In my previous blog post, one that you’ll find here, I introduced the LS3/5X project. In that it both looks reverently back to 1975 and the development of the BBC LS3/5A monitor, while simultaneously employing the best of contemporary driver technology, the LS3/5X lives both in the past and the present. Back however when the previous blog post was published, the LS3/5X didn’t really live at all because at that stage only a single, crude prototype existed. Now however, as illustrated in the accompanying picture, the first pair of broadly “production” representative LS3/5Xs have been built. I write production in quotes however because it’s still a somewhat open question as to whether the LS3/5X will ever be manufactured in volume (as much as any high-end passive speaker deserves the term volume). For that to happen, some serious enquiries from customers willing to lodge a deposit up-front will be required.

Anyway, LS35/X Pair No 1, features an oak veneered birch ply cabinet (taken from the Rogers LS3/5A production line) fitted with the drivers described in the previous blog post, a newly designed crossover (2nd and 3rd orders, 1.5kHz crossover frequency), and a waveguide equipped front panel. The front panel is manufactured in a material called HiMACS Solid Surface and the grille fabric covering the tweeter and bass/mid drivers is the same Tygan material employed on the LS3/5A. The front panel is white rather than the blue of the CAD render simply because HiMACS off-cuts are more readily available in white. Alternative colours may well be possible for production, although that will depend entirely on numbers.

Pair No.1 sound very promising to my ears (but then I would say that wouldn’t I) and measure pretty much as expected with, in particular, remarkably low distortion. The next stage on the LS3/5X journey is to refine the manufacturing process (a few constructional elements need to be adjusted) and settle on the wide-band tonal balance (a process known among speaker folk as “voicing”). The latter task will likely mean a few small crossover component revisions.

Of course, should you be intrigued by the possibility of owning a pair of LS3/5X, please get in touch via the About page.