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Building LS3/5As

TonyScarlett

TonyScarlett

pfm Member
I have just purchased a pair of Kef B110s, T27s & some Falcon 23ab v1 crossovers off Retrotech Audio which were apparently culled from a pair of homemade LS3/5As. Should be arriving next week sometime.

I am planning on using the drive units for my driverless JR149s but having also bought the crossovers it seems silly not to at least explore the option of building my own LS3/5As.

I know this is probably a well trodden path so would appreciate any advice, tips, potential pitfalls people can offer. I would obviously need to source some cabinets. Other than that it seems all the parts I would need are readily available from Falcon. Is it really as simple as that?

Cheers

TS
 
Since the tightly controlled tolerances of the B110's used in the Ls3/5a were well toward one end of the production variations then your home built ones won't sound like ls3/5a's. The constructor series of drivers were likely ones that did not meet the rigorous specs of other customers so will not even be particularly matched to each other. I would go for the JR149 build myself.

Rgds
Stuart
 
I built a pair and they sound exactly like my friend’s early Falcons.
With input on construction from Jerry Bloomfield, when he dropped off a Falcon LS3/5A Kit in 2015.
Also help from Andy Whittle of Rogers, who supplied the new Rogers fully fitted cabinets.

New Falcon drive units, baffles, felt squares, mounting hardware, grilles, etc. were purchased.
Falcon ‘Silver’ crossovers, from someone fitting ‘Gold’ ones to his LS3/5As, were obtained.

Very careful build, with Jerry’s notes in my head and Andy’s advice.
They sounded superb from the first play...

Taking them to my friend’s house and comparing with his early 2016 Falcons, we couldn’t tell the difference.
They’re not ‘real’ ‘3/5As, but they sound like them.
The cost ?
Just under £850.
 
Martyn,
I suspect that the new Falcon B110 drivers are built to tight tolerances, as they were specially recreated for Jerry to make the Falcon LS3/5as. The falcons will be much better than a pair of vintage B110s taken from another speaker. I have a pair of KefKit CS1a, which do sound pretty close to my V1 Stirlings.
 
topoxforddoc said:
Martyn,
I suspect that the new Falcon B110 drivers are built to tight tolerances, as they were specially recreated for Jerry to make the Falcon LS3/5as. The falcons will be much better than a pair of vintage B110s taken from another speaker. I have a pair of KefKit CS1a, which do sound pretty close to my V1 Stirlings.
Click to expand...

I think they're still selecting the ones for LS3/5A spec.
 
TonyScarlett said:
I would obviously need to source some cabinets. Other than that it seems all the parts I would need are readily available from Falcon. Is it really as simple as that?
Click to expand...
You can get cabinets from Falcon as well. They need to be put together, but then can be veneered or painted.
 
Yes, cabinets are available from Falcon to be self assembled but I prefer the genuine thing.
All cabinets used for the LS3/5A clones I built were genuine ones.
Doug Stirling supplied me with six old but serviceable ones, from different LS3/5A manufacturers.

I did make up a Falcon set, fitted with loaded Stirling baffles.
They didn’t sound as good as the baffles fitted in an old pair of Harbeth cabinets.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I realise the Constructor Series drive units won't be as good as genuine Falcon units. My current thinking is if I can find some nice, genuine LS3/5A cabinets I can always upgrade the drive units &/or the crossovers at a later date when funds allow.

If nothing else it will be a nice little project & I can hopefully learn a few things along the way.

Now just need to find some nice cabs.

TS
 
TonyScarlett said:
Thanks for the replies.

I realise the Constructor Series drive units won't be as good as genuine Falcon units. My current thinking is if I can find some nice, genuine LS3/5A cabinets I can always upgrade the drive units &/or the crossovers at a later date when funds allow.

If nothing else it will be a nice little project & I can hopefully learn a few things along the way.

Now just need to find some nice cabs.

TS
Click to expand...
have a look on facebook
Francis Munoz ....
 
Well I went ahead & built my LS3/A's. I got lucky, I was offered some really nice genuine LS3 cabinets by a fellow fishie for a great price. Far to good to throw 2ndhand parts at, so I saved the Constructor Series drive units for the JR149's & splashed out on brand new Falcon units + all the other bits off Falcon required to complete the build.

The cabinets were in unfinished walnut veneer, I've given them a few coats of Danish Oil & they've come up lovely.

Not a cheap build by any means but if your going to do a job you might as well do it right. Cost me a smidge under £1300 all in. Worth it? In cost terms probably not, you often see genuine Falcons around the £1500 mark & Stirling V2s are not much more new.

To me though it's been absolutely worth it just for the pride of listening to speakers ive built myself. I love tinkering & building things so this has been a really pleasing project & I've learnt some things along the way.

What do they sound like? Just like a really nice pair of LS3/5A's. Should mention that I've owned in the past 2 pairs of P3ESR's, Stirling V2's & V3's plus Spendor 11ohm LS3/5S's. Also had the pleasure of listening to @Martyn Miles home built LS3/5A's recently, so I have a pretty good handle on what they should sound like.

Thanks are due to Martyn Miles for his help & advice, also to Jerry Broomfield at Falcon for excellent service supplying the parts & getting a replacement crossover to me in super quick time to replace the one DHL had damaged in transit.

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TS
 
Just been listening to Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. I attended the Tchaikovsky Ballet Classics concert at Birmingham Symphony Hall on Thursday evening so I have a pretty good recent memory of what the music sounds like played live. Obviously my Nait 50 & LS3/5A's can't hope to compete with the scale & dynamics of a live orchestra but they do a damn fine impression! Excellent stuff.

TS
 
Ive got a pair of Falcon LS3/5A'd made from their kits with factory built cabinets plus gold badge crossovers and they
sound as good as their reputation suggested. Ive also got a a pair of their cabinet kits to make up and experiment with.
I want to try external crossovers, new self built crossovers with different inductors, bi amping plus a few other items.
Of course I'm keeping the Falcon made ones totally standard to compare with. Probably wont sound any better and maybe
worse but interesting to try.
 
I built a pair of 11 ohm LS3/5As using KEF constructor series B110s, T27s and LS3/5A crossovers with Moldovan rosewood cabinets. I applied bitumen panels and foam pads to the inner cabinet walls, per BBC spec and compared them to my original Spendor 11 ohm LS3/5As. The sound was extremely similar even though it probably didn't meet the exact BBC specs. I actually marginally preferred the sound of the home brewed ones (only very marginally, and this may just have been expectation bias).

I ended up selling them for what it cost me to build them. I had a great experience and wasn't looking to make a profit.
 
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