LSA1's - Anyone familar with them?


I am considering a pair of LSA1 bookshelf speakers. I read 1 review of them from a number of years ago on StereoMojo that essentially raved about them.

http://www.stereomojo.com/LSA%20ONE%20MONITOR%20SPEAKER%20REVIEW/LSAONEMONITORSPEAKERREVIEW.htm

The LSA1's sold for $1000 at the time of the reiview and went up to $1200/pair later. The company has changed hands and the LSA1's are now being sold for $600. Considering how well they are made and how good they are supposed to sound this could be a great deal.

My budget dictates a speaker in the $500-$700 range and I was going to purchase the Elac UB5's, but now that the LSA1's are similarly priced ($500 vs $600), I am undecided.

Has anyone heard or owned the LSA1's, and if so what are your impressions?

Also, has anyone heard both the LSA1's and the UB5's and which do you like better and why?

Thank you for any responses

edincleve
128x128edincleve

I have them and love them. Best speakers I've owned.

Had Elac B6 before and the LSI trounces them in every way.

Buy them, you won't be disappointed.

Thanks fsdaron.

I have the Elac B6's now, which are great speakers for the price of $289. As good as they are, I wanted something a little better, especially for the highs. That's why I was considering the UB5's.

Anyway, what other equipment do you have? How much amplifier (watts) do I need to drive the LSA1's?
I bought the LSA statements for my brother and I loved them so much, I bought a pair for my wife.  The stands are an excellent deal when purchased with the speakers and like the speakers well made.

They do well either in a grand room or a small office.  Very versatile.  In the grand room they were quite holographic and image surprisingly well.

I suggest speaking with Walter and see if there is currently any special pricing and which model will suit you best.  If you are in the NW region, you can audition mine.

Wally is a strait shooter and does not sugar coat his products.  He is very direct where any limitations exist.  This is why he is a dedicated customer base.
Are you talking about the Statements or the Signatures? I owned the Signatures that I bought from Walter for around $1000 and kept for almost 4 years. Apparently, they now sell for $600. Usually, that’s not a good sign, as you can be assured that the resale will be worthless. IMO, decent audio products don’t drop in retail that much. That alone should tell you something.

As far as the sound is concerned, I’d say they were certainly no giant killers by any stretch of the imagination. You get what you pay for.

At at least in my system, with Peachtree Audio Nova 125, they never impressed me. I like laid back, but they were a bit too polite for my taste. While they do image very nicely, they’re a bit lacking in other departments.

IMO the competition is fierce at that price point. And LSA doesn’t bring anything extraordinary to the table. Of course YMMV.

P.S. I have not heard the Statements, so my opinion only applies to the Signatures 
I appreciate the responses. Btw, the LSA1 Signatures and the LSA1 Statements are upgrades of the LSA1. It looks as if they all use the same enclosure and midrange/woofer, though.

The LSA Signatures are upgraded with a better tweeter (Vifa dual ring radiator), better crossover capacitors (Dynamicap metalized polypropylene) and the fiber inside the cabinet (lambs wool).

The LSA Statements start w/the Signatures and add better resistors and inductors in the crossover, and change the tweeter to an Aurum Cantus folded ribbon.

I'm not expecting the last word in speakers, but I do expect a significant upgrade over the Elac B6's and also want them to be better than the UB5's which I was considering.
Edincleve,
I founded LSA, which originally stood for Larry Staples Audio. I designed the speakers to sound very pleasant, image well (hence the cabinet shape which at the time was unusual, with radius sides). They measure very flat and have exceptional bass for the size of the cabinet. The tweeter is flat out past 20K, is 'tucked under' slightly, sonically, to keep any unwanted high frequency 'hash'.
All in all, at that time, it outperformed the B&W Bookshelf Speakers, the 805's, rather dramatically. Much more neutral and better imaging. I have absolutely no neutrality in this question, lol, but can't recommend them highly enough. Especially at that price. The Statement is a better speaker, of course as all the crossover elements are vastly improved. But, these a really fun speakers, always pleasant.
Good Listening,
Larry Staples

I can't attest to the LSA1 speakers, but I can say my LSA Statement integrated will be my amp for a long, long time. It's one of the most musical and enveloping amps I've ever had - and that includes Rogue, ARC, YBA, Sophia, Rega, and Blue Circle.

Thank you to Larry and to John Tucker for designing such an underrated gem.
Absolutely, John Tucker did a wonderful job of choosing crossover components of the highest order for the Upgraded Signature and Statement speakers, as well as the Signature and Statement Amps.
He is a talented designer and has a special line of products in his Exemplar Line.
A terrific man and designer, I can't recommend him highly enough.
Larry Staples

Thanks for your input Larry.I only found 1 review of the LSA1's but that review was so positive I thought about getting them for a couple of years. Now that they are down to $600, and they are now in my budget, I ordered a pair two days ago. Once they are broken in, I am going to order a pair of Elac UB5's, break them in, and then compare the two. Btw, how different sounding are the LSA1's and the LSA1 Signatures? I could have gotten the Signatures for another $200, but since I haven't heard them and found no reviews of them, I passed. Did I make a mistake?

I ordered the LSA1's a couple of days ago, and should get them next week.

I think it is interesting the weight of the following speakers:
Elac B6 - 14.3 lbs
Elac UB5 - 16.5 lbs
LSA1   - 24 lbs

Weight doesn't make a good speaker, but i am curious, is most of the difference in the enclosure, the drivers, or the crossover?

arafiq, what speakers of about the same price, do you consider to be better? What do you mean, they were too polite and laid back. Do you mean a lack of highs &/or lows or something else? I used to own Rogers LS3/5A's many years ago, and I never understood what "British sound" meant. Of course I was using them with two Cizek subwoofers, so maybe that had something to do with my perception of them. I'm just trying to understand those terms.




I believe that you'll find that the LSA1's are a more neutral loudspeaker. It sounds unfiltered, uncolored and nicely blended, (woofer and tweeter).
Yes, for $200. more the difference is fairly amazing. Crossover parts were changed from inexpensive (hit a price point) components, to highly regarded components. Plus the Statement has a ribbon tweeter which is clearer, more refined.
The Statement should be stuffed internally (already) with natural wool. The Standard, probably would not. In experimenting with the prototypes, I (with the help of a good friend, Tom), stuffed them, tightly packed with natural wool. Big improvement.
One more thing, you MUST allow about a month for the Statements to break in. The components have to age a bit. They will NOT sound the same out of the box, as they do after break in. 
Please let us know what you think, and which pair you end up with.

Larry