rikhav
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Any audiophile following 2 channel audio on different forums like our own hifivision, other websites , audio magazines and on YouTube has to know about legendary BBC design monitor which is named LS3/5 which was mainly designed by BBC for their mobile broadcast vans and how it has become into a very popular home audio speaker. There are also other designs like LS6 as well but let's stick to the LS3/5
Now we have many different iterations of LS3/5 made by different speaker manufacturing companies.
Some follow the recipe exactly and some do their own take with modifying the actual design the way they feel it sounds the best.
Harbeths P3Esr series needs no introduction and its based on LS3/5 design but its their own take . Same with spendor Audio.
Soundartist similarly has their own iteration based on the Rogers design
Am sure most would have seen its review on various YouTube channels.
I happened to hear the very same speakers in a short session here in Mumbai.
Here are my personal impressions
Ofcourse they are highly subjective and only what I think
Mr Harsh Merchant a dear friend was one of the first guys who bought these from the distributor. And he graciously invited me for a listen
( P.s - i must say he's a passionate guy about audio - he truly loves it - and I'm sure he would host anyone who asked )
First let me describe the room. There is no acoustic work done.The listening sofa is against the wall. There are large glass windows on the left just 2 foot away from the right speaker
Just behind the speakers is a wall unit (that we all used to have in our old houses)
All in all this was an absolutely normal house infact not even ideal for audio
Having said that here are my thoughts
The speakers were setup approx 8 to 9 ft apart and listening position was around 5 to 6 ft away. Even though the original BBC design Speakers are meant to be used in near field monitors these absolutely disappeared being setup the way they were.
Full marks to Mr. Harsh for taking pains to setup the speakers painstakingly with help lasers and what not.
Everything played on the wall behind and instruments and singers were easy to pinpoint.
As said it was a brief listening session and associated equipment was as follows
Amplifier - marantz 11s2
Dac - Nad M51
Source - computer playing on jriver
Heard the following tracks
Krishna more peechva - Channulal Mishra
Kodo Mondo - Head Darajin
HD tracks hi res sampler - i put a spell on you 192 - Chantal Chamberland
Karie na - Taal ost
After listening to all the tracks I concluded it had a lively sound signature and mids were star of the show being very resolving.
They do have more bass than the Harbeth. Also the bass for the driver size was authoritive and textured but not at all boomy.
Here if we try to find any negetive aspects then it can be that the Harbeth is laid back and a bit more smoother since it was a monitor meant for nearfield listening The soundartist LS3/5 has made a small modification to the crossover to make it sound more lively than the Harbeth since they postioned the speaker not for the nearfield.
Some would prefer this and some may not. Hence the correct pairing i belive would be a warm laid back ss amp or a tube amp.
I think it all boils down to ones preference.
SoundFoundations is the distributer in India and the price is attractive for someone who wants a BBC LS3/5 design but may not be able to stretch budget to a Harbeth or a Falcon
At that price it becomes an absolute no brainer and a steal.
I would urge all, especially all in Mumbai & Bangalore (Soundfoundations has a new experience centre in banaglore too it seems in addition to the Mumbai one ) , to listen to these beauties once
Weather you may like it or not
It does give an insight in to BBC design
Now we have many different iterations of LS3/5 made by different speaker manufacturing companies.
Some follow the recipe exactly and some do their own take with modifying the actual design the way they feel it sounds the best.
Harbeths P3Esr series needs no introduction and its based on LS3/5 design but its their own take . Same with spendor Audio.
Soundartist similarly has their own iteration based on the Rogers design
Am sure most would have seen its review on various YouTube channels.
I happened to hear the very same speakers in a short session here in Mumbai.
Here are my personal impressions
Ofcourse they are highly subjective and only what I think
Mr Harsh Merchant a dear friend was one of the first guys who bought these from the distributor. And he graciously invited me for a listen
( P.s - i must say he's a passionate guy about audio - he truly loves it - and I'm sure he would host anyone who asked )
First let me describe the room. There is no acoustic work done.The listening sofa is against the wall. There are large glass windows on the left just 2 foot away from the right speaker
Just behind the speakers is a wall unit (that we all used to have in our old houses)
All in all this was an absolutely normal house infact not even ideal for audio
Having said that here are my thoughts
The speakers were setup approx 8 to 9 ft apart and listening position was around 5 to 6 ft away. Even though the original BBC design Speakers are meant to be used in near field monitors these absolutely disappeared being setup the way they were.
Full marks to Mr. Harsh for taking pains to setup the speakers painstakingly with help lasers and what not.
Everything played on the wall behind and instruments and singers were easy to pinpoint.
As said it was a brief listening session and associated equipment was as follows
Amplifier - marantz 11s2
Dac - Nad M51
Source - computer playing on jriver
Heard the following tracks
Krishna more peechva - Channulal Mishra
Kodo Mondo - Head Darajin
HD tracks hi res sampler - i put a spell on you 192 - Chantal Chamberland
Karie na - Taal ost
After listening to all the tracks I concluded it had a lively sound signature and mids were star of the show being very resolving.
They do have more bass than the Harbeth. Also the bass for the driver size was authoritive and textured but not at all boomy.
Here if we try to find any negetive aspects then it can be that the Harbeth is laid back and a bit more smoother since it was a monitor meant for nearfield listening The soundartist LS3/5 has made a small modification to the crossover to make it sound more lively than the Harbeth since they postioned the speaker not for the nearfield.
Some would prefer this and some may not. Hence the correct pairing i belive would be a warm laid back ss amp or a tube amp.
I think it all boils down to ones preference.
SoundFoundations is the distributer in India and the price is attractive for someone who wants a BBC LS3/5 design but may not be able to stretch budget to a Harbeth or a Falcon
At that price it becomes an absolute no brainer and a steal.
I would urge all, especially all in Mumbai & Bangalore (Soundfoundations has a new experience centre in banaglore too it seems in addition to the Mumbai one ) , to listen to these beauties once
Weather you may like it or not
It does give an insight in to BBC design
Last edited:
in the Market sometime
