Yes, a bit lispy there… but likely the recording chain to YouTube… but they are good…
Listening to my vintage Newport Folk festival recordings on CD… great fun and atmospheric… after having listened to my Ely cathedral choir recordings… and before that J Dilla … haven’t found anything doesn’t sound good yet… and still running in.
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I am using a pair of 1989 ish 11ohm LS3/5A speakers with the Nait 50. The speakers sit on part filled Custom Design SQ404 stands. My room (office/spare bedroom) is about 2.5 metres squared-ish. Putting the speakers on stands about three feet forward into the room from the back wall was like buying new speakers, with the bass the major beneficiary! I love electronic music/modern production on vinyl and cd. Oxytocin by Billie Eilish - wow.
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yep, I hear you. I think these are wonders for electronic music as they are so tuneful, tight and detailed in the low bass whilst stick packing a surprising punch in the suitably sized rooms as well unexaggerated but beautifully rendered mids and highs. Voices can sometimes be startling!!
I was listening to some of my Italian 60s film music recordings - very rhythmic, full of faux emotion and sometimes inane, but always entertaining. However they can sound shrill and scratchy on some setups.. the LS3/5a Golds renders them with aplomb. I wonder how much of this is down to the N50/DAVE.. perhaps it’s a synergy.
Its the imaging from these things that is so impressive too - you can be totally off axis and the image still spreads out in front of you - yes when very to one side or outside the speaker pair, some of the imaging depth goes - but you still get a convincing spread… not experienced it quite like that before.
However I do think the support/stand is so important for these speakers if not listening in the very near field.
In a way I wish I had discovered these speakers sooner - I can really understand why they have their fans. But yes these are not suited for thunderous scale - like listening to Mahler at quite high volume… but I can live with that compromise I think.
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Mmm… There’s a challenge! I think I shall have to try some Mahler, or even better Wagner, on my N50+Falcon LS3/5a setup later.
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Yes, changing from the Nait 2 to Nait 50 I noticed that the “regular” size ls3/5a type speakers sounded better with the Nait 50 to me than the Falcon Q7. The Nait 50 gave them more of what you describe, including the bass, where the Q7 started sounding less convincing in the same room. Very possibly though, the N50 and the Q7 could be all good in a bigger room.
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I think I am about to pull the trigger and purchase these gold build Falcons.. though they are sensitive on support isolation.
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Have you compared them to a pair of Linn Kan ?
I think Linn Kan is much better for music.
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no I haven’t.. but these Falcon Golds are awesome for music - really really engaging across many genres of music including IDM and electronica . They are probably the most accommodating speakers that way I have ever had the pleasure to enjoy.
My current speakers are RK 50s - and they take some beating - but the Falcons I feel nudge ahead in the mids detail and bass detail.
As I say the only slight concern is stand and isolation sensitivity - but that can be managed. One needs to get that right for the speakers to ‘pop’. However the imaging is fantastic - I can sit totally to one side - and the imaging is still spread out infant of me - really interesting how well that works.
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As I have read, the Falcon Gold Badge is a compelling choice for your system. And with the Audio Serenity ISO 9H, you have also found a good solution for the SS6. It is a pity that Falcon Speakers does not have a dealer in Switzerland, so a home demo is difficult for me. I have also seen that the Falcons only have 82db and are therefore quite inefficient (minimum impedance probably around 7 ohms). My Vienna Acoustics have 89db, but with a minimum impedance of 3.8 ohms. On my Nait50, 08:50 on the volume control is sufficient for 70-80db listening volume and the Nait50 stays cool during operation.
Do the Falcon speakers, with their V-shaped sound signature, deliver such a high level of detail that it can cause listening fatigue over extended sessions?
How do they compare to the latest Harbeth P3ESR, which is often described as smoother and less fatiguing?
Has there been any direct comparison between these two speakers?
The Falcon Golds dont have a V shape signature - I usually dont like such speakers, as V response (also known as the ‘hifi response’ ) tend to have suppressed mids, albeit superficially impressive. It’s the mids that excel with the LS3/5a. (The LS3/5a spec has a slight lift in the upper bass)
So no the Falcons Golds are definitely not tiring to listen to - the complete opposite, you can end up spending too long sitting listening to them early into the morning…. The Silvers were more forward in the upper mids and could be tiring on some productions.
So the LS3/5a have a high level of timbral detail - that is different from the etched detail you get with some etups that given the appearance of detail through exaggerating certain frequencies- but there is no added information.
I think that is one reasons why the LS3/5a is so great for electronic music and acoustic music. Electronic music is typically heavily layered with timbral information, and complex percussive structures - which the LS3/5a renders clearly. Acoustic instruments have rich harmonic and timbral structures, which appear naturally rendered - (where the recording permits).
What is surprising is the bass and useful response down to about 35Hz in a modest sized room. with no or little resonance - really impressive and surprising… I have discovered foot tappings and bass lines I didn’t know existed in some of my recordings.
Now I have not played the golds on a less resolving, or low quality source- and that may expose the source for what it is and perhaps that source itself might be tiring?
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Thanks Simon for your detailed reply.
Very much appreciated!
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they have pipped the ls3/5’s?
Is that pimped?
The Gold Badge is based on the BBC Kingswood Warren design of the LS3/5a for limited professional use as opposed to the consumer spec version of the LS3/5a , and has enhanced components in the crossover, although the drivers are the same..
https://www.stereophile.com/content/falcon-gold-badge-ls35a-loudspeaker
My mistake , I thought you had the falcon golds and another pair of ls3/5a’s
no 
but I do wish I had discovered LS3/5a speakers sooner.
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I have both - Falcon Gold Badge and P3ESR-XD. They are definitely different, with the Falcons having more high end than the Harbeths, although given my age (75) this is probably upper-mids rather than true highs (the XDs also pushed this band further forward than their predecessors) . Bass is also quite different with the Harbeths having the drier bass of the two. They are both great speakers but you really need to compare them side-by-side to decide. I have owned LS3/5As for over 40 years and I had the P3ESR-SE for about 10 years prior to the XDs, so am quite familiar with both. I vacillate back-and-forth but have a slight preference for the Falcons.
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Interesting… Being new to LS3/5a speakers, and having enjoyed the Falcon silver badge, and now the gold badge, where there is a clear difference.. what has struck me is how sensitive they are to speaker support for the overall tonal balance… I was also expecting more high end energy, but it’s not there in an exaggerated way.. so I assume it’s there but in correct proportions, because imaging and non exaggerated detail is second to none (think percussion). In that sense they are not typical hifi speaker I have previously used like ATC, PMC, Russell K, Kudos and Dynaudio. These speakers are good / very good but ‘present’ the sound to you. The Falcons Golds appear different and kind of disappear in an assuming way.. it does take a little getting used if you are used to more hifi speakers.. well it did for me. They are possibly more like my Yamaha mastering speakers in that way, but the Yamahas are not as timbrally nuanced or as clear/intricate in the mids as the LS3/5a s .
I would say however the LS3/5a speakers are I think very reliant on the up stream electronics and short comings there I can imagine starting to irritate.. I do like the slightly compressive quality of the Falcons.. which is super beneficial when you listen to diverse and varying production styles and recording and mastering approaches.. in other words, just about all styles become accessible to you… and you avoid no-go areas like you get with some hifi setups with very energetic and forward productions.. think Oasis or Green Day.
So for balance.. my not so good observation with my setup (everything is a compromise)
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sometimes on some modern production styles they can be just that little bit too rich and warm (possibly stand related or indeed how the track is produced)
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they are super sensitive to stands
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kick drum transients are ultimately limited when you wind the volume up.. but helps with the musicality of those pesky 1812 cannons being discussed elsewhere.
I totally agree with your off-axis findings, Simon. Where they are located in my garden room I sit almost sideways to the speakers, but am easily aware of the sound filling out between the speakers and convinced by the soundstage. I am using SS-6 stands under mine with spikes onto Naim Chips on the tiled floor. When I first got them I just placed the stands roughly in front of my Kudos 808s and plugged in the main system. Boy, they sounded good! I left them there for a few days as I found that in many respects I preferred what they were doing over the 808s. If I could sell the Kudos Super 20s I’m using in the bedroom system, I’d like to purchase another pair of Falcon Gold Badge LS3/5a.
I haven’t forgotten that I still need to try some Mahler or Wagner on them at raised volume.
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