What's comparable to LS3/5a?

[jazzpiano]

Hello All,

Suppose you love the sound of LS3/5as, but missed the boat on getting a pair while they were still reasonable or, like me, sold your pair when they were going for $500. I've heard lots of folks talking about speakers they thought superceded the LS3/5as (Audio Physic Step, Harbeths, etc.) but what if you wanted a reasonably-priced speaker that excelled at what the
LS3/5as excelled at? Any possibilities in your eyes?

Best,
Barry

[Tarzan]

What about those small PMCs l cannot remember the model number- they are around £500ish new l believe, hope this helps

[Labarum]

You can still by the LS3/5a new for £1000

http://www.stoneaudio.co.uk/?product...or+loudspeaker

http://www.stirlingbroadcast.net/

The Harbeth P3ESR is rather more

http://www.harbeth.co.uk/uk/index.ph...sr&model=P3ESR

What price are Spendor in USA?

http://www.spendoraudio.com/

But are you looking for something half that price?

AVI Neutron 5 for £450 mail order to USA

http://www.avihifi.co.uk/neutron.html

But its not a BBC "thin wall" speaker.

You would get a lot more for your money if you could live with the look and sound of an Active Studio Monitor

Amongst the best looking

http://www.mackie.com/products/mrmk2series/splash/

£260 a pair in UK.

I've heard the 8" version - extremely good - that's LS5/9 size.

[DSJR]

The Harbeth P3ESR is so far ahead of the 3/5A in every respect (they handle more power, go much louder without distorting, have a much nicer midrange and the treble is in a totally different league - active speakers be damned!) they can barely be compared now and many LS3/5A's themselves will be way outside their spec now in any case. Later KEF B110's and B200's went right off the boil and the infamous "Bextrene Quack" got worse and worse, annihilating Linn's speakers too - as if they needed much help, but that's another story

I believe Spendor had a go or two at doing a sort-of version of the 3/5A, but I never heard good reports of them and we never bothered when we sold the S and SE series. Their SA1 (series 2) is available from many Sevenoaks stores I believe, so you might be able to get a listen to these, which are far better (I haven't compared them to the Harbeths though)

[hoopsontoast]

ATC SCM7
Harbeth P3ESR
Spendor S3/5R
Spendor SA1
Stirling Broadcast V2
Keesonic Kolt
Kef Q100
Kef R100

[southall-1998]

Have the Spendor S3/5R ever been compared to the 15 ohm LS3/5a?

Regards.

[Effem]

I still can't work out what the current fascination is with the LS3/5a and even less so why they appear to attract silly money on the secondhand market

As memory serves me, they were I believe designed for monitoring in mobile broadcasting studios where space is at a premium, so unless you intend to listen to your system in a broom cupboard or wardrobe there is not much chance of them sounding sweet in an average 10' by 14' lounge.

As Dave R also rightly says, they are getting to the point now where the Bextrene has seen better days and will be performing way off their original specs.

[Labarum]

And they were designed principally for monitoring speech.

[DSJR]

The extreme HF was topped up to emphasise distortion and tape hiss as well.

A novelty in their day...

The Harbeth Monitor 20 was designed as a "drop in" replacement and many were sold to the BBC in addition to the original P3. The BBC buy a lot of Dynaudio BM5A actives now for these duties.

[hifi_dave]

The Beeb still use many Monitor 20, P3ESR and Monitor 30. All three are drop-in replacements for original BBC designs. They have just bought in Monitor 30's for surround sound monitoring duties.