Although first launched in 1975, many audiophiles still swear by it in 2020, such iswas its purity of vision. Spendor home speakers and subwoofers for sale ebay. The best ls3 5a would have to be the kef limited edition 35 year anniversary model in piano black lacquer finish. The nowclassic bbclicensed ls35a has been produced by more different manufacturers through the past 10 years than any other system in the history of audio. Small loudspeaker developed by the bbc to monitor and assess broadcast quality. Cicable manufacturers of new crossovers for the ls3 5a the site includes a lot of interesting ls3 5a information.
They were designed for small rooms, so while their bass isnt earthshattering, their small woofers come with builtin boosters. Answer many dealer selling used bbc ls3 5a have written nonsensical claims about bbc ls3 5a to sell bbc ls3 5a to trusting hi fi enthusiasts. Save spendor speakers to get email alerts and updates on your ebay. I like my birdseye pair, but i did not at all like the rosewood versions, including the awful cardas version. Before we started listening, rein gave a short presentation on the recent history of spendor. These are exercise books often written up on his kitchen table, full of. British product, and falcon has a long history with the ls35a. The ls35a is a small studio monitor loudspeaker originated by the bbc for use by outside. See more ideas about hifi audio, loudspeaker and floor standing speakers. Purchased by philip swift at audio lab ten years ago, swift is committed to make spendor a modern speaker company, an interesting contrast from the retro grills.
To cut a long story short i recently bought a pair of spendor ls3 5a on ebay, eager to try them out as i have read a lot about them over the years. In the early 1970s, rogers was commissioned by the bbc to produce the ls35a. There are some wonderful sounding variations on the bbc minimonitors, specified originally as ls35a models, most often seen by rogers. Rogers ls35a bbc british monitor speaker pair used japan uk vintage kef audio see more like this. The initial ls35 was never produced, with only about 20 number of prototypes built. The spendor a9 for sale is an awardwinning product for audiophiles.
Crash course downgrading in hifi theory and applications. I havent got time to write a book every evening, so i may be selective in how much i. Unfollow ls35a speakers to stop getting updates on your ebay feed. Spendor was founded in the late 1960s by spencer and dorothy hughes the spen and dor in the name. Stirling broadcastls35a v2 speakersspeakersacoustic sounds.
Grahams ls35a has the same specifications as the 19872000. Fyi i own a pr of ls50 and a pr of c1980 15ohm ls3 5a. Rogersbbc ls3 5a the ls3 5a was a bbc design, licensable to any manufacturer. I also tweaked the operating points of the amplifier based on lessons i learned along the way. Items on the best audio equipment of all time top list are added by the community and ranked using our secret ranking sauce.
Jul, 2003 when the ls3 5a s time on earth was over footnote 1, spendor got to work on an inhouse design for its replacement. Iconic doesnt even scratch the surface when it comes to ls3 5a v2 bookshelf monitor loudspeakers. Good articles good articles in wikipedia a good article ga is an article that meets a core set of editorial standards but is not featured article quality. Spendor, harbeth, ram, goodmans, falcon audio, stirling broadcast and. Ls3 5a old spendor ls3 5a, whether 15 ohm or 11 ohm, sound as good as any rival brands.
One ls35a manufacturer stood out, which was spendor. Almost nos spendor s35 speakers made by spendor after. If you have a small listening room or listen in the nearfield and are on a limited budget, the stirling ls35a v2 partnered with one of the new outstanding cayin tube integrated amps will give you a thoroughly captivating listening experience. The original bc1 design became the studio monitor of choice and soon this and other designs were to be developed for. Rogers international project gutenberg selfpublishing. The top ten most influential speakers of the last 50 years. Apr 27, 2019 luxman cl352 mark levinson lm11l spendor ls35a. There are few hifi designs more iconic than the bbc ls35a loudspeaker. Among small compact speakers, you cant forget linn kan or rogersspendor ls35a, 1st series proac tablette, 1st series sonus faber minima and many others. The ls35a sounded pretty good driven by an 8 watt class a amp. The newer spendors have a decidedly more neutral, accurate sound with appreciably better bass and treble extension and better dynamics.
Fundamentally, an s35 was an ls3 5a cabinet turned 90 degrees, with the drivers mounted to the narrow wall instead of the wide one. Masters of hifi meet the men behind the good sound. Stirling broadcast sell spares, repair the ls3 5a have a bbc licence to manufacture the ls3 5a. An early example was the rogers theatrical horn loudspeaker. Headbangers need not apply, unless theyre weird enough to insist on subtlety.
Ar introduced the sealed acoustic suspension bassalignment system to the highfidelity world, making possible deep, clean, distortionfree bass an order of magnitude better than anything else that existed at the time, in an enclosure 18 the size or smaller of the thenbest klipschs and bozaks of that era. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it. After the ls3 5a production stopped, spendor decided to use modern materials to make their version of the venerable speaker. Consequently, the ls35a was the model destined for mobile recording, while the ls35 was a different model though the same physical size clearly aimed at being a true highperformance small speaker. Apr 01, 2020 a frequency response graph that would point out an extremely good speaker or an extremely bad speaker.
Search by popular brands such as accuphase, hegel, krell, luxman, mark levinson and sonus faber, and by categories like floorstanding speakers, integrated amplifiers, speaker systems, turntables and more. The falcon is now the benchmark for this time honored product, in my opinion. Is ls35a 15 ohms speaker better than the 11 ohms ls35a. I finally got my spendor ls35a shipped from manila and the pp2a3 monoblock amps were now fitted with peerless 16309 output transformers. The story of the ls35a begins in what many regard as. Originally founded in the 1960s by spencer and dorothy hughes, spendor grew out of the expertise gained in the bbcs sound engineering department.
The ls50 delivers comparable imaging, extended treble, deeper bass, and can play louder. You can have the magic of the ls3 5a midrange at a much better price with these speakers. Spendor ls35a studio monitor loudspeaker in custom ebony. Spendor ls3 5a 11 ohm speakers audiophile quality made in uk ls35a ls3. Best audio equipment of all time is a public top list created by listnerd on on november 27th 2012. Among midsized bookshelf you should listen to three italian masterpieces such as aliante one zeta, diapason adamantes and sonus faber electa. Broadcast stands bespoke solid oak speaker stands for the bbc spendor ls35a. The 12 most significant loudspeakers of all time the.
The loudspeaker is now in production both by the bbc equipment department and also by three commercial licencees. I prefer the 104 on my solid state marantz 1060 and the single ended reisong a10 on the 104ab. Rogers was originally founded by jim rogers in 1947. Bbc designed ls35a made by rogers, spendor and goodmans. The spendor bc1 was not, as it has so many times been described, a development of the bbc loudspeaker type ls3 6. Dec 17, 2005 the spendor s35 and s35se speakers are spiritual successors to the ls3 5a, designed in the late 1990s after kef stopped production of the b110 and t27 drivers on which ls3 5a production depended. Number of bids and bid amounts may be slightly out of date. The spendor a2 and spendor a4 are relatively compact floorstanding models with powerful sound. Spendor ls35a 11 ohm speakers audiophile quality made in uk ls35a ls3. I should know ive owned about every version and even gave my mother a pair of the spendor s for christmas one year. The monitor in question is the bbc ls35a, and theres a story here worthy of a soap. What else should i listen to rogers ls35a, sonus faber concertino, opera duetto, atc a7, or if money is an issue ruark epilogues.
Get the best deals on ls3 5a in vintage speakers when you shop the. Kef, chartwell, rogers, and spendor, and an idiomatic. After the first years a lot of things changed in the history of the ls35a chartwell. Free shipping on many items browse your favorite brands. His history is closely linked to the history of english sound.
Stirling ls35a v2 le speakers bbc licensed like rogers. The spendor s8e is unpretentious, clear, and subtle. Stirling broadcast bbc ls35a v2 bookshelf speakers pair. Spendor ls35a 11 ohm speakers audiophile quality made in uk. One of spendor s earlier successes along with the classic bc1 and of course the ls3 5a was the thendiminuitive sa1. Designed by stirling broadcast to meet the precise bbc ls3 5a specifications down the exact same kingswood warren cabinetry materials and construction the classic twoway monitor boasts all the traits for which the original remains renowned. See each listing for international postage options and costs. But it was the rogers version in particular that swept the usa in the late 1970s. Stirling ls35a v2 le speakers bbc licensed like rogers, spendor, harbeth, etc for sale. Newer biwirable ls35as sound quite different, more analytical, a bit like kef. The various official versions of the ls3 5a from various licencees sold in significant numbers in its life of over a quarter of a century. In the tail end of the 1990s, due to the parts being discontinued, the 35 had technically reached the end of the road. The original bc1 design became the studio monitor of choice and soon this and other designs were to be developed for the consumer market. Ken tells me that his new book on the history of kef includes previously unseen material and photographs about the ls35a.
Bbc monitor loudspeaker ls35a spendor audio systems ltd material. Perhaps a short history of the lead into, and the development, of the two systems. Get the best deal for spendor from the largest online selection at. Favours vocals, acoustic instruments, and has a notable affinity for cbsera miles davis fi magazine, 1998. Rogers ls35a loudspeakers may be small, but they have complex equalisers, realistic sound, and phasecorrected crossover networks. The ls3 5a was a bbc design, licensable to any manufacturer. Spendor has a long and illustrious history in the uk loudspeaker business. Unfollow ls3 5a speakers to stop getting updates on your ebay feed.
The ls35 was designed around two drivers from keftheir b110. Newer biwirable ls3 5as sound quite different, more analytical, a bit like kef. See more ideas about floor standing speakers, audio and valve amplifier. Searching for the ideal vintage bookshelf speakers. As a 15year ls35a owner and lover, im delighted to be able to import the unique stirling ls35a v2. Indeed, the ls35a rogers most venerable, longserving product has just been graced with the subwoofer it has deserved for so many years. Spendor ls35a 15 ohms white belly van opassathavorn mine. Answer many dealer selling used bbc ls35a have written nonsensical claims about bbc ls35a to sell bbc ls35a to trusting hi fi enthusiasts. Engineers who played a major role in the 35 and 3 5a development included derek mathers, maurice whatton and spencer hughes. Original rogers ls35a bbc monitor loudspeakers in excellent condition 15 ohm version designed to bbc broadcast specification for studio monitoring purposes. Apr 06, 2016 rogers ls3 5a bbc monitor speaker limited edition 210 pcs 70th anniversary, handcrafted in england duration. You are bidding on a pair of spendor ls35a legendary bbc monitor speakers from 1984. Ls3 5a has been listed as one of the engineering and technology good articles under the good article criteria.
In what must be the funniest understatement in the history of the speaker, one of the kef people remarked, the ls3 5a suffered a bit from the not invented here syndrome quoted in ken kesslers kef. Get the best deals on ls3 5a when you shop the largest online selection at. Someone should to put these components into a bigger box with a passive radiator and recreate the kef 104. Rogers ls35a ls3 speaker banana socket terminal binding post. Bbc monitor loudspeaker ls35a speakerp spendor audio. Spencer applied the knowledge and expertise hed gained as an engineer in the bbcs sound engineering department to create his first loudspeaker, the bc1. These are the more sought after 15 ohm, white bellied version.
Historically, my favorite speakers, the quad 57, the ls3 5a, the spendor bc1, the snell type iiia, and recently, the harbeth p3esr do not make frequency response like you measurement folks would approve of. Falcon acoustic sell spares and have ls3 5a information online. The ls35a was an odd duck, and more complex than it appeared. Free delivery and returns on ebay plus items for plus members. Bespoke solid oak speaker stands for the bbc spendor ls35a. New listing spendor ls3 5a speakers in walnut in very good. Some 50,000 pairs have been built worldwide to date.
Almost nos stirling ls35a v2 le speakers these are pretty much closetobrandnew stirling ls35a v2 speakers. It is now being made under license by spendor, rogers and goodmans, all english firms. Ls35a old spendor ls35a, whether 15 ohm or 11 ohm, sound as good as any rival brands. When rogers, manufacturing under my direction, put the ls35a into. Unfollow spendor speakers to stop getting updates on your ebay feed. Spendor, kef, and many other smaller british companies used it as a design worth emulating, though the origina. To my knowledge, only the rogers and spendor versions are being imported into the us. On a far smaller scale, the need for enthusiasts to sustain the operability of the classic kelly ribbon later called decca tweeters has been addressed by an independent individual who, simply. There are only 500 pairs made and the second price is more than the brand new price in hong kong. His famous 2 cubic foot bc1 model was privately developed. Audax tw025a1 tweeter for kef reference, harbeth, pmc, spendor, celestion. Sales estimates range from 60,000 to 100,000 pairs.