Show us your LS3/5a’s

My Proac 10 sign have 30 cm (from rear of speakers to front wall) and bass is tight and as deep as my proac can do.
I have more effect be tuning my sitting position from back wall than speaker/front wall location

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Looks like this thread needs more pictures and although the D1s are of course not strictly LS3/5a, I thought having had quite a few small speakers from Spendor, Harbeth, Falcon, Stirling, ProAc etc. would hopefully give me licence to post a modern version and what to me is the best sounding (at least from what I’ve heard, including a couple of relics) small modern monitor or LS3/5a reincarnation. I’ve owned the D1 twice - once in the past after my SA1, then followed by many of the others above, only to come back to them.

Currently driven by my Nait 50 with P8 and Atom HE as sources (but they do enjoy my 250 occasionally too). Not found them too fussy for placement at all, at present about 50-60cm from the walls in a study sized room.

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Rogers ls3/5a in my previous setup.



They’ve been swapped by nSAT in this room.

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That mix of chrome and classic with both those speakers look soooo coooool Bandit.

You had the LS3/5a’s on the same stands as I have mine and almost look like identical distance from the wall as I do.

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I would say the LS3/5a are not made to be that close to the wall,
Linn Kan and Naim nSats are.

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Thank you. Solid steel stands work very well with the ls3/5a indeed.

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I agree. That’s the reason why I need to change the speakers in this 2.75m x 3.3m room to nSats. They have to be close to the wall.

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Great, very good those nSats :sparkles::+1:

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Thank you,

I’ve owned the original Linn Kan I, 15 & 11 ohm Rogers LS3/5A’s, the Harbeth HLP3ES and KEF Reference Series 101. IME these are all very nice sounding British monitors that remain popular, even decades after they were first offered. IME the Kan I has always been more aggressive sounding than the other monitors mentioned here. The first time I heard the Kan I was during a demo at a local Naim dealer back in the 1980s, who also sold the Rogers LS3/5A. Both speakers were demoed using a Linn LP12 and original Naim Nait. The source was a drum solo. The sound was so clean and dynamic that to this day I can still remember how astounded I was that such incredible sound could be reproduced by such small speakers. While the Kan was more dynamic, I found that to my ears the LS3/5A imaged better. I bought the LS3/5A. I owned the HLP3ES with matching passive subwoofers for a few years but never enjoyed them as much as I did the LS3/5A (which I should have never sold).

For several years now I have owned a pair of Linn Kan I’s and KEF Reference Series 101’s (KEF’s answer to the LS3/5A in the late 1970’s), and I still enjoy listening to both speakers; even though they were technologically surpassed by a number of other bookshelf speakers many years ago.

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I wouldn’t say N-Sats have to be against a wall, although they are certainly tolerant of it if that works with your room acoustics.
Naim’s official advice at the time was to keep them well clear of corners and no more than 60cm from the rear wall.

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Yes, at least the nSats don’t produce bass boom against the wall in my room. Ls3/5as in this room are more tolerant than some Harbeth p3esr I’ve tried. The nSats work best though.

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My Kan I’s are in the 35,000 serial # range and their cabinets do appear to be the same as the cabinets used for my LS3/5A’s (which I purchased new in 1986 and believe were in the 26,000 serial # range).

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Mine were 27xxx serial numbers, bought in 1985.

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I wish I had kept my LS3/5A’s. Such a pleasant sounding little speaker. :blush:

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Yes. I can vividly remember hearing Kans driven by a 32/HiCap/250 and full LP12 many years ago at my dealer’s and everyone in the shop was smiling and shaking their heads in disbelief at the scale and authority of the sound coming from two tiny boxes.

I always think that if someone could have come up with a tiny speaker that combined all the best things from Kans and LS3/5a’s then it would have been an absolute winner. I do recall a review in Hi-Fi Answers way back in the 80’s by Alvin Gold of a small Infinity speaker which he said came very close to that ideal. Sadly I never got to hear it. IIRC Infinity were a US brand and never widely available in the UK.

Another small speaker from the 80’s that I recall making a big stir at the time was the Celestion SL6. One reviewer at the time, David Prakel, absolutely raved about them with Audiolab amplification. He was apparently an ex Isobariks man so that sort of recommendation had to count for something. I was at my dealers one morning when they had just had a pair in and I was invited to join a listening session. Expectations were high so none of us could quite believe the very ordinary and non-descript sound that issued forth!

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Beautifull. One of those equipment combinations that just makes me think “I must have that!” , however irational that might be.

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To my ear, differences between the two are utterly irreconcilable, and all the better for it. It’s part of what makes our hobby so enjoyable. We make choices based upon preferences. It’s a pleasure to do so. And very much a first world problem :slight_smile:

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Thank you, there is something wonderful about the Luxman kit it reminds me of a vintage watch.

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As I recall quality bookshelf speakers became very popular back in the
late 1970s. The LS3/5A was really the genesis for the quality bookshelf
speaker, and created a new market for people who wanted quality speakers
but did not have the room for larger speakers.

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