On Feb 15, 11:45�pm, Jenn wrote:
In article
,
wrote:
On Feb 15, 9:20?am, Jenn wrote:
On Feb 15, 4:08?am, John Atkinson wrote:
On Feb 14, 9:05 pm, wrote:
Any other LS3/5a fans here? ?Critics?
I reviewed the Stirlng LS3/5a a year ago. You can
find the reprint of that review starting
athttp://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/361/index12.html.
On balance, I slightly preferred the similarly sized
Harbeth
HL-P3ES2:http://www.stereophile.com/standloud...rbeth/index5.h
tml.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
I heard the LS3/5a speakers back in the very late 70s or maybe 1980,
back when around the L.A. area there were several high-end
establishments that ran out of people's homes by appointment. ?Other
than the Quads, they were probably the first high-end speakers that I
heard. ?I was amazed at the clarity and imaging, but of course, there
was no real bass. ?I remember that this person had some slightly
larger Mordaunt Short speakers that I liked better. ?I almost bought a
pair of those, but ended up getting the DCM Timewindows instead as
part of my first non-mass market system (with the NAD 3020 and a
little Micro-Seiki TT.)
That's funny...I almost bought a pair of DCM Timewindows, but would up
purchasing a pair of Snell Type Js instead. This was around 1982. �I
thought the Snells were every bit as good as the DCMs, but a couple of
hundred dollars less.
Boon
I remember looking for the Snell, but couldn't find a dealer at the time.
Looking to hear the TIme Windows (after discovering The Audio Critic and
reading their love of them) led me to a very interesting fellow named
Randy Cooley who owned/owns Optimal Enchantment in Santa Monica. �I
think that it was called something else at the time. �He was a hippie
type of guy, super friendly. �I listened for hours and the Time Windows
seemed like magic to me at the time. �Later I also bought an Oracle
TT/Alphason arm/Dynavector cartridge from him. �He was a neat guy and
very helpful. �Years and years later, I saw and talked to him at the
Stereophile show in LA (two years ago?). We chatted and chatted like old
times. �He introduced me to Richard Vandersteen, and I liked him as well.
I had a bad experience with Randy a number of years ago. He was using
a turntable on top of a really high stand (over five feet tall!), and
I walked up to see what it was. He actually told me not to breathe on
the turntable. I turned around and walked out. To be fair, others
have told me that he's a great guy. But he blew it with me.
I heard the DCMs at Havens and Hardesty in OC when I was still a
teen. The audio salesman who demonstrated them was actually blind.
Nice guy, too. We listened to the DCMs for a while, and I wanted
them. At $747, they were a bit too pricey (I had $500 to spend). I
looked over and saw the Snells and asked about them. The salesman
said something to the effect, "Oh...I think you're really going to
like these." I did. They were $550 a pair. I told the guy I only had
$500. He said "Sold!" He even threw in the stands and the wire.
I enjoyed those for many years. I finally blew out the tweeters one
day and gave them to my older brother. He had them fixed and is still
using them. I always thought the Js were the forgotten Snells. I
remember feeling frustrated because Stereophile reviewed every single
Snell except for the Js. I had just started reading Stereophile and
wanted validation, I think.
Funny thing is they're still being made, in a way. The Audio Note AN/
J is basically the same design. The prices range from about $2500 to
$19,000 a pair. That's a long way from $500.
Boon