SoundArtist LS3/5A Monitor Bookshelf Speakers loudspeakers Pair

Sound Artist LS3/5a is a unique speaker in my 47 pair collection. Sitting on a Fosi Quad Monoblock 2.2 system with heavily mass-damped stereo subwoofers, I expected great things sitting 70cm from the speakers and subs. My expectations have been well and truly exceeded. I found these to be very sensitive to positioning, with the best sound for my voice-forward and bass-strong preference coming when very aggressively toed in - crossing about 30cm in front of my head, 17cm above my desktop, sitting on 16Kg of concrete pavers on each side. Then toed-up at 4-degrees to get on the same plane as the tweeters, so my eyes are level with the top of the speakers.

Once this arrangement was dialled in, the soundstage properly exploded for me, with pinpoint imaging, and stereo effects coming from all sides, and behind my head.

Bass is present, and believable at lower SPL, and the sound is very pleasing without subwoofers. But above 85dB the bass fails to scale, and the speakers can become a little shouty and bright. This is to be expected. Once subwoofers are added, and the required bass floor punches up from below, the LS3/5a's strongly forward-voicing is properly supported at high SPL, and their performance becomes sublime. In properly demanding music they shine: heavy Drum and Bass, and the weaponised Tech House remixes of Vivaldi's violin violence - pushing well into the high 90s.

And then there's what happens with they're High-Passed at 100Hz, and sitting atop heavily mass-damped passive stereo subwoofers with no boundary effect! These little thugs become quite explosive, with very high coherence and time domain behaviour.

They're thrilling in all the right ways. They're fast, and fun, and at low volumes in 2.0 they sound quite full. But if you want any kind of decent volume, please HPF and add subwoofers. Your best sound will be 1 to 2 metres from the speakers/subs.

These are very well made, and are amazingly well packaged. The Rosewood is elegant and well finished. As is the velcro stapled to the baffle. A true homage to the original item.

These are an outstanding bargain, and a give you a tiny slice of HiFi history, and you're sure to find a setup which fully locks everything together in your room, but it could take a little while to get there. Be prepared to spend the time in setup, and you will reap the rewards.

10/10 - Thoroughly Recommended.

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