LS3/5A & Pass Labs

Souporhero,

I own the Chartwell LS3/5a circa 1978 in Rosewood Finish. They are in original condition and still sound like voice coils of God! Before you even think of buying them you should check out the website dedicated to the LS3/5a's and you will be able to educate yourself before you part with your money. The website also has a Yahoo Group listing of which I am a member. In the group there are many LS3/5a lovers from Hong Kong and they know the speakers inside out. Some of them own more than 20 pairs of LS3/5a speakers and all connected at the same time! They are so into it that I would not be surprised if one of them came up with the history of the speaker if only the serial number is provided to them.

If you have not yet purchased them I urge you to pay a visit to the site maintained by a very nice guy, Paul Whatton (the speaker designer's son). You can also try to become the member of the Yahoo Group mailing list (membership of 1157 as of today) where you can specifically ask for guidance and suggestions from members. They are nice folks who basically are true audiphiles and would not hesitate to help a fellow member who is interested in buying the speakers.

The website address:

www.ls35a.com

Hi,
I heard the older Harbeth HL-P3s driven by one of the Pass-designed Class A amps 8-9 yrs. ago, and it was one of the most amazing reproducters of the human voice I had heard till that point. I ended up going instead w/ larger Spendors and tubes, but I would think that this would be a fantastic combo.
TLH

Thanks everyone.

I have looked at the www.ls35a.com site...good stuff.

On one hand, the site makes me think that the LS3/5A is perfect for me because I want really great soundstaging and liquid vocals.

On the other hand, it did say that the 15ohm version would work with a 25watt amp but the 11ohm version might not be the perfect match. I have a 30 watt amp. Might this be cutting it a little close?

Last concern. I must admit, I am a bit of a bass hound. The people that I have talked to on and off in HK say that getting a sub to integrate well with main speakers is almost impossible. Their view is that a sub is only to be used with home theater. My goal with a sub is to get good spacial cues with *delicate* music, and...well...to rock out when rock is present. I don't want the bass to take over, just to compliment and support.

My room is quite small, so I think that I may just be happy with the LS3/5as and the bass they produce in a small room.

I really want to get in touch with the people from Hong Kong/the Yahoo Group mailing list (membership of 1157). How exactly do I do that?

Thanks a lot.

Its very simple, when you visit the LS3/5a website click on the link which says Yahoo Group Mailing List which will take you to the page on YahooGroups server, on the page you will find the button "Join Goup" click that and fill the form on the next page and submit it. You will be notified by the Group Moderator about your being inducted into the group. Once you are the member of the group you can post messages. Response from the moderator may take a day or two but have patience you will eventually get a response. You must have a Yahoo ID to become a memeber, if you have one no problem but if not just follow the instructions when you try to join the group. It is a very easy and simple process with may take only a few minutes.

Coming back to your message, I do not think it is as simple as someone saying the subwoofer is impossible to integrate with speakers. Many fellow audiogoners are enjoying it. First of all one must accept the fact that none of the equipment we use is perfect, on top of that none of the rooms that we have equipment in is perfect, next comes our own hearing which as you may know is also not perfect, infact as we age it deteriorates. What everyone is actually doing is compromising on many many variables and tries his or her level best to make things acceptable.

One must experiment on his or her own and find the most acceptable set of components. I may like certain brand of speaker but my fellow audiogoner thinks otherwise and vice versa, that does not mean the equipment is good or bad, it is different sounding to each of us and our personal preferences come in the way. That's what makes this hobby so enjoyable and that is why we all come here to share each others experience.

As for amps, I have an older NAD which is just 25 watts per channel and is in service with my computer rig presently connected with a pair of Mission speakers. I have used this amp with the LS3/5a's and I thought the sound was very good. The Missions did not even come close to what the LS3/5a could do. On the other hand I have a large 300 watts Perreaux amp which I also used with this speakers and again I really enjoyed listening to it, there was a difference no doubt but the 25 watter did the job admirably. So if you have a 30 watt amp it should work. By the way which amp you currently own, if you do not mind my asking?

I realised you did not get an answer to your question: about 15 Ohms and 8 Ohms. All amp specifications generally are quoted for 8 Ohms into certain watts say 50 watts RMS into 8 Ohms. If you plug in the speakers with a 4 Ohm rating the output ideally should double meaning 100 watts. If a 15 Ohm speaker is connected the output becomes half, 25 watts. This is a very crude way of explaining but I hope you get the idea. You can always do a search on google and read about how amplifiers work and and what the impedence means. In real world there are always surprises

I look forward to your messages on the LS3/5a forums.

Quadophile and all,

I guess that means that I can expect to get about 93db from this set up.

I signed up for yahoo, so I'll see you over there soon.

I guess the reason that I am interested in the LS3/5a at all is because I was out looking at tube gear and I hear this amazing sound in a room that must have been at least 15x20. Obviously, it was a showroom and there were speakers everywhere. The soundstage was set very far back making it seem like the room was a whole lot bigger...what we definitely need more of here in HK. The volume wasn't very loud...just comfortable and the bass was just fine. When I looked to see which speakers were playing...I was entirely fooled. It said Harbeth on the back, and it only had a little banana terminal for the speaker wire.

You better believe that I wrote down the model number on those speakers .... I don't know the model of the amps that they were using, but they were long slender silver Audio Note mono amps. Wow what an impression...and of course they were not for sale.

After finding out that Harbeth is not the only maker of the LS3/5a, and finding a source for the speakers, I hope my Pass Aleph 3 amp can come close to doing what the Audio Notes did.

I do think I am going to research a little more before I part with my money. Plus I have to start thinking about buying stands.

One question, if I do use a sub in the future, where should I have it crossed over?

Thanks