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SoundArtist ("BBC") LS3/5A Speaker Review

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 183 93.4%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 5 2.6%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 1 0.5%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 7 3.6%

  • Total voters
    196

fpitas

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If anyone has the DIY spirit to construct a pair of these, Falcon Acoustics in the UK has everything needed for such a project.

In that same DIY spirit, one could perhaps fool with the crossover and fix the wavy response.
 

fpitas

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TheBatsEar

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Score no EQ: 2.7
1682600386771801.gif
 

ROOSKIE

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Yah but as mention by @amirm and myself the directivity is really good on this Sound Artist version. Better than most speakers with such large responce issues, meaning it is highly correctable with PEQ.
1700855551026.png


Yes the typical buyer has some tube amp with similar wonky responce but for those who have this and have PEQ and have modest SPL requirements you are good.
It is a nice looking speaker IMHO from the retro viewpoint.

I did vote poor though as' as is' it is crappy.
 

TheBatsEar

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Now I have a dilemma, what to do with the speakers since I have them, and don't feel comfortable selling them with the terrible impedance dip.
You sell them with a link to this review. If someone decides to buy them anyway, they know what they are getting.

BTW, cheers for sending them in, people that drop money to buy stuff or send stuff in are the cornerstone of this community. :cool:
 

TheBatsEar

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fpitas

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fpitas

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respice finem

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...The only thing "good" here is the packaging/look of the enclosure.
Panther-wise, headless of course. There are enough better speakers these days. But, maybe "look and feel" sell better than we think? The real fan will IMHO go for the original or licensed copy, the rest is perhaps buing for design and "bragging rights".
 

Toni Mas

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Amir probably still has them. I'd want to rework the crossover if I owned them.
The fake BBC dip showed by amir's measurements is simply ridiculous. The original measures almost flat on axis and the dip is in the power response.
Also, the original kef B110 woofer with infamous and obsolete bextrene cone requires a strong eq around 1.5khz which seems to be used again with a woofer that do not require it...
Bottom line, total mess...
 

Mart68

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why is the directivity so good when everything else is a car crash? I don't understand how that can be?

They seem to have randomly assembled a speaker from whatever parts that were lying around, so is it just by sheer chance?
 

fpitas

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Sokel

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Panther-wise, headless of course. There are enough better speakers these days. But, maybe "look and feel" sell better than we think? The real fan will IMHO go for the original or licensed copy, the rest is perhaps buing for design and "bragging rights".
Looks,feel and the feeling of owning something of an upper price or status.
I mean there's stuff like this out there:


B&W and then some.PNG


It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.
 

respice finem

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Thanks Amir. I'd be chopping that one up for kindling.
My second thought: I would donate it to some institution, like a seniors residence, maybe? It works, after all, and the design may be to their liking.
 
Last edited:

m8o

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I always thought the point of this speaker that it was known to be shit, but if your mix created on superior speakers sounded good on this too, you were golden to release to the masses as the majority have something akin to this.
 
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