A legend amongst loudspeakers, to hifi fans the LS3/5a needs little introduction.
Back in the early 1960s, the British Broadcasting Corporation needed a small studio speaker compact enough to be used nearfield in cramped conditions, within its outside broadcast vans for example.
The brief was simple, if somewhat strict – to create a small but high quality monitor, in which some slight sacrifices in ultimate bass response and loudness could be accepted for the sake of size.
Universal reference
The outcome was a true bookshelf speakers with such an honest tonality across the midrange, that missing ultimate low level wallop was more than a happy trade off for many. And so it started to grow quite a reputation across the hifi industry and with home users too, with many brands being honoured enough to have the BBC licence bestowed on them for production.
Now a number of audio manufactuters continue to remake this speaker, with each staying faithful to the original, including Falcon, Graham Audio, Rogers and Musical Fidelity.
As regular readers will know, my Chartwell models (from Graham Audio) sit at the heart of my own second system, where they walk the hard to tread line of listening for pleasure while being a vital reviewer’s tool.
This playlist is designed to get the best out of them, which, of course, can also be enjoyed on any speaker! So tune in, sit back and enjoy…
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