LS3/5a buys LS3/5a's

Hardly exceptions. I gave you two. Plenty of others out there.

As for ripoffs, can't recall the brand, but there's at least one or two western companies that grabbed an Oppo. Put it into their own companies box and charged an arm and a leg for the pleasure of it.

You could also look under the hood of some western hifi gear and wonder what you get for your money. The Bryston BDA-1 springs to mind in that regard.

 

Correct, reverse engineering happens.
China however have made industries out of the practice.
Western companies have certainly helped by setting up shop, sharing their manufacturing procesess, setting the supplier bases and training the workers every step of the way.
The big picture is that it can all come back to haunt them.
If we can buy a SoundArtist speaker for $800 that sounds like a $3000 Harbeth, what happens to Harbeth?

 

Just an historical reminder: Japan became class leaders in all kinds of manufacturing by initially copying foreign sourced technology. Now audio enthusiasts get concerned that that their very fine, high end Japanese amplifier be made in Japan rather than in Malaysia, for example. 'Made in Japan' became synonymous with quality.

I can't make much of a distinction between China and Japan, in how their technology cultures developed.

 

I'm not sure what the problem is here. Apart from Harbeth's. The world's moved on, globalisation, new technology and better products arrived to meet consumer demand. Legacy hifi companies need to look at what they're doing and they've needed to do this for a good decade or so.

My current setup is a mix of manufacturers with gear made in different countries. The AVI actives use drivers from Scanspeak and Sinar Baja, the cabinets were produced in the UK. The final speaker was assembled by hand in the UK. My Sony CDP was made in Japan for the UK market, about 30 years ago. My Cambridge 752BD was designed in the UK but manufactured in China. My turntable is a Super OEM variant likely from Hanpin. My streamer is an Arylic S10, designed and made in China. My phono preamp is a Pro-Ject Phono Box, designed in Czech and possibly assembled there too while my Tisbury passive preamp is designed and assembled by some bloke in his kitchen somewhere down south.

The streamer cost less than £50. It retails for about £55-75 depending on where you buy. It's currently streaming the new Bob Dylan album on Tidal. It's probably a reasonable threat to any streamer up to £500. The 4STREAM app works an absolute treat, the fly in the ointment for many a manufacturer these days. I certainly wouldn't be nipping out to buy the Audiolab 6000T, or an Arcam rDAC at £350 to £400. What of Arcam or Audiolab? Or indeed, Harbeth.

Whatever is happening in China with copies is nothing new. It's been happening for decade upon decade. The consumer that really wants Harbeth, will buy Harbeth speakers. They'll buy them for any number of reasons - they like the products, they like the quality, they like the sound, they've been a customer for years, they got a good deal, or whatever. The customer that's on the fence might buy Harbeth speakers, but they might be tempted by the SoundArtist model instead.

Equally, if the SoundArtist owners have got themselves a deal with the supplier that does the same drivers as the Harbeths, good luck to them.

I mentioned my equipment list earlier. The actual gear I'm using just now are the streamer, the passive preamp and the AVI speakers. The sound quality is way better than it has any singular right to, given the total cost to me came in at just £829. The new price for the speakers was £1500, I bought them NOS. And there's the rub; I can get the sound quality that will keep me rapt for hours and hours from gear that was made in a bunch of places (and frankly, I don't really care that much about where it was built). The challenge is really for legacy hifi companies to remain relevant to the contemporary consumer. Why do you think Naim made the Muso, or KEF started to do those surround sound "egg" speakers in the early 2000s and these days they're fully embracing active speaker technology with the LSX or the LS50W. Harbeth needn't lift a finger of course, but that brings with it the risk they'll be left behind.

 

Ah...If we only purchased from sound quality alone...but we don't. Marque cachet, looks, veneer, history, pride of ownership, confirmation bias. I don't think Harbeth will be too troubled by cheaper knock-offs. And if they are, then technology will evolve from the competition.

 

I'm not in interested in a LS3/5 type speaker at LS3/5 prices. at 600 bucks i'm in the "i'd give it a shot" camp (whether that's just or not)

 

P

Agreed

 

agreed but is that sustainable?

 

I don't know if it is sustainable, but Harbeth have retained their market footprint in the face of formidable competition....the real competitors in their niche, are Graham, Spendor, Stirling and evolving new Rogers models. The audio enthusiasts intent on a British sound and willing to spend upwards of $3000 are the real market, not the $600 clients.

 

@ls35a you must be immersed in music ...

 

I'm retired and single. I've got lots of time to listen to music.

 

Well pry yourself away for a while and give us your first impressions.

 

And some pics...please.

 

I'm interested in trying some of these. But am kind of over-speakered right now having bought some cheap Jamos for the HT system, and some cheap Infinity RS162s for home office. If someone gets a pair, and can compare with the KEF LS-50s, I'd be curious. The one youtube review that praised them, also had the person owning Harbeths, which are like in a different class, investment wise, build quality wise, and in his opinion a little bit sound wise.

 

So,what’s the deal with the Sound Artist speakers? It’s been a while. Any comments about their performance?

 

@ls35a is being coy. come on man!

I might order a pair in a couple of weeks here for a desktop system. I have an old Sanyo SD-SG11 1-bit digital system that were the audiophile forum flavor of the month about 20 years ago.

Sharp Announces New "One-Bit" Amps



Only 25 watts per channel. Hope that's enough for desktop/super nearfield.

 

I ordered a pair of the Sound Artists a few days ago; still in processing mode so I don’t have an idea yet when they’ll arrive. A few days after I ordered, the following “Note” was added to the description of the speakers on the seller’s site. I found it rather cryptic, and since I’m not at all technically expert in these matters, I wonder if any of you can help me figure out what it might mean.

For context, while I’m by no means a sophisticated audiophile, I did own a pair of Spendor LS3/5a’s back in the 80’s; they ran happily, if a little quietly, on an entry level NAD integrated amp. So I was surprised to see the 120-150W recommendation in the Note. Right now I’m using an Iotavx SA-3 PA-3 stack to drive a pair of Klipsch RP-600Ms; fun but sometimes I miss the sweetness and musicality I remember from the little Spendors so I thought these might be a dramatically different alternative I can switch to from time to time.

Anyway, I’d be grateful if anyone has any idea what this might mean, and, even if not, that you might find it interesting and/or useful.

Thanks!


Here’s the text:


Kind Note:
We found these LS3/5A may make some solid state amplifier restart when it play a mega bass music at high volume, so, we take the speakers to my Maintenance center to check and test. We found our solid state amp which power above 120W at 8 ohms per channel work well with the LS3/5A.
And the EL34 *4 Push-pull tube amplifier work well with the LS3/5A.

Therefore we think a higher powered amplifier and one with a fairly high damping factor helps with stability.
Tube amps with their transformer outputs seem to work well as well.

So, I think, before you make the order, you need to make sure your solid state amplifier is above 120W(Conservative 150W) at 8 ohms per channel.
Usually a EL34 *4 Push-pull tube amplifier is a best matched with the LS3/5A. Anyone of Willsenton R8 EL34 version or Willsenton R-35i is a good choice.(Hook at 8 ohms).
You can choose the SoundArtist SA-200IA amplifier too, very good on Bass.

Q: Why does the LS3/5A have this problem? is it a manufacturing defect?
A: The LS3/5A is 11 ohms, and it is airtight, so, it need a very high power to driver it to get a nice sound. Why not 8 ohms? If make LS3/5A at 8 ohms, it may help with stability, but it is not the best sound. I hope you can understand a good speaker need to work with a matched amplifier.

 

Dunno, but looks like they are trying to sell you an amplifier....

 

Seems to me they are simply making amp recommendations.....though I would take issue with the recommendations they offer.

If the Sound Artist is fairly close to an 11 ohm ls3/5a, many amps will drive them happily, in my experience. I have used Quad 303 (45 watts/channel), Quad 909 (140 watts/channel), Rogue Cronus tubes (55 watts/channel), Quad II tube monoblocks (15 watts/channel), PS Audio S300 class D (140 watts/channel), vintage Kenwood KA-7002 (50 watts/channel). All of them worked well without clipping at my listening levels, and without any other problems related to 'mismatching'.

 

I wouldn't take alarm from the Sound Artist amp disclaimer. Seems to me they are describing the sort of AV Receiver type amps with overactive protection circuits that shut down at the slightest provocation.

 

I think some folks may be blasting these like they would with lesser speakers, with the impression that "louder is better ". In reality the beauty of the LS3/5a is their ability to be musically satisfying at SPL levels far lower than your average bookshelf speakers. They resolve complex passages and provide high resolution without blasting you out of the room. To me, that is one most difficult characteristic to design into a speaker.

 

But none of your support for UK / USA / Japan designed and built in a dedicated factory run by the brand has any relevance to a no name Chinese outfit making an LS3/5A knock off. These are two different things. Also China is not Japan and in the 30 years it's been making copies to sell to the west has it developed first class electronics companies such as Sony, Yamaha, Panasonic etc? In the same period after the war Japan grew to produce serious product and became world leaders.

 

I’m gonna buy these today .

 

Apparently there are some supply issues, so let us know if they arrive quickly or not... I'm still on the fence on ordering them.

 

Ok
Time flies for me so I’m sure it will be acceptable
I want to put these in the tube bedroom system I’ve been in love with these last few months. I trust Sean’s opinions and I think he bought these ( or given). He posted yet a second video with these on a desktop connected to Vista Spark and Monoprice sub. He seems smitten.