The BBC-designed LS3/5a monitor loudspeaker has been in continuous BBC-licensed production in various forms since 1975. During those 45 years, its popularity has never abated. I bought my first pair of LS3/5a’s as a Badger kit from an ad in the back of Speaker Builder magazine. I bought my next pair, used, from a CBS engineer, in 1989; they were rosewood-finished, 15 ohm Rogers that came stock with solid-hardwood rotating wall-mounts (footnote 1). Those now-antique Rogers were my daily-driver loudspeakers from 1989 until I reviewed the 15 ohm Falcon Acoustics version in the July 2015 issue of Stereophile. Since then, the Falcon version has been an important tool in my reviewing investigations.
The Falcon LS3/5a’s primary virtues include:
• They throw a wall-penetrating, precisely mapped, extraordinarily detailed soundstage.
• They deliver critical levels of timbral accuracy and speech intelligibility.
• Their 12″ high sealed boxes are easy to place and adapt well to standmount, desktop, bookshelf, or bureau-top placement.
• The LS3/5a is a true studio monitor design and hence extremely neutral and open-sounding when listened to in the nearfield.
• Despite its low (83dB/2.83V) sensitivity, it is completely happy with low-power class-A amplifiers—especially tubes. (On the backside of my old Rogers it says “Handling Capacity: 25 Watts Speech and Music.”)
• It is hand-built in England. The LS3/5a’s shortcomings include:
• It cannot play loud.
• It compresses macrodynamics.
• It can sound grainy.
I’ve spent almost 40 continuous years using first the kit, then the Rogers, then the Falcon LS3/5a’s. Now, a new 5a has entered my world. It is what Falcon calls the “Gold Badge” version ($2999.95/pair), and I think it might be the best LS3/5a ever produced for general consumption.
In 2019, Falcon Acoustics created a passionately executed facsimile of the BBC’s final 1974 LS3/5a prototype. It was released in a limited, 50-pair run, called the “Kingswood Warren Limited Edition,” in tribute to the BBC’s Kingswood Warren Technical Research Department, where the first BBC monitors were born. Famously, all 50 pairs sold in eight days at $8000/pair.
According to an email I received from Falcon’s chief of everything Jerry Bloomfield, “The Kingswood Warrens featured re-engineered BBC R&D Department inductors, special polycarbonate-film capacitors remanufactured by Falcon, and ultralow-inductance resistors, all in very limited quantities dictated by the availability of rare original materials retained or acquired by Falcon.” Bloomfield said that surprise at the Kingswood Warren’s reception was surpassed only by the shock of its improved sound. “We then decided we would try and see how far we could incorporate the Kingswood Warren sonic experience into our regular production LS3/5a.
“Historically, the transformers used from the early production LS3/5a’s onwards were made smaller than the BBC prototypes to save money. We deliberately reversed that. So, the Gold Badge BBC LS3/5a crossovers have enhanced-size BBC Specification Transformer-style inductors compared to previous versions. This gives lower distortion, improved saturation levels, and additional bass enhancement.”
My experiences in amplifier design taught me that replacing a physically smaller (higher-resistance) choke or inductor with a larger (lower-resistance) one of the same inductance will lower noise and improve low-level dynamics.
“We then looked at the capacitors,” Bloomfield continued. “Polycarbonate film has not been made for over 30 years. We were lucky to find what we had for the Kingswood Warrens, so we developed new Falcon capacitors using graded polypropylene film with a very similar sonic signature to the polycarbonate film capacitors used in the Kingswood Warren Limited Edition instead of the polyester film normally used.”
“Gold Badge” crossover with larger, “transformer-style” inductors and Falcon’s own polypropylene film capacitors mounted on a new, multilayer PCB.
Back in the day, polycarbonate-film capacitors were esteemed for a relaxed, organic sound that many people, including me, really liked. Today, high-quality polypropylene film delivers a quieter, suppler transparency than less expensive, more commonly used polyester film. (If you crunch cellophane into a ball, you will have a rough idea of the sound polyester caps impart.) Bloomfield says, “Falcon’s new polypropylene capacitors give cleaner, more defined sonics. There’s an additional precision, which I describe as being able to hear the spaces between notes.
“We’ve also used ultralow-inductance resistors and a new, Falcon-designed multilayer FL6/23 printed circuit board, which gives us improved tracking and sonics.
“All these improvements combine together to give us the Falcon Gold Badge LS3/5a crossover, which has now been granted Registered Design Status (by the BBC).
“It’s also using 100% UK/EU sourced parts.”
Footnote 1: See John Atkinson’s reviews of both the original Rogers LS3/5a’s here. JA’s review of the late-1980s revision can be accessed via this 1989 Follow-Up link.
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COMPANY INFO
Falcon Acoustics
US distributor: MoFi Distribution
1811 W. Bryn Mawr Ave.
Chicago, IL 60660
(312) 841-4087
mofidistribution.com
ARTICLE CONTENTS
Page 1
Falcon "Gold Badge" LS3/5a loudspeaker Page 2
Falcon "Gold Badge" LS3/5a loudspeaker Specifications
Falcon "Gold Badge" LS3/5a loudspeaker Associated Equipment
Falcon "Gold Badge" LS3/5a loudspeaker Measurements
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