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Harbeth P3ESR vs LS3/5A

I had the Spendor S3/5R2, beautifully made and a lovely midrange, great on speech with the TV but ultimately I found them a bit boring and dull, by comparison the P3ESR is a much more lively speaker, up a notch you have the Kan!

@ novak I agree re favourites P3 and Kan, Elfs I have never heard but would really like to.
 
How well does the P3ESR produce bass, is it close to accurate but less extended ? Has anyone moved from floorstanders back to a P3ESR and are satisfied with the change ?
 
samz said:
How well does the P3ESR produce bass, is it close to accurate but less extended ? Has anyone moved from floorstanders back to a P3ESR and are satisfied with the change ?
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I think it does bass very well, I mean not your 18HTZ Ditton 66 rattle your window panes but good, tight and tuneful.

All you would expect from a good sealed box which I really have come to like best.

I replaced my Shahanian Arcs with the P3s, no regrets.
 
Gaius said:
I had the Spendor S3/5R2, beautifully made and a lovely midrange, great on speech with the TV but ultimately I found them a bit boring and dull, by comparison the P3ESR is a much more lively speaker, up a notch you have the Kan!

@ novak I agree re favourites P3 and Kan, Elfs I have never heard but would really like to.
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Yes the Elf speakers are worth checking out. They're a bit brighter than the P3 and image nicely, but are not as natural or as weighty as the P3. In a way they have a sound between the Arc and the Kan. They're not easy to find though!
 
novak said:
I have found that the P3ESR have beaten everything so far, in my rooms, and recent systems in the last couple of years.
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But in your previous room you said that the M30.1 beat the PSESR every time. It's all about the context.

I certainly find that the M30.1 are in a different league to the P3s in capturing instrumental texture, particularly the weigh of saxophones, male voices, even female voices. However the P3s are great in a small room, and I like them a lot with classical music because they have an open sound with great imaging.
 
The P3s are just the best speakers I've ever had, nothing I've had comes close to them.

When I bought them last year I was going to buy new but managed to buy a minter pair for just over a grand and even at the new price of £1600 they are a complete bargain, for most people they would never ever have to buy another pair of speakers ever again, they are that good.

I sold mine recently only becuase I couldn't justify having that amount of dosh lying about on a pair speakers I was using to listen to basically MP3s and low quality internet radio streams but I would buy another pair in a heartbeat if funds and listening habits change in the future.

Tony
 
Elephantears said:
But in your previous room you said that the M30.1 beat the PSESR every time. It's all about the context.

I certainly find that the M30.1 are in a different league to the P3s in capturing instrumental texture, particularly the weigh of saxophones, male voices, even female voices. However the P3s are great in a small room, and I like them a lot with classical music because they have an open sound with great imaging.
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Yes I think they were the better speaker in the old room. Agreed on the context argument.

Saying that, I preferred the M30.1 in that context when having a 'serious listen.' i.e. a bit more volume, and speakers out into the room. However, the P3esr are the more versatile and easy to live with speaker, easier to place, good across all types of music and don't dominate the home at all.
 
Jodet said:
You might be thinking 'I'll get used to it' but I never did. I hate that orange pumpkin halloween nonsense more every day.

WTF were they thinking? They'd be awesome with silver-grey drivers, or black, or anthracite grey, etc.

BUT ORANGE? SERIOUSLY?
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I understand there is a white pair with blue driver available now.
 
Jodet said:
I've owned more little British speakers than you've had hot meals.

I currently own LS50's, P3ESR's and Spendor S3/5R2's.

The Spendors are my favorite, hands down. Sure, the KEF's play a lot louder and are great on reggae, electronic, etc. But the Spendors are SO NATURAL. They remind me of my Quads.
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Yes I've found Spendors to be very enjoyable too, more so than the comparable Harbeth.

In my case, I found the SA1 to be more musically involving than the P3ESR, the latter being very impressive at first listen but ultimately not to my taste when lived with for several months. A bit too bland with insufficient midrange projection that ultimately proved boring. Ended up selling it and keeping the SA1.
 
On a purely selfish note, I wish Scalford had a small speaker zone. The majority of rooms were obviously bigger speakers.

I wanted to like the modern AE1s on demo, but they just didn't do it for me.

We should sponsor a mini-monitor room at next year's event. I'd love to hear speakers like Guru / Red K alongside P3s / spendors / Kans :)
 
kabayiri said:
On a purely selfish note, I wish Scalford had a small speaker zone. The majority of rooms were obviously bigger speakers.

I wanted to like the modern AE1s on demo, but they just didn't do it for me.

We should sponsor a mini-monitor room at next year's event. I'd love to hear speakers like Guru / Red K alongside P3s / spendors / Kans :)
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Great idea.
 
I have only 'skim read' this thread, but it seems to me that people are missing one fundamental point.
The LS3/5-A was designed as a near field studio monitor, not a domestic hi-fi speaker.

Until relatively recently a pair of the things could often be identified stuck on shelves somewhere amongst racks of kit in studio shots of broadcasters.

As long as I've been conscious of it, its 'known failings' were a lack of deep bass and a lack of loudness capability.

I haven't heard the Harbeth, but for more than 20 years have been very happy with the Rogers Studio 3. This was designed not only as a possible replacement for the LS3 etc. when KEF had a fire and could not guarantee continuity of supply of the B110 drive unit, but also to provide a more 'domestically friendly' but LS3 derived speaker. The designer was Andy Whittle and I'd say he succeeded. The Studio 3 continues to be a fairly well kept secret, but fetches good prices from those 'in the know'. (Martyn Miles lately of this parish was another fan.)

To address the bass issues and to some extent the loudness issues with the LS3, Mr Whittle at Rogers designed the AB1 bass unit. This effectively converts the LS3 into a floorstander with an extra reflex loaded B110 driver and a high pass filter. I've not heard it with the LS3, but I enquired as to the possibility that something similar might become available for the Studio 3. Andy Whittle told me the design ( basically AB1 with different crossover) was finalised, but that Rogers' new Chinese owners didn't want it in production because they hadn't sold enough Studio 3 to justify it.
However, after continued 'mithering' from me, Andy agreed to make me a pair of 'AB3' bass units. I still have them and I believe them to be very rare, if not unique. Andy may have made other pairs for other people.

Eitherway, some serious speakers have been brought into my modest listening room since 1996. None have unseated my little Rogers' set up.

Mull
 
Isn't funny how we all like different things - I had some SA1's for years and much prefer the P3 esr's. The s3/52R's I like but again prefer my P3's.

Horses for courses eh?
 
Mullardman said:
As long as I've been conscious of it, its 'known failings' were a lack of deep bass and a lack of loudness capability.

Mull
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My auditioning was with them rolled off to a low frequency system at ~100Hz. There is no lack of deep bass or loudness capability when used in this way, however it ruthlessly exposes other failings (or unbalances the sound depending on your POV).

Mullardman said:
To address the bass issues and to some extent the loudness issues with the LS3, Mr Whittle at Rogers designed the AB1 bass unit. This effectively converts the LS3 into a floorstander with an extra reflex loaded B110 driver and a high pass filter.
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A reflex loaded B110 is not exactly what I would call "addressing the bass issues"
 
FWIW On the few occasions I've heard LS3/5As on the 'bass extenders' I have very much preferred the system with them turned off, or better still removed entirely and replaced with some seriously high-mass stands e.g. Target R series, which actually seem to bring far deeper and better bass than the 'extenders'! The LS3/5A is a little near-field monitor, I'd just set it up for real close late night listening and enjoy it for what it is and what it does best. If I wanted something bigger, fuller and further away with a similar nature I'd use BC1s or ESLs.
 
The discussion on this class of speaker resonates, though I confess I have less experience.

I started off with LS3/5a's way back, but the lack of loudness issue did annoy me.

Since then I have owned italian quality miniatures, focals, missions etc.

Last year I tried P3s and M30.1s on a home dem. I'm afraid I preferred the M30.1s though I so wanted it the other way around. The M30.1s needed a bigger room than my music room I think.

Right now, I am enjoying some Meridian M3s which I had fully serviced recently. Personally, I find these give me the loudness and extension that the LS3/5as lacked, but the Meridian character is more laid back.

I've a few pairs of floorstanders stored away, but I always come back to the mini monitors :)
 
It's been ages since I've heard ls3/5a's. Would love to hear (or even hear about) a shoot out between s3/5R, HLP3ESR, Stirling V2 and the current Falcons. I needed IB minis for a new room and the Harbeths came along at right time but Id equally have jumped at V2s or original ls3/5a's.
 
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