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How good are LS3/5a for music?

Conan

Conan

Loop digger
A lot has been written about the LS3/5a topology.

I like small speakers. Currently have Linn Kan 2 in a small room (4x4m) and they work really well. Yet I see a lot of people dissing the Kans in favour of the L3/5a.
I never heard them but I would like to give them a try.
I currently have the Kans 2.5m away from me. How would like to know how would the LS3/5as fare in the same distance?
 
Both want to be somewhere entirely different in the room, so no easy call. Assuming you can accommodate either I suspect musical taste will push the choice, the LS3/5As being wonderfully neutral, natural and open on acoustic instruments, classical, jazz etc, the Kan great fun on upbeat rock music. The other thing is they suit entirely different systems, e.g. you’ll find most LS3/5A owners use vintage or high-end valve amps, the Kans almost always being partnered with a big stack of Naim. They are different schools, but both valid IMO. I have over the years moved from one to the other, but I’ve certainly not lost any respect for where I started.
 
Hi I have a pair of Harbeth P3 anniversary edition with a Naim Nova and as long as your not a bass freak I think you would be impressed. My room is a very similar size to yours and am really happy with them and I did listen to a lot of speakers before buying the Harbeths. Speakers do seem to be a personal choice as a lot does depend on the room and what you listen to. But they certainly cured my bass boom I was suffering with my floor standing speakers.
 
A pair of Rogers LS3/5a was the speakers that stayed for the longest time with me. They are quite the opposite of Kans and I agree with everything above. I must say I enjoyed mine a lot in a full Naim system but they needed a 250 to sing. I had them at about 3m or more from my listening position, and far from walls. If you can live without bass, still today they may be a great speaker especially for vocals or acoustic instruments. I’d say they miss the kick of Kans, but can be more natural and less fatiguing. Heavy, dedicated stands (like Foundation) can make a difference. Lighter stands like those designed for Kans may be good, too. Many prefer to put them on spikes, I preferred to have them “glued” to the stands with blue tack.
I made some experiments with subwoofers (never with top quality ones, I must admit) and never enjoyed that. Including their own AB1s.
I sold them a couple of years ago, started to miss them, ended up with a nice Acoustic Energy AE1 mkii pair in my second system and really like them. The AE1s can be another option to LS3/5a - Kans - P3 small standmounts. All of them are great speakers.
 
Tony L said:
the Kans almost always being partnered with a big stack of Naim.
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My first encounter with Kan I's was in 1982 at a dealer in Bath where they were driven by the new Arcam (or still A&R?) C200/P200 and sounded brilliant.
The 3/5a is a very different speaker - I had both for quite a while and the 3/5a always sounded more coloured in a way - chesty mid and fizzy top, lumpy bass - bit like me these days. Kans always sounded crisp and inviting, ultimately neither reached all parts of the spectrum.
 
Ptah said:
I had both for quite a while and the 3/5a always sounded more coloured in a way - chesty mid and fizzy top, lumpy bass
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That isn’t how I’d describe them at all! To my ears they are very close indeed in sound and general presentation to original Quad ESLs. Astonishingly clear, open and natural midband and a nice tight, fast and defined bass that digs far deeper than one would consider possible for such a tiny driver in a tiny sealed box located far away from room boundaries. These are wonderful speakers IMO, but they have a very tightly defined usage context both in location (away from walls and firing across the room), context (nearfield) and partnering equipment (real high-end valve kit). Deviate too far from any of this and they’ll likely sound quite average, if that.

I think the best way of looking at both Kans and LS3/5As is as being about the best mini-monitor you can put on a very specific type of system. If you have a huge stack of chrome bumper Naim and want a small flat-friendly wall proximity speaker there really is nothing better than a Kan. Likewise if you love vintage Leak, Quad, Radford, Audio Research, Leben or whatever valve amps and want to find a little mini-monitor rather than the big high-efficiency horns or whatever these amps would usually be partnered with then the LS3/5A absolutely deserves its reputation. They sing on this kind of system to the extent you could want for nothing more.

PS I'd cite the JR149 as kind of a mid-point between the Kan and LS3/5A in many ways. It lives in a room location between them, not hard against a wall, but not right out in the room, and kind of straddles the divide sonically too. Exceptionally good little speakers.
 
Tony L said:
That isn’t how I’d describe them at all! To my ears they are very close indeed in sound and general presentation to original Quad ESLs. Astonishingly clear, open and natural midband and a nice tight, fast and defined bass that digs far deeper than one would consider possible for such a tiny driver in a tiny sealed box located far away from room boundaries. These are wonderful speakers IMO, but they have a very tightly defined usage context both in location (away from walls and firing across the room), context (nearfield) and partnering equipment (real high-end valve kit). Deviate too far from any of this and they’ll likely sound quite average, if that.

I think the best way of looking at both Kans and LS3/5As is as being about the best mini-monitor you can put on a very specific type of system. If you have a huge stack of chrome bumper Naim and want a small flat-friendly wall proximity speaker there really is nothing better than a Kan. Likewise if you love vintage Leak, Quad, Radford, Audio Research, Leben or whatever valve amps and want to find a little mini-monitor rather than the big high-efficiency horns or whatever these amps would usually be partnered with then the LS3/5A absolutely deserves its reputation. They sing on this kind of system to the extent you could want for nothing more.

PS I'd cite the JR149 as kind of a mid-point between the Kan and LS3/5A in many ways. It lives in a room location between them, not hard against a wall, but not right out in the room, and kind of straddles the divide sonically too. Exceptionally good little speakers.
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I think you have hit the nail on the head with your description of the LS3/5A. Match it with good valve amplification in my case Leben you can really play on the strengths of the speaker. They are wonderful to listen to in a nearfield scenario their bass output is restricted by their size but what bass they do produce is tuneful and agile.
 
My views are more polarised, as rock music ( and the like ) isn’t my thing.
When I first heard Linn Kans on my sort of music ( light orchestral ) I quickly realised these
weren’t the speakers for me.

When some rock-type music was played I could understand their appeal.
I never heard LS3/5as in the shop, but did listen to a pair of JR149s.

Eventually I went for bigger speakers ( Spendor BC1s ) and more-or-less forgot about ‘3/5as.
It wasn’t until very many years later LS3/5as came into my life, but I don’t quite remember how.
They seem to do ( on a smaller scale ) much of what the BC1s could do.
Being small, I used them for recording & mixing.
I was working for a Talking Newspaper at the time.
Then I set up a second system and LS3/5as were an obvious choice.
I’ve dabbled with other small speakers, but always come back to these Little Wonders.
 
I have Linn Kan II and I think they are the best speakers I ever heard in my small room.

I listen mostly to jazz-funk, electronic music and stuff like Philip Glass. What the Kan lack in bass they compensate with fun. They are also very good with piano and I don't hear the quack sound that so many here mention, probably because the version I use is the 2s Kustone.
But I never heard LS3/5a speakers. I was wondering if they sound good at 3m distance or are they more suited to nearfield as they were originally used for?
 
My Falcon LS3/5a are about 200cm from the listening position, 185cm apart, 80cm from the side walls and 115cm from the back wall. I could probably experiment a bit further with positioning but practical factors make these distances a pretty good compromise in my room. Any suggestions for tweaks/changes to these distances would be welcome though.

I tend to listen to a lot of 50s/60s Jazz/vocalists, small scale classical and Electronic music via about 50/50 vinyl/digital and could want for nothing more with the Falcons. I used Harbeth P3ESR for years and they were also wonderful. I think I prefer the LS3/5a for perhaps nostalgic reasons.

As for amplifiers, I’ve used the Falcons with a Quad 303 and Sugden A21aP, via Quad 33/34 and Nagra PL-P and it’s always given back a lovely sound just right for a living room.
 
Conan said:
But I never heard LS3/5a speakers. I was wondering if they sound good at 3m distance or are they more suited to nearfield as they were originally used for?
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At that distance I’d personally go the next size up, i.e. to something like a BC1, LS3/6, LS5/9 or various similarly voiced and constructed BBC designs. The LS3/5A, like the Kan and JR149 relies on a little 1970s 5” bass-mid in a small sealed box. The basic laws of physics apply and you can’t really expect it to fill a larger room with sound. These little mini-monitors all really defy their size if well setup in a near-field small room context, they can create a huge and believable soundstage, but they do have a distinct performance envelope. By saying that they’ll fair no worse than Kans, so if you are using those in that sort of space/distance then you may be content. The LS3/5As will inevitably end up closer to you than Kans as they like about a metre behind them, so there is some math between less wall reinforcement vs. closer proximity that would need to be assessed, but I’d expect the capabilities to be pretty similar.
 
A metre behind the speakers in my room is definitely a no go.
As much as I like music, I won't let an hifi setup to dictate my room layout. Linn Kan it is then.
 
Conan said:
I have Linn Kan II and I think they are the best speakers I ever heard in my small room.

I listen mostly to jazz-funk, electronic music and stuff like Philip Glass. What the Kan lack in bass they compensate with fun. They are also very good with piano and I don't hear the quack sound that so many here mention, probably because the version I use is the 2s Kustone.
But I never heard LS3/5a speakers. I was wondering if they sound good at 3m distance or are they more suited to nearfield as they were originally used for?
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I would recommend not to sell your Kans before listening to the LS3/5A in your room as you may find the latter too quiet for your taste. I had Kans 1 for many years and got rid of them only because I needed bass as I moved in a larger listening room.
 
Music tastes appear to have something of an influence on the Kan/LS3/5a choice.
As I said before, rock isn’t for me along with electronic music and similar genres.
Fortunately we all like different music and different speakers..
 
I have the Spendor LS35/r2 in my small listening room. they replaced some floor standers that occasionally suffered from bass boom that i just couldn`t cure. I love the spendors and find bass is fast supple and punchy. i don`t miss the floor standers at all.
 
I had Kan mk 2s and they only ever sounded clean and open, never harsh unless they were used with certain Naim gear. No bass though, but fine with a subwoofer.
 
I use a pair of Spendor classic 4/5s in a 4x4m room and love them, although they're more a modern take on the LS3/5a, like the P3ESR or proac Tablette. While they excel on acoustic, jazz, vocals etc, they have most surprised me on EDM, hip hop, pop and electronica. Because the sound is so tight, punchy, layered and controlled, they're a joy to listen to. Really engaging but totally non-fatiguing.

Sit about 1.8m away, speakers about 2m apart, and well clear of walls. But they still work really nicely much closer to walls.

I've never listened to a true LS3/5a, either the old ones or more modern versions like Falcon Mofi or gold badge. How do they compare in terms of bass response to speakers like the Spendor 4/5s? The latter have a 15cm bass driver, which is why I'm curious.
 
It kinda depends on your hearing. If it works properly you’ll find the LS3/5a tuneless and slow by comparison to the Kans.

It’s a bit like asking a group of people if you’ll like pistachio ice cream.
 
david ellwood said:
It kinda depends on your hearing. If it works properly you’ll find the LS3/5a tuneless and slow by comparison to the Kans.

It’s a bit like asking a group of people if you’ll like pistachio ice cream.
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Interesting.
I have never found the LS3/5a ‘tuneless and slow’ in the setting I have them in
and the music I play.
Vaughan Williams ‘Greensleeves’ sounds sublime.
I’m not sure ‘slow’ applies to orchestral music, but I may be wrong...
 
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