Show us your LS3/5a’s

What a pity to stack that amp upon the CD player.
Apart from the marks on the lower box it compromise performance big time.
Greetings from stacking dept.

There are ISOAcoustic pucks between them.

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I see most people seem to have positioned their LS3/5a’s fire pretty straight and not too far out in the room.

I have mine slightly toed in a few degrees and the rear of the speaker approx. 6-8 inches from the wall.

How are yours?

Same as:

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Nice room Jamie. I’m also watching the Open. I was there Wednesday and Thursday. :grinning:

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Hi,
how do the 5/as play in a large room? I’m asking because after years of circling around the idea like a moth, I may be going for a pair.
Thanks
Max

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I think the answer is, ‘It depends…!’

For context, I sit about 3m from them. They give me most of what I want most of the time. These are Grahm Audio Chartwells and the music they provide is very ‘grown up’ and fuss free. I tend to play music at low to moderate volume most of the time so I don’t miss the loud attack that they couldn’t easily provide. But stick on some sultry jazz diva and they’re terrific. They do sound ‘live’ and open in a big room. The mid-range really makes you sit up and smile.

However, push that footstool to 75cm in front of them and perch on that for a bit and they’re magic, it’s like witchcraft. And hereby lies the rub I think. Fundamentally they were meant as near field monitors and they do that job really, really well. They work absolutely fine in a big room but some of the context within the music can go missing.

I’ve read countless times that people find them bass shy. Given the size of the box I don’t think they are at all. Nice crisp bass is easy. What you don’t get is the more subtle, little ‘whoomphs’. I don’t need seat rumbling, trouser flapping bass overkill at all but I do miss a little atmosphere which they’re not designed to provide.

So, going forwards I think I will be looking again. I could try a pair of those Rogers subs but they’re pricey and rather than try and add on something to ‘cure’ what I’m only occasionally missing I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next year or two I replace them with something. Perhaps a pair of LS5/9f…

Edit: Just been playing some Saint Saviour through them. Gorgeous.

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I have the Rogers BBC Studio Monitors and they might offer you the benefits of LS3/5a mid-range speech reproduction with a little more of the lower frequencies, and I would suggest something modern like the Stirling Broadcast LS3/6 which will allow safe use with more powerful amplifiers (my Rogers BBC Studio Monitors are rated at 25 watts, speech and music).

I would not favour the floor standing speakers, looking rather solid in the room space, and I prefer the appearance of a speaker on a stand, at least looking like a speaker, rather than a Darlek - well some look like under-developed darleks.

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I don’t hear any difference in the bass whether it’s 3, 5 or 10 cm away from the wall. And I only listen with a Uniti 1 which is very good.
The instructions say 5 to 10 cm away from the wall.

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That’s a relief. I had read in older posts that with the Naim plugs and the Kans being pushed right up to the wall there is an improvement in the bass.

In my room the left speaker is more louder because of the slanting wall. When the speakers are lined up, the right speaker is sitting more than 10 cm away from the wall.

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Important that both speakers have the same distance to the back wall.
I like Linn Kan about 5-10 cm from the back wall.

I can’t add photos to this thread for another week or so but I think the LS3/5As work best when they are not up against a wall and when they have lots of air under them.

In my home office I have built shelves that project forward from a bookcase and support the speakers at ear level when I’m sitting down and with only one inch of oak shelf under them. They sound really good. This sort of support loses most of the low midrange/upper bass bloat that some have complained about with the LS3/5A. It’s a small room so I also get the nearfield listening effect too.

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Yes,that’s my findings too,LS3/5A need lots of space behind them ,about a meter.

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I’ve never placed mine hard up against a back wall, but when you say a meter, is that the measured from the front baffle or rear?

Personally I don’t think you need that much. I would say about 300 mm from the back of the speaker to the wall is fine. But you need lots of space under it.

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Depending om room of course, but measured from the back of the speaker.

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Thanks Igel.

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I had success with my 15Ω Chartwells on open frame Linn Kan II stands. IIRC they were 60cm tall.

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Doubt that, divide with 3 or 4

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With the LS3/5a’s I have tried,it’s been about that otherwise the bass was bloated .