I made a comparison of two LS3/5a-inspired models, Proac Tablette 10 and Celef LS8 just yesterday, and thought some might find it interesting, so here goes:
I used a Devialet 220pro to drive the speakers that were located in the middle of a quite a big room, with about 4 m space behind them. I don't imagine anyone actually positioning either of these speakers that way for other than testing purposes, but the sound is comparatively free of wall reflections in this way, and gives a pretty good picture of their resolution and tonal capabilities. The LS8 is rated 2dB less sensitive than the Tab 10 so I adjusted the volume accordingly. Changing the speakers always took a couple of minutes.
I went through the following tracks:
Dire Straits: Telegraph Road
Nick Drake: Black Eyed Dog
Gallus: Mirabile Mysterium (Huelgas Ensemble)
Brahms: String Quartett C minor, 1st movement (Emerson Quartet)
Sibelius: Symphony 4 (Oramo, Birmingham SO)
It's maybe a bit unfair to compare a £2500 speaker with a £1000 one so one expects a marked difference. Well, long story short: whereas the Tab10 is a great little speaker and all-round performer as such, the LS8 is in a different league regarding tonality, microdynamics (texture) and overall transparency. Not only do you hear deeper into the mix, you also seem to able to follow phrasing better, as if a better speaker had a better temporal (events/second) resolution, too. The acoustic guitar of Nick Drake is very prat-ty on the Tab, but becomes more juicy and harmonious on the LS8. On the Huelgas Ensemble track the acoustics of the hall is immediately noticeable on the LS8, voices have clearer timbre, and the phrasing seems more dynamic and captivating. The temporal resolution thing also came to mind on the Brahms quartet movement: each short note on the strings has the time to have a clear beginning, texture and ending. Listening to the string orchestra beginning of Sibelius 4th, I thought that the upper mids of the LS8 might be just a touch elevated, whereas the Tab10 is a bit warmer overall. Ideally I might use the eq on the Devialet to tone down the 2kHz region by a dB or two.
It's also obvious that the LS8 screams for great accompanying equipment as it is so transparent, whereas the Tab10 is probably more forgiving.
I had a pair of ProAc Response 1SC a couple of years ago and the LS8 would seem to be higher in the range. I hope someone has the possibility to do a side-to-side comparison of the LS8 and the DB1, or the soon-to-be-released D2R -- not an easy task as there are only about 30 pairs of these worldwide