advertisement


It’s about time for another LS3/5a ( plus others ) Shootout.

Too far away for me sadly. I’d love to hear some of the modern LS3/5A alternatives and clones and also how other modern speakers e.g. the LS50 or equivalent ProAc compared. If I was organising it I’d certainly want to try both solid state and a really nice valve amp as to my mind the whole point of the original 15 Ohm LS3/5A in a modern context is it works so, so well with valves when so many modern small speakers just don’t. For me that is where the real magic lies and the reason I own a pair.
 
Too far away for me sadly. I’d love to hear some of the modern LS3/5A alternatives and clones and also how other modern speakers e.g. the LS50 or equivalent ProAc compared. If I was organising it I’d certainly want to try both solid state and a really nice valve amp as to my mind the whole point of the original 15 Ohm LS3/5A in a modern context is it works so, so well with valves when so many modern small speakers just don’t. For me that is where the real magic lies and the reason I own a pair.
Indeed, the reason I moved my Amphion Argon1s on is they just didn't work with my Leak Stereo 20. They were superb with decent SS amps.

Your thoughts on which amps to use in a shootout pretty much align with my own. Maybe a vintage Leak or Radford valve amp & contemporary Naim or Rega SS amp? Amps maybe a fair few of us might have some prior experience of.

TS
 
Your thoughts on which amps to use in a shootout pretty much align with my own. Maybe a vintage Leak or Radford valve amp & contemporary Naim or Rega SS amp? Amps maybe a fair few of us might have some prior experience of.

Yes, that would be the kind of thing, maybe with some US high-end too. The thing with LS3/5As is nothing is too good for them, they’ll show the differences and what makes really good kit really good, yet they also sound superb with far more affordable stuff (e.g. a Quad 303, Nait etc). I currently drive mine with either a pair of Leak TL12 Plus or a Pass Aleph 3. The contrast is interesting. Both bring different things and the speakers reveal it well. They reveal upstream quality and character rather than needing a sledgehammer just to get going the way some little speakers do.
 
In the late 70s, I worked for a company that built prototypes for the BBC, so spent quite a lot of time on the phone to the BBC tech people, They were the people that had designed the LS3/5a (and all the rest) and it was their enthusiasm for the speaker that led me to buy a set in 1978. They were adamant that the speakers would only work if placed on a bookshelf, jammed between books, so as to emulate the placement in an outside broadcast van.

That’s made my year. And all the talk of LS3/5as on open stands… I now get why they might be so popular in Japan.
 
In the late 70s, I worked for a company that built prototypes for the BBC, so spent quite a lot of time on the phone to the BBC tech people, They were adamant that the speakers would only work if placed on a bookshelf, jammed between books, so as to emulate the placement in an outside broadcast van.

Well, I can assure you they sound absolutely horrible when positioned like that in my listening room!
 
Quick update on this:
I will be visiting a possible venue on Monday 7th Feb. The venue is in Whitwell near Worksop, just off the M1.
It's a village hall that is already regularly used by a small group of hifi enthusiasts for evenings where they bring a variety of kit to do bake offs etc.
There are some acoustic challenges to the space but they are getting better at dealing with it.
I'll take some photos and let you all know how suitable it might be.

What would help is some feedback on whether it works location wise for people as it's no good if not enough of us can make it.
It is going to be near impossible for one venue to be suitable for everyone of course, and if we get one off the ground we could always do other similar meet ups in different venues to try and include as many as possible.

If it looks like a possibility, @Martyn and I can start confirming dates etc, sorting the list of who's bringing what and so on.
 


advertisement


Back
Top