jost@ridley.coyote.trw.com (Patrick Jost) (08/07/90)
I've got a pair of Rogers LS3/5As, and would not have anything else... however, as you know, they don't do bass all that well. As a bassist, this is frustrating; what is also frustrating is that I've heard that getting them to work with a subwoofer is difficult, the beginning of the difficulty being locating a suitable subwoofer. Has anyone done this? I'd like to hear about your experiences and recommendations... Thanks, PJ
dhs@cs.utexas.edu (Douglas H. Steves) (08/07/90)
In article <5596@uwm.edu> jost@ridley.coyote.trw.com (Patrick Jost) writes: >I've got a pair of Rogers LS3/5As, and would not have anything else... >however, ... getting them to work with a subwoofer is difficult ... Yes, it is. The main problem is that the LS3/5A spec includes a rise in the mid-bass frequency response to simulate deep bass, since they were originally designed to be control room monitors for the BBC. When a subwoofer is included, the result is usually muddy. A company named Satterburg produced a subwoofer especially designed for the LS3/5A a few years back - among other things, it was a stereo pair which crossed over reasonably high - I think about 225Hz. If I were designing a subwoofer for the LS3/5A's, I would: - use fast drivers (consider using 2 8" vs. 1 12") - use sharp (Linkwitz?) crossovers - cross over at a higher than normal frequency - use stereo subwoofers Of course, this may be rather expensive. You may want to consider another mini-monitor instead. The LS3/5A is no longer the state of the art, however fondly some of us may remember it. Doug
paul@uunet.UU.NET (Paul Homchick) (08/07/90)
In article <5596@uwm.edu> jost@ridley.coyote.trw.com (Patrick Jost) writes: > >I've got a pair of Rogers LS3/5As, and would not have anything else... >... a suitable subwoofer. .... experiences and recommendations. I've had a pair of biamped LS3/5As for about 8 years now. My (sub)woofers are a pair of KEF B200 drivers in a pair of home-built transmission-line enclosures. The LS3/5As sit on top of the woofer cabinets. (The LS3/5A "woofer" is a KEF B110, I think). The active crossover uses op-amps to cross over at 110Hz using a second-order butterworth filter (12db/oct). I seem to remember hearing that the 5As had a peak at 60Hz, and I picked the 110Hz to avoid that peak. A Conrad-Johnson amp drives the LS3/5As, and an Adcom drives the KEFs. The enclosures are built from particle board and are 15.5w x 12.75d x 38h (inches). The transmission-line is folded (3 legs), triangular, and stuffed with dacron fiber. This set-up has kept me happy 'lo these many years, although I am now itching to improve things. One reason for my current dissatisfaction is that I have recently noticed that the two LS3/5As sound different, perhaps they have aged differently, or I zapped one of them once. One thought for improving things is to get a better crossover with a better power supply, active devices and passive components. Perhaps, I'd even try a first order filter, but that would mean moving up the crossover to about 300Hz and this is going to give a lot of lower midrange to the B200s. If anyone has any suggestions for a good crossover design, or a good commercial crossover, I'd certainly like to hear about it. In the meantime, I was just this evening trying the Stereophile CD warbletone tracks. Output from the KEFs is strong down to 31.5Hz, and although it falls off at 25 and 20Hz, it still has output. When I put on something which is sinfully bassy (like the recording of the Partch Delusion of the Fury) I am amazed what 2 8" drivers can do. -- Paul Homchick :UUCP {rutgers | uunet} !cbmvax!cgh!paul Chimitt Gilman Homchick, Inc. :Internet cgh!paul@dsi.com 259 Radnor-Chester Rd, Suite 140 :MCI PHOMCHICK Radnor, PA 19087-5299 :GEnie HOMCHICK
sxm@bebop.Philips.Com (Sandeep Mehta) (08/08/90)
In article <5605@uwm.edu> dhs@cs.utexas.edu (Douglas H. Steves) writes: In article <5596@uwm.edu> jost@ridley.coyote.trw.com (Patrick Jost) writes: >I've got a pair of Rogers LS3/5As, and would not have anything else... >however, ... getting them to work with a subwoofer is difficult ... [...] Of course, this may be rather expensive. You may want to consider another mini-monitor instead. The LS3/5A is no longer the state of the art, however fondly some of us may remember it. This may not warrant a high-end posting, but being a Rogers fan I would recommend an upgrade to something like the Rogers 7a (alpha). I listen to acoustic jazz and classical and haven't really found the bass lacking. This after auditioning many many speakers more expensive than the Rogers. The 7-alpha may be discontinued but I believe there is a sibling in the same price range. /sandeep -- sxm@philabs.Philips.Com "Jazz is Happiness" - Le Sony'Ra