Show us your LS3/5a’s

Was that the very tiny Hifi shop at the top of the high street run by a Canadian chap, I would often drop in there and drool over his stock?

Yes, on the left as you went down the Hgh St from the Odeon. I don’t think I went in there often, but he had this pair of LS3/5As sitting on a mantelpiece over a non-functioning fireplace in a back room. Sadly he had stuck self adhesive rubber pads on the bottom to stop the veneer being scratched, but when I took them off, it damaged the surface of the veneer anyway.

But worse was that the connections to the speaker cables were made through push sprung connectors. They were terrible and eventually I replaced them by 4mm binding posts. So that probably took much of the rest off the value of them. They sound the same as my Rogers though.

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That’s the place , he was an odd character, could never demo an FM tuner because the signal in that part of Guildford was terrible…

Yes. Wrotham would have been obscured by Pewley Down hill right behind the shop. Are you still in Guildford? There is a relay station up on the Hogs Back and a mate who used to work in the transmission part of the BBC tells me that the Radio 3 feed is exactly the same type of digital feed as Wrotham, not some off-air retransmission. I can put my finger on the antenna socket of my NAT 05 XS and get pretty good stereo R3 just from that!

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If I have the right shop in mind I bought a pink triangle turntable from the very same chap. As you say, down the high street a bit from the old odeon on LHS.

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Interesting they say “Produced under license from the BBC” on the back but no manufacturer. Did Rogers make any before going bust and handing over to Swisstone?

Rogers International were one of the initial licensees by the BBC. The particular Tygan grilles on these give away that they are early ones (slightly later came black Tygan) so I guess they are likely pre-Swisstone.

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I missed it at first glance, but the label starts with “Rogers BBC Monitor Speaker”.

These older LS3/5A’s have gotten so expensive that they are now out of financial reach of most audio enthusiasts. Still wonderful sounding speakers though that have aged quite well over the past century. :+1:

May I ask how you find the Boazu goes well with ls3/5a? I briefly had the Boazu but never tried the combo.

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They’re good little speakers with particular strengths, however, I only decided to sell mine as I felt they just weren’t really worth the huge sums being offered. I directly compared against my SL2s and really I felt the latter either matched or beat them in every area.

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Don’t… I’ve spent most of my audio years re-buying things I had sold. It’s fun in a way, because you enjpy buying them again, but the inner struggle not to feel silly can be consuming. :slight_smile:

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Totally agree, in the late 80’s I had an LP12, Nait 1 and Linn Kans. I sold them in the mid 90’s and regretted it ever since.
Fast forward to 2024 and I now have a new LP12 (but with mint ittok and lingo1), Nait 50 and Linn 109’s so a modern twist on what I had back in the day.
I’ve laboured over a Supernait 3 or Nait 50 since the 50 came out last year. I have not heard them side by side in my system so cannot comment on which one sounds better, but heard them individually in hifi store and both are very good. For me it was a bit of nostalgia, it’s looks Sooo cool and suits my needs in a reasonably small (3.5 x 4.5m) listening room.
I have come from a Rega Brio so a very easy choice, but not sure I would go from a Supernait 3 to Nait 50. I suppose no harm in trying it out as both are very easy to sell.

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Woking David, so apart from Aerco(who also had a very good record shop in Addlestone) it was a trip to Guildford. Sadly I no longer have an FM tuner, I did have up until about 10 years ago a Hitachi FT5500 which I seem to remember was quite highly rated. I now go to “Infidelity” in Kingston for my Naim/Linn needs.

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The closest I have come to this, is buying a 72 & 140 as ‘spares’. Having many years ago sold a 42 & 110 - as part of the normal upgrade cycle:expressionless:

I think the prices of the older LS3/5A’s have gotten ridiculous. So I can understand the desire to sell them at a premium when their value has gone up significantly. I also know that there are better speakers that are more accurate, but I really enjoyed the imaging of my LS3/5A’s. Years ago I ran my LS3/5’A’s with Naim CDi, 72/Hicap/Nap 135’s and the system was quite musical. Still miss it to this very day.

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I use PJ HiFi in Guildford for Naim and I’m glad to say I have two NAT 05 XSs, one of which I bought from PJ ex demo a few months ago for only £200! That one is in the system I listen to most with my SL2s but, to bring it back to LS3/5As before someone tells me off, the other one is in my office with my Rogers LS3/5As.

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It’s a completely different design though, despite sharing the same cabinet dimensions. I would call something like the Harbeth P3ESR an LS3/5a derivative in that it shares similar design goals and aims to achieve similar things, albeit to do them better. It apparently shares obvious similarities in sound.

The Kans are about as far removed from the LS3/5a sound as one can get, and intentionally so. I’m sure you didn’t mean to imply this, but some people do seem to labour under the impression that the Kans were LS3/5a clones that went wrong!

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Bandit, I listened to a Lejonklou Källa streamer + Boazu integrated amplifier with a pair of Graham Audio LS8/1 speakers in my dealer’s showroom, and I was impressed. I purchased a Boazu (I couldn’t afford the Källa), and it plays well with my Graham Audio LS3/5 Monitors.

The Boazu leans toward the “British Sound” (pace, rhythm and timing), it has synergy with BBC-type speakers.

I love the Boazu’s minimal design and looks.

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Having owned a set of Kans - bought 1985 - I am very aware of what they were…!!

The Linn Kan history records that the 1st sets were made from bankrupt stock LS3/5A cabinets, but thereafter Linn made (or had made for them) their own cabinets, which were LS3/5A size.

Kans were LS3/5A size - but otherwise very different.

Hope that’s OK…?

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