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Latest LS3/5a v other mini standmounts shootout !

B

BigBlue2020

pfm Member
In this months HiFi Choice (December), to mark 50-ish years of the LS3/5a. Falcon LS3/5a Gold v Kef LS50 Meta, Graham Audio LS3, Proac Tab 10 Signature, Rega Kyte and Spendor Classic 4/5 (All speakers 'related to or influenced by the LS3/5a' apparently).
The Falcon comes out on top with the KEF LS50 Meta running it close.
It's a shame they didn't try the Stirling LS3/5a V3's (which in my view better the Falcons), Amphion Argon 1's and Neat Petite 30 Classics (I'd like to try the latter two in my system).
I love the LS3/5a's, but I'm surprised they still come out on top - what have speaker designers been doing for 50 years ? No doubt with different ears and different systems the results might be different, especially if you value a fuller bass, more volume or better dynamics on complex tracks.
It's also a shame that the reviewers flowery language leaves you with little firm impression of what each speaker actually sounds like, just snippets here and there to mull over what it actually means. Modern You Tube reviews give you so much more information (if you can fully trust them of course!).
 
I love the LS3/5a's, but I'm surprised they still come out on top

That's only because they didn't include Ergo IX's in the mix...
 
It sounds like HiFi Choice didn’t really approach things the right way.
You either have an LS3/5A shootout or a small standmounts shootout, as they did.
We tried to organise an LS3/5A Shootout a while ago, but sadly it never came to anything.
 
How can you have a ls3/5a shootout without arguably the most important ls3/5a of modern times - Harbeth p3esr.

And I agree with @Martyn Miles , why even include speakers that aren't even trying to sound like the classic BBC sound. I understand why they include proac tab 10 but why even Kef LS50 meta is there? it's just related to ls3/5a by name. totally different approach to speakers design otherwise.
 
BigBlue2020 said:
what have speaker designers been doing for 50 years
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Apparently not much...... other than jacking prices up to incredulous levels! I've gone through P3ESRs (not an LS3/5a), Aerial 5Bs, Harbeth M30s and a couple others that don't rate press and while I have stayed with the M30 for a while, I would gladly live with the LS3/5a (original or Falcon).
 
The Rega Kyte influenced by the LS3/5a? Come on. Also..the Falcon is 8 times the price.
 
May be worth noting at this juncture, that the whole point of the BBC licensing production of the LS3/5a to Rogers, KEF, Chartwell etc....was that every LS3/5a was intended to sound exactly like every other LS3/5a.... The box, the KEF T27 tweeter and B110 driver, the crossover and internal damping etc..were all standardised.
Just sayin'....
 
BigBlue2020 said:
In this months HiFi Choice (December), to mark 50-ish years of the LS3/5a. Falcon LS3/5a Gold v Kef LS50 Meta, Graham Audio LS3, Proac Tab 10 Signature, Rega Kyte and Spendor Classic 4/5 (All speakers 'related to or influenced by the LS3/5a' apparently).
Click to expand...

That is a selection of speakers I view as very different to the extent I’d be really hard pressed to pick a winner. They all like to sit in different locations relative to the room and listener, have vastly different power handling and volume capability, suit different classes of amplification and match different tastes. Just entirely different contexts. I bet there’s no bad one in the list, but which one picked would be defined entirely by what one wanted to do with it.
 
Ptah said:
The Rega Kyte influenced by the LS3/5a?
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It is a stretch for sure, but one could argue that, like the LS3/5A had at its time, the Kyte has a radical new way of thinking about cabinet design. You could make the same claim about the LS50.

PS Has anyone heard the Kyte? Assuming Rega haven’t cheaped-out on the tweeter (as they did on the originals) I’d expect them to sound very good. I like the design thinking. I like the older versions of both the LS50 and Spendors. I’d expect to like everything on the list to be honest. I like mini-monitors!
 
yunie_ said:
How can you have a ls3/5a shootout without arguably the most important ls3/5a of modern times - Harbeth p3esr.

And I agree with @Martyn Miles , why even include speakers that aren't even trying to sound like the classic BBC sound. I understand why they include proac tab 10 but why even Kef LS50 meta is there? it's just related to ls3/5a by name. totally different approach to speakers design otherwise.
Click to expand...

Perhaps KEF advertise in Hifi Choice?

Allegedly......:rolleyes:
 
yunie_ said:
How can you have a ls3/5a shootout without arguably the most important ls3/5a of modern times - Harbeth p3esr.

And I agree with @Martyn Miles , why even include speakers that aren't even trying to sound like the classic BBC sound. I understand why they include proac tab 10 but why even Kef LS50 meta is there? it's just related to ls3/5a by name. totally different approach to speakers design otherwise.
Click to expand...

I think both, in there relative time, strived for a neutral sound with as straight as possible direct sound frequency response. How you execute that is, for me as a buyer, irrelevant. I own 1978 LS3/5a's and LS50's very near cousin, R100's. Wouldn't mind a pair of P3's too :)
 
Might also point out the the LS3/5a was designed as a near field studio monitor, for use in small cramped studios to monitor studio output and I think mostly speech.
It happens that many also like it, used within its design limitations, as a domestic hi fi speaker.
The Rogers Studio 3 which I use was designed as a direct result of KEF having a fire, which cast doubt on future supplies of T27/B110 drivers and therefore on future production of LS3/5a. As it was, supplies were restored, but meanwhile...
Andy Whittle at Rogers came up with the Studio 3 using the LS3/5a cabinet with different, Rogers drivers and xover, as well as a more conventionally 'domestic' balance etc.
I would say this, because I love mine, but I'm not the only one to have bought into the S3s very fine qualities.
 
BigBlue2020 said:
a shame that the reviewers flowery language leaves you with little firm impression of what each speaker actually sounds like,
Click to expand...

I wouldn't put too much attention into such review or many other reviews for that matter.

In fact I'm a bit surprised these magazines still exist - must be financed by somebody, if so, how neutral are reviewers ?
 
I agree that the Harbeth P3 ESR should have been included. I used to own one - lovely rich midband, but i found the treble too bright.

The Kef LS50 Meta is a modern speaker aimed towards similar objectives as the LS3/5a (small with excellent midrange), and referenced it in its design brief - so it should quite rightly be included in the HFC test. Kef of course also manufactured the original drivers back in the day, and made their own LS3/5a's under BBC licence. I also owned the original LS50 - fantastic detail and imaging, but again the treble was too hot for me.
 
Mullardman said:
Might also point out the the LS3/5a was designed as a near field studio monitor, for use in small cramped studios to monitor studio output and I think mostly speech.
It happens that many also like it, used within its design limitations, as a domestic hi fi speaker.
The Rogers Studio 3 which I use was designed as a direct result of KEF having a fire, which cast doubt on future supplies of T27/B110 drivers and therefore on future production of LS3/5a. As it was, supplies were restored, but meanwhile...
Andy Whittle at Rogers came up with the Studio 3 using the LS3/5a cabinet with different, Rogers drivers and xover, as well as a more conventionally 'domestic' balance etc.
I would say this, because I love mine, but I'm not the only one to have bought into the S3s very fine qualities.
Click to expand...
My journey into small speaker ownership started with the Rogers Studio 3s.
I ‘discovered’ them for sale in a small village in Nottinghamshire, for about £125, so took a chance.
They were a revelation compared with little Wharfedale Diamonds I owned.
The thing I recall most was how good they sounded when listening to a R4 play.
I sold them to buy a pair of Audiomaster LS3/5As.
If I’m honest, I still miss those little Studio 3s...
 
I will be the first to admit that I know nothing about speaker design. However Mull is correct when he claims that every LS3/5As will sound the same because every item down to the last nut bolt and washer is exactly the same as all the others, so they are all identical in specification except for the logo. Therefore what's the point in comparing a bunch of identical speakers. Thus the inclusion of the KEF LS50 really is useful because like it or not, modern speakers are bloody good.

I recently bought a Sonos streamer that bangs out 125 wpc and a pair of small speakers (Dali Oberon 1) which is a package recommended by Richer Sounds. They also included some pretty good cables and plugs etc. The cost of the total package was £999.00. I believe the little speakers retail at £400.00ish.

The speakers are placed on a sideboard about 63 inches apart and 8 inches from the wall and the simple truth is that after a few weeks run in they sound better than I could ever imagine. They are in a villa in Spain which is quite spacious and the sound easily fills the lounge / dinning room as well as the kitchen which is separated by an archway.

I will admit that I was uneasy about using such small speakers because for the last thirty years I have used Briks / Shahinian Orbs and Naim SBL MK2s. However these little speakers have delivered in spades.

Therefore I say the test should be LS3/5As v KEF v all the other bookshelf speakers because old speaker snobbery is going to die. Modern stuff is good.
 
There are differences between LS3/5As, but they’re not a big as some would have you believe.
I’ve had a fair few different pairs in my house over the years and I have noticed small differences.
The bottom line is, though, that they all sounded excellent and I feel I could live with any of them.

Things have changed due to internet discussion, especially from the Far East.
Some will tell you that you MUST HAVE Falcon Acoustics LS3/5As.
Nothing else will do.

I have owned Falcon LS3/5As and what might be called ‘alternative’ versions, such an those made by
Stirling Broadcast.
At the present moment I’m listening to a pair of older LS3/5As, Rogers 11 ohm models.
They are superb, they really are.

It’s an odd world when it comes to LS3/5As.

Incidentally, I prefer my Spendor BC1s to any small speakers however good they are...
 
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