LS3/5A: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

LS3/5A: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Postby mozilla » Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:34 am

James asked for it so here it is. Let's discuss the good & bad points of our beloved speakers.

Fire away!
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Postby mozilla » Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:35 am

The Good as viewed by the French LS3/5A Club:

RATHER POSITIVE OPINIONS

"I place very high the ls3/5a concerning the reproduction of the voices. It is of a rather astounding naturalness "


"If you seek alive enclosures, stamped well, with magic medium and who allow to listen of all (and I say whole well: of Diana Krall in Métallica), register and thus throw an ear with these small bitchy girls "

"When once there was tasted, after it is finished, it is with life"


"What is obvious, it is the great accuracy and the variety of the stamps. Once accustomed to this medium, I understand that one cannot detoxicate oneself some: all the others appear relatively false, in comparison."

"the stamps are superb: the night ones of Chopin by Arrau, my piece of reference for the piano, I am obliged to recognize it, passes better on the LS that on my Cabasse: it is a hair, a whole chtit more natural hair. But that made a world."

"Immediately there, cold, which stamps, I am époustouflé (compared to my 3A, nothing to see)"

"Probably most transparent (note: several biblio in compared listening), the categories of musics are well differentiated and they are the only ones to have as well clarified the diversity of the choices of the members of the jury "

"the stamps are those which the amateurs know: those of LS3/5a, without anything which misses in top, this whore of medium on the voices and the piano, this musical articulation, and perhaps, perhaps, especially one "I do not know what" which makes that one is taken by the music, i.e. in fact by the play of which plays."
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Postby mozilla » Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:35 am

The BAd from the French group:

RATHER ADVERSE OPINIONS

Today "largely exceeded; but I like it nevertheless "


"the prices charged on the bargain are disproportionate compared to real qualities or even perceived....... acute (is the) diaphanous one... to shake them, one needs a serious amplification which explodes the budget and of the same for the feet which are as heavy as expensive if one wants to give a chance to the thing!" play;num=1112200190;start=1#1

"... from this point of view (transients) my Totem are much better on the harpsichord bus faster "
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Postby mozilla » Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:37 am

The compiled "weaknesses" from the Malaysian LS3/5A group:


> Hello Fellows,
>
> Weaknesses recorded now has the followings; names in
> bracket indicates person raised.
> 1. Lack of Bass(Jo/Edwin)
> 2. Too much MSG (KY)
> 3. Too colourful (KY)
> 4. HF roll off. (KY)
> 5. Price. (Felix/Edwin)
> 6. Power hungry due to low efficient drivers
> (Vincent Tan)
> 7. Demand in amplification (Yuk Tak Lau/Ng+friends)
> 8. Limited Loudness (Edwin/Ng+friends)
> 9. Lack of both extremes causes emphasis in midrange
> (Ng + friends)
> 10. Limiteed dynamic contrast (Ng+friends)
> 11. Lacking in scale of imaging except midrange
> (Ng+friends)
> 12. Wooly bass (Ng+friends)
> 13. Cupped vocal (Ng+friends)
> 14. Cannot express anger, aggression, explosive
> sound (Ng+friends)
> 15. Fussiness in set-up & system matching (Ng)
> 16. Demand a dedicated & treated room to sound good
> (Ng)
> 17. Works only in small room (Ng)
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Postby ichabod » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:56 am

Thanks for putting that in. Now that we have the French "doing" their own thing, a rather peculiar (different as the French are) approach to describing sounds, we have the Malaysians trying to undo the French by some of the things they've said above.

But I'm curious as to how the French are reacting to the LS 3/5A with a certain amount of saccharine in their prose. The French are the consummate types when it comes to food and drinks. All pass the senses. Hearing is no exception. French archtypal speakers are the Cabasse. I've heard JMRs to probably surmise or say the same with what I read about Cabasse speakers. What hits me as a constant though is this: "natural" "mistaken by the music" like it's the music itself!

"The stamps are superb" on that Chopin piano being a "hair" more natural as hair itself in comparison to his Cabasse! To use natural hair as an analogy to express the naturalness of the LS against the other speakers is quite remarkable. Are we reading some Jean-Paul Sartre here and existentialism?

"Stamps" are used as a way of describing the imprint of natural sound? I most assuredly think so. Natural live music as heard by the ears, and how much of that is "stamp" on the ears coming from those speakers in comparison. That is the thought here I believe. "This musical articulation ...which makes that one is taken by the music...i.e., by the play of which plays.." is maybe a poor rendition in English but is nonethless poetically clear as it goes.

On the other hand, some bad comments from the Malaysians like "lack of bass" or "wolly bass" may arguably be untrue if one considers the parameters by which the LS operates.

Here's a quote from dear ole Gordon Holt. "Adding the illusion of a large speaker system, is the remarkable low-end performance, which is not really all that deep (subjectively flat to a bit below 57Hz in our rooms) but sounds deeper than it is because the response is acutally pretty flat down to there (rather than drooping), and the bass detail is atonishing from 5" woofers."

Hence, these speakers are often compared to large floorstanders.

Got to go. Will continue later.
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Postby ichabod » Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:19 pm

To continue, I think what the French could not escape concluding about this speaker is its self-assertiveness while it can not go as loud like the average stand mounted speakers of our day.

The French got it so right that these are indeed expressive speakers of the source -- the recording. It can indeed distinguish the subtleties of the lowest notes as distinct and clearly from its loudest as though one were listening to such as "the categories of musics are well differentiated" that is " probably most transparent" to the source.

Can you imagine all this in their "limited loudness?" Does loud-ness in sound alone capture the emotion of the moment. "Once accustomed to this medium, I can understand one can not detoxicate oneself some, all the others appear relatively false, in comparison." What a statement!

I'm beginning to believe while the French may sound arrogant to most Americans (those nuclear test in the pacific in the past, and the response don't buy michelin tires) they certainly have a very philosphical way of seeing things through the arts, the highest of which is music itself! I remember Jean Marie Reynaud speakers talked about as being very expressive of the music as their talent, but little perhaps did they realize that the English across the channel were even more remarkable in that department. I remember a certain Prof. Higgins coaching Miss Eliza Dolittle in the correct manner of speaking the English tongue in "My Fair Lady." So precise was it that there's always a perfect word to use to describe something, even if it was only what goes to the ears that we fondly call music!

Remember the LS 3/5A was designed for speech, music second. As it turns out, it played well in both!

Fire away!
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