Originally Posted by
spendorman
Hi Barry and anyone interested.
Unfortunately there are many more speakers including Spendor Preludes, some very old Wharfdales , Tannoy, Tangent (forgot those RS2 and RS4) and quite a few home built concoctions. Inc. LS3/5a clones, Kef B200+Celestion HF1300 + Coles 4001G) EMI 14”x9” +Audax mid+Celestion HF1300+ Coles 4001G , Goodmans early Alnico Axiette 8” + Peerless soft dome tweeter. One day I should make a full list. I think it may be frightening.
I find it difficult to meaningfully describe the difference between speakers.
My good friend (completely non technical, whose Dad was technical Manager of Vitavox and was on the team designing the Klipschorn) said of speakers:
“All speakers are coloured, it’s just that the good ones have nice sounding coloration”
I will say that the LS3/5a (mine are early Chartwell 15 Ohm versions) are very good small speakers. They excel on small scale classical. However for rock (loud) these are not the ones.
The LS3/6 are very nice, unfortunately, they do not have the original bass/ mid units. These were damaged and that is how I got the speakers. However, after considering using various alternative bass/ mids (including BC1) I decided that some Dalesford 8” Bextrene units may be good. The reasoning is that I believe that some Rogers Export Monitors may have used these. LS3/6, Rogers Export Monitor, Rogers Studio 1 and Spendor BC1 are all closely related.
The choice has worked well, the LS3/6 have more controlled bass than the BC1 (I have several vintages of BC1). The mid is less coloured than the BC1 and the LS3/6 uses a Celestion HF2000 as a supertweeter instead of the Coles 4001G. This is an advantage as it is less delicate (can take more power) than the Coles.
So my LS3/6 are not original, but I am very pleased with them, and they can take more power that the standard LS3/6. Good sounding as the original LS3/6 bass/ mid was, it could not take much power.
Believe it or not I think I could be happy with just the LS3/6, the LS3/5a for second system and, wait for it!! the JPW Gold Monitors. I do like the electrostatics, but with all this equipment and no space left, they are rarely placed in ideal positions.
Apologies for all this rambling, that’s all it is.
Oh, I'm not answering your questions. LS2 I found very detailed in the mid, but a bit too coloured in the mid compared to LS3/5a. LS7, better in the mid and bass than LS2, very detailed and articulate, but the top end does not seem to heave the finnesse of speakers that used Celestion HF1300 and a supertweeter (eg. Spendor BC1, B&W DM1, DM2, DM3, DM4, LS3/6).
To be pedantic, the DM3 did not use Celestion HF1300, it was a Celestion HF1400, which is a 1300 with a bigger magnet.