recommend speaker cables and USB cable so you can connect your computer directly as well.

https://elac.com/product/debut-b6/
http://www.nuprimeaudio.com/index.php/products/amplifiers-and-preamps/integrated-amps/ida-8.html
http://www.audioquest.com/star-quad-speaker-cables/type-2
http://www.audioquest.com/usb-digital-audio/forest

Note: does not have to be Audioquest, just use them as an example because they are readily available.

ENJOY!!!

Let's do this sub $1500 -> Speakers: Elac Debut B6 - $300, Integrated Amplifier: NuPrime IDA -8 - $995, (integrated DAC, and wireless functionality) with the remaining $205 more than enough for cables: Audioquest Type 2 Speaker (terminated) $60 Audioquest Forest USB $35 These are retail prices

Spent the last 4 years in London, England and was there for launch of the LS50 and listened to them umpteen times. Not great and did not bowl me over. I suggest the system above, minimal amount of gear, cables and cost. You can live with this system and then audition speakers at your leisure, You should be able to connect your chromecast without a hitch. Recommend speaker cables and USB cable so you can connect your computer directly as well.

https://elac.com/product/debut-b6/
http://www.nuprimeaudio.com/index.php/products/amplifiers-and-preamps/integrated-amps/ida-8.html
http://www.audioquest.com/star-quad-speaker-cables/type-2
http://www.audioquest.com/usb-digital-audio/forest

Note: does not have to be Audioquest, just use them as an example because they are readily available.

ENJOY!!!