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Regarding LS3/5A and others...

You mentioned the Falcon Gold Badge DIY, which is new to me.
Must check it out.
It might be worth getting a listen to the Falcon Q7, if you can find someone with a pair.
I’m currently running a pair using a Quad 34/306 amplifier.
They work together superbly.
 
Navyblue said:
Just came back from another hifi store crawl. Got to hear the KEF (LS50 Meta, R3, Reference Meta, LS50WII, LSXII), Golder Ear BRX, Proac (Tablette 10, D2R), Rogers LS3/5A, ATC (SCM7, SCM19)

I heard the Proac Tablette 10 after hearing the KEFs and Golden Ear, the highs of the Tablette 10 does feel boosted, along with the bass. Kinda like the "rock" EQ setting. The treble of Rogers LS3/5A feels even stronger still. Among the tiny British monitors I would rank the perceived treble strength as follows:

Classic 4/5 < P3ESR-XD < SCM7 < Tablette 10 < Rogers LS3/5A

Even the Classic 4/5 does not sound dark or soft to me. If it is your idea of balanced, then the tablette 10 would sound boosted in treble. Personally I can stand all of them, depending on how long and loud I listen to them, and of course electronic pairing.

For me the Classic 4/5" falls into a category of sound that a lot of modern speaker falls into. A great all rounder with no particular weakness, warm but without any obvious colouration, smooth, dynamic, punchy, images well and detailed. Another speaker in my audition list that I personally lump in this category is the Dali Menuet SE. It's a bit cheaper, prettier, but ported. I can't comment on which is better because I heard them in different stores.

The Tablette 10 is veering into a category I call rock speakers. Like the above but with a bit cooler tone and a touch of V shaped curve. I would lump the Focal Aria 906 here as well. And may be the Golden Ear BRX as well, but this has a looser, smoother, warmer and less textured presentation.

There is also the Tablette 10 Signature. When I first listen to the Tablette 10 (after hearing the Menuet SE), it feels like a thinner/cooler/brighter presentation to me (it doesn't feel thin the second time I heard it). Right after that I heard the Tablette 10 Signature. What stood out to me was the tonality is quite different. Smoother, more delicate and romantic, less intense/fatiguing. As for the treble intensity, I didn't pay much attention to it, so it's possible they are about the same intensity, but feels like a gentler speaker to me. I have to hear it again to be sure.

You might also want to look into the ATC SCM7 too. It is like the Tablette 10 but with very linear bass. You may or may not like this because most speakers have a bass hump somewhere. It is 1/3 of the price of the Rogers LS3/5A, but I have to say it is the technically superior speaker, and actually sound like a monitor. Between it and the Tablette 10, I suspect I would pick the SCM7. The ATC tweeter also seemed superior. Notice I use words like "feel" and "seem", I heard them in different stores.

After hearing the LS3/5A for the second time, The flaws became more obvious to me. On the bottom end, it's simply inferior compared to modern speakers. The top end is definitely boosted. The midrange pops but not great on subtleties. The gold badge might be better. The imaging though, it's top notch and superior to all the Proacs, Or KEF's Uni-Q drivers. If I were to buy one, no way I am paying new Rogers price. I would go Falcon Gold badge DIY, which is a more reasonable price IMO.
Click to expand...
Excellent write-up, very informative!
 
Martyn Miles said:
You mentioned the Falcon Gold Badge DIY, which is new to me.
Must check it out.
It might be worth getting a listen to the Falcon Q7, if you can find someone with a pair.
I’m currently running a pair using a Quad 34/306 amplifier.
They work together superbly.
Click to expand...

What I meant was buying the drivers/crossovers/damping/hardwares from Falcon. Falcon sells the flatpack boxes too. Or you can buy custom made boxes, or build your own. Not exactly cheap, but even if you splurge, no way they would cost nearly as much as the new Rogers. Or buy the Q7 kit.
 
Just had a look at the Falcon site and yes, it appears you can buy pretty close to every part of an LS3/5A (drivers, cabs, Gold Badge crossover, gaskets, screws, binding posts etc). I’ve not added it up but I suspect you’d be getting very close to the price of a second hand pair when all done (e.g. veneered the cabs etc). The only thing I didn’t spot is the tygan grille, but I may just have missed it.

Like building a kit guitar or amp it would be great fun and highly rewarding, but I suspect not a great investment. Buy a mint second hand factory pair at the right price and they’ll hold value pretty much indefinitely, plus you get all the other stuff like the shipping box etc which is important to me (I never understand folk who throw hi-fi boxes away, they are essential if you want to move, move stuff in or whatever!).
 
I built a Falcon Acoustics' LS3/5A Kit when they were first released. You had everything ( yes, including cabinets ) for £823.
They were built for a friend, who absolutely loves them.
Looking back, I ought to have bought a few Kits when they were still available...
 
Navyblue said:
Just came back from another hifi store crawl. Got to hear the KEF (LS50 Meta, R3, Reference Meta, LS50WII, LSXII), Golder Ear BRX, Proac (Tablette 10, D2R), Rogers LS3/5A, ATC (SCM7, SCM19)

I heard the Proac Tablette 10 after hearing the KEFs and Golden Ear, the highs of the Tablette 10 does feel boosted, along with the bass. Kinda like the "rock" EQ setting. The treble of Rogers LS3/5A feels even stronger still. Among the tiny British monitors I would rank the perceived treble strength as follows:

Classic 4/5 < P3ESR-XD < SCM7 < Tablette 10 < Rogers LS3/5A

Even the Classic 4/5 does not sound dark or soft to me. If it is your idea of balanced, then the tablette 10 would sound boosted in treble. Personally I can stand all of them, depending on how long and loud I listen to them, and of course electronic pairing.

For me the Classic 4/5" falls into a category of sound that a lot of modern speaker falls into. A great all rounder with no particular weakness, warm but without any obvious colouration, smooth, dynamic, punchy, images well and detailed. Another speaker in my audition list that I personally lump in this category is the Dali Menuet SE. It's a bit cheaper, prettier, but ported. I can't comment on which is better because I heard them in different stores.

The Tablette 10 is veering into a category I call rock speakers. Like the above but with a bit cooler tone and a touch of V shaped curve. I would lump the Focal Aria 906 here as well. And may be the Golden Ear BRX as well, but this has a looser, smoother, warmer and less textured presentation.

There is also the Tablette 10 Signature. When I first listen to the Tablette 10 (after hearing the Menuet SE), it feels like a thinner/cooler/brighter presentation to me (it doesn't feel thin the second time I heard it). Right after that I heard the Tablette 10 Signature. What stood out to me was the tonality is quite different. Smoother, more delicate and romantic, less intense/fatiguing. As for the treble intensity, I didn't pay much attention to it, so it's possible they are about the same intensity, but feels like a gentler speaker to me. I have to hear it again to be sure.

You might also want to look into the ATC SCM7 too. It is like the Tablette 10 but with very linear bass. You may or may not like this because most speakers have a bass hump somewhere. It is 1/3 of the price of the Rogers LS3/5A, but I have to say it is the technically superior speaker, and actually sound like a monitor. Between it and the Tablette 10, I suspect I would pick the SCM7. The ATC tweeter also seemed superior. Notice I use words like "feel" and "seem", I heard them in different stores.

After hearing the LS3/5A for the second time, The flaws became more obvious to me. On the bottom end, it's simply inferior compared to modern speakers. The top end is definitely boosted. The midrange pops but not great on subtleties. The gold badge might be better. The imaging though, it's top notch and superior to all the Proacs, Or KEF's Uni-Q drivers. If I were to buy one, no way I am paying new Rogers price. I would go Falcon Gold badge DIY, which is a more reasonable price IMO.
Click to expand...

Great write up. All useful stuff.

What are the top runners now, do you think?

Not listened to the ATC SCM7, but listened to the SCM11 and SCM19 at length. Thought both were superior all round to the Proac Tablette 10 Sig, but the SCM11 are a little anaemic sounding at low volumes and lack a little body in the mids. The 19s are pretty special but dunno if these are too large for you? They also like buckets of power and can be a little unforgiving with poor recordings. They're right up there with my favourite speakers though. Very tight, cohesive and dynamic sound.
 
I have never heard any ATC small speakers.
Come to that, I have never heard the small Pro-Ac speakers either.

Most of my exposure has been to LS3/5As of various makes, plus Harbeth HL-P3s, M20s and ESRs
Along with small B & Ws, such as D5s, DM1s and DM4s.

Of those, the HL-P3s and DM1s were particularly good I thought.
 
Tony L said:
Like building a kit guitar or amp it would be great fun and highly rewarding, but I suspect not a great investment. Buy a mint second hand factory pair at the right price and they’ll hold value pretty much indefinitely, plus you get all the other stuff like the shipping box etc which is important to me (I never understand folk who throw hi-fi boxes away, they are essential if you want to move, move stuff in or whatever!).
Click to expand...

I did the math. I can put together a gold badge for less than a used Falcon silver badge. But yes, a DIY speaker around me have next to zero resale value.

I may or may not have moved speaker box to the recycling bin undetected right after purchase in order to maintain a harmonious living environment. The last sentence is not a confession or admission to any deed, legally or otherwise.
 
I have a box room. A room that is absolutely full of boxes. I’m not for a minute suggesting it is the only room with boxes in it, but it has most of them.

PS I’m even worse than this as if I buy something off eBay and it turns up in a random shipping box that I think may be useful, or has nice bubble-wrap, foam or whatever I keep it in the cellar in case I need to ship anything of that size/shape. I’ve got way, way too much down there now.
 
My friend wasn’t it the least concerned that the Falcon Kit LS3/5As I built him were, effectively ‘DIY speakers.’

When Jerry delivered the Kit we talked about assembly and he said, done correctly, there was no reason they
wouldn’t sound just like the factory version.
I spent a long time assembling them correctly.

In my case, my friend had no intention of selling them on so resale value didn’t come into it.
 
I’m sure it was good fun, I’d have enjoyed doing it all myself. I’m just of the stingy mindset where I very seldom buy any hi-fi unless I can move it on at no loss. This hobby has been ‘free’ for me for decades now, I just invest in a way I can get at least what I paid out at any time later.

Did you do your own cabinet veneering? That would frighten me a bit as I have no skills there!
 
The cabinets came as part of the Falcon LS3/5A Kit.
In fact, Falcon sold cabinets separately for some years.
I bought a pair and never used them in the end, so I sold them.
Bad move...
 
Goat said:
What are the top runners now, do you think?
Click to expand...

I have no idea really.

I am somewhat invested in tubes. My current speaker has 90dB sensitivity. With this aspect alone, there doesn't seem to be any better small speaker that I can replace them. The Focal Aria 906 is as sensitive, but they are no smaller and don't sound too different. Since I can't replace it, another pair of speakers have to complement it by doing things it can't.

If money is no object, I would get the P3ESR-XD. Or wait a few years to get the 50th anniversary edition for the cool factor. No self respecting marketing department would miss out such an occasion.

But it's hard to ignore the value aspect. I would get the LS3/5A for its imaging ability alone, but only if the price is right. Actually, the Spendor A1 imaging ability did stood out to me when I heard it. But I didn't compare it directly to its brethren.

The ATC SCM19 seems to have a more focused midrange. The SCM7 might image better. But from my audition, it's not obvious to me, the store's speaker placement is far from ideal. On the used markets, there are a few pretty mint and heavily discounted ATCs, but no new Harbeths. Apparently the Harbeth owners only sell their speakers to upgrade to the new ones. So the ATCs stood out in the value department.
 
If you are concerned with value don’t overlook the Spendor S3/5R and related models. I have the R on TV duties and they get nothing wrong. A seriously nice speaker for about £500 second hand (that’s what I paid for my mint boxed pair anyway). They don’t have quite the insight of the LS3/5A or JR149, are a little harder to drive having more of an impedance dip, but they have more volume headroom and are remarkably even tonally. I could very happily build a main system around them. I suspect they’d be amazing on a more powerful amp than I currently have to hand.
 
Ah, Spendors.
I have always had great respect for their speakers.
I still own a pair of BC1s, over 40 years old now.
Some years ago I owned a pair of the original SA1s.
Superb speakers, Spendor's equivalent of the LS3/5A.
 
Tony L said:
I have a box room. A room that is absolutely full of boxes. I’m not for a minute suggesting it is the only room with boxes in it, but it has most of them.

PS I’m even worse than this as if I buy something off eBay and it turns up in a random shipping box that I think may be useful, or has nice bubble-wrap, foam or whatever I keep it in the cellar in case I need to ship anything of that size/shape. I’ve got way, way too much down there now.
Click to expand...
Something tells me you don’t live in a 3 bed terrace with a wife, 3 daughters, 2 dogs and a few mice.
 
My search for compact speakers has ended with a pair of used Harbeth Compact 7ES-3 40th Anniversary.

I decided that this is the last pair of speaker I would buy. That said I thought my Triangle Comete 40th Anniversary was my last pair of speakers. I bought them less than a year ago.

Thanks guys for your inputs.
 
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