I've owned both in the past, the Spicas never able to dislodge the LS3/5a, however. The Spica appealed to many people because of its greater dynamic range and better bass extension over the BBC monitor. But the Spica could not "disappear" like the smaller LS3/5a. The box is always present and audible. Additionally, the Spica is no match for the 3/5a midrange beauty and clarity, and its woofer and tweeter are dynamically disjointed in woofer/tweeter transient behavior. The Spica woofer sounds slow compared with the 3/5a B110 Kef driver. Last, if I remember correctly, the Spica is nominally rated at 4 ohms, dipping to a low of 3.7 ohms. That's not a load at which most solid state amps sound their best, even if they operate fine. On the other hand, the LS3/5a is 15 ohms or 11 ohms, which extracts better sonics at lower power from most solid state amps.
The Spica is a good speaker, and was especially so in its day. It has a persistently warm vocal balance that some people like. But for me, it was no contest years ago. The LS3/5a was simply more objective and expressive than the Spica, and it's difficult to find both points of advantage in one speaker, let along packaged in a camera that small.
Phil
