Anyone with LSA Audio?

[davidro]

Although the LSA aren't perfectly suited to large orchestral music Karajan's second Brahms Symphonies cycle with the Berlin Phil (70s DG CDs) really shines through these speakers. The remastered CDs are a little dull and my AR-3a weren't able to give them a transparent voice. With the LSA the sound is a lot more crisp and when there's a tutti these babies can show that they can fill the listening room with the concert hall ambiance.

 

[davidro]

Some pics before the stands...

 

[Art K.]

Very nice!

 

[BankShot]

My thanks to davidro as he alerted me to this thread. I just finished posting one regarding my first purchase of a pair of LSA speakers. My original intent was to purchase the Signatures but I also wanted a sub and after contacting Brian Warford at LSA and asking him if he was working on, or considering, a matching sub to his gorgeous line of speakers, he told me at this time one wasn't in the works. With that thought in mind I started looking for a sub that would blend well with the LSAs. I ended up not buying the Signatures but went instead with the .5 bookshelf speaker. The room I wanted this second system for is smaller and I am not intending them to compete with my main system so after taking home a pair to audition, I found myself completely satisfied with their sound in that room. I chose an EPOS ELS-10 powered sub to compliment them and it blends perfectly with all types of music. I plan someday to purchase the LSA2 Statements for my other main room but for now will be enjoying these little beauties. As I have mentioned previously in my other post they look like the drivers were mounted into a solid piece of Rosewood with the precision of a fine watch maker. Beautiful to look at and beautiful to hear, they really are one fine speaker. I heard yesterday that the guy that heads up LSA is also the conductor of the Tennessee Philharmonic Orchestra so he certainly has music and sound in his background. If any of you reading this ever gets the opportunity to audition these speakers by all means take a few minutes and do so. But be warned, don't go in there with your wallet/CCs as you might end up coming out with a pair...............

Regards to all...........Terry:thmbsp:

 

[KentTeffeteller]

Indeed, East Tennessee/North Georgia AK members also realize you have a fine, friendly LSA dealer. That dealer is College Hi-Fi on Lee Highway in Chattanooga, TN and it's affable owner is Mr. D.B. Hall. If you take that opportunity to audition them, tell him Kent sent you. Mr. Hall has nice used gear and has been in business since 1968. And he is also vinyl friendly.

 

[davidro]

Very nice!

Thanks man. The pics look awful on my work computer. Wonder if it's just my work computer as they looked good on my home laptop.

My thanks to davidro as he alerted me to this thread. I just finished posting one regarding my first purchase of a pair of LSA speakers. My original intent was to purchase the Signatures but I also wanted a sub and after contacting Brian Warford at LSA and asking him if he was working on, or considering, a matching sub to his gorgeous line of speakers, he told me at this time one wasn't in the works. With that thought in mind I started looking for a sub that would blend well with the LSAs. I ended up not buying the Signatures but went instead with the .5 bookshelf speaker. The room I wanted this second system for is smaller and I am not intending them to compete with my main system so after taking home a pair to audition, I found myself completely satisfied with their sound in that room. I chose an EPOS ELS-10 powered sub to compliment them and it blends perfectly with all types of music. I plan someday to purchase the LSA2 Statements for my other main room but for now will be enjoying these little beauties. As I have mentioned previously in my other post they look like the drivers were mounted into a solid piece of Rosewood with the precision of a fine watch maker. Beautiful to look at and beautiful to hear, they really are one fine speaker. I heard yesterday that the guy that heads up LSA is also the conductor of the Tennessee Philharmonic Orchestra so he certainly has music and sound in his background. If any of you reading this ever gets the opportunity to audition these speakers by all means take a few minutes and do so. But be warned, don't go in there with your wallet/CCs as you might end up coming out with a pair...............

Regards to all...........Terry:thmbsp:

Thanks for your contribution Terry. I think LSA needs some recognition like this!

Indeed, East Tennessee/North Georgia AK members also realize you have a fine, friendly LSA dealer. That dealer is College Hi-Fi on Lee Highway in Chattanooga, TN and it's affable owner is Mr. D.B. Hall. If you take that opportunity to audition them, tell him Kent sent you. Mr. Hall has nice used gear and has been in business since 1968. And he is also vinyl friendly.

My LSAs come from an Aussie dealer which appears very very rare. You can't even find any dealer on by googling on Aussie sites!

 

[JohnMichael]

After all this talk about LSA speakers I needed to hear my MoFi OML1's. From my understanding the LSA monitor, OML1's and Von Schweikert VR1's have some similarities. Each voiced by the individual selling the speakers. The LSA's have curved cabinets and bi wireable, OML1's front baffle is angled back and is biwireable, and the VR1's have a more simple enclosure and single wired. Of course the LSA statement is the only one with a ribbon tweeter.

Anyway I pulled my speakers out to give a listen. They are sounding good so I know you are enjoying the tunes even more with that tweeter. One of these days I would like to hear the Statements.

 

[davidro]

After all this talk about LSA speakers I needed to hear my MoFi OML1's. From my understanding the LSA monitor, OML1's and Von Schweikert VR1's have some similarities. Each voiced by the individual selling the speakers. The LSA's have curved cabinets and bi wireable, OML1's front baffle is angled back and is biwireable, and the VR1's have a more simple enclosure and single wired. Of course the LSA statement is the only one with a ribbon tweeter.

Anyway I pulled my speakers out to give a listen. They are sounding good so I know you are enjoying the tunes even more with that tweeter. One of these days I would like to hear the Statements.

Thanks for the contribution. Apart from the ribbon tweeter the crossover is 'totally rebuilt' with the Statement I understand.

I'm listening to some female vocals now with the LSA and the sound is subliminal. It's one of those 'what's that supposed to mean?' kind of description I know but that's what I can come up with now.

 

[Permanent Waves]

I heard them at a local audio meet a year or so ago.

I have to say I was underwhelmed. I've seen them marketed as contenders to the Usher Tiny Dancers and about every other 3k monitor and I just can't see why. They are too in your face (and I like forward leaning speakers), they don't play loud (start to break up and sound congested), and female vocals were really colored. Besides that they didn't do anything better than other speakers in the price range: they were very undistinguished.

And for those who care, yes they were bi-wired and burned in, neither of which, of course, matters at all.

Also they are made in China and then shipped to the US where they are gutted--crossover and wiring--and real wool is put in for damping (this comes directly from Larry Staples, the LSA Group Founder, from this thread where he also launched an entirely unfair/pathetically fallacious ad hominem/straw man attack--which is very telling--on the reviewer who I almost totally agree with, as did most of my audio associates when auditioning the LSA's...I bet if he saw my concurring with said reviewer he would do the same to me as well, but I will post no more itt in any case. http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?rspkr&1255795672&openfrom&1&4#1). So they are not built from the ground up here at least.

I've heard the Standards too and don't remember them being anything more than mediocre. Not a fan of LSA so far at least.

No offense to anyone of course, all SQ comments are jmo!

 

[davidro]

No offence taken mate. A bad review is still better than no review at all. At least a bad review makes them interesting. No review makes them, well, non-existent.

I see you like Usher speakers so much. I wonder if that tells your taste in sound. I only have Usher's entry speakers but if that's somewhat representative of the Usher house sound it would of a pretty bright side. LSA on the other hand, I feel, has its roots in the so called East Coast and/or English sort of sound tradition. Dark, airy and laid back. People have varying opinions on which - bright or dark - represents 'the neutral'. My impression is when they find some sound attractive they like to label it neutral, because labeling speakers either dark or bright make them look less Hi-Fi. IMO, there is such thing as truly neutral sound from a sound reproduction.

I don't meant to compare the Statement with the S-520 due to the obvious price difference though. You know what's funny. I attended a live performance of Mozart Requiem last Saturday. I hadn't been to a concert for about 2 months which is rare, and before the show my impression was the strings on the LSA sounded rather distant and a little too dark (still a lot brighter than my AR-3a). But when I was sitting on the front row facing the stage and felt my memory of the real sound was somewhat different from the actual real sound. Even as I was facing the instruments right in front they weren't as hot as I had cared to remember.

I think LSA has been pretty open about their products being manufactured in China before tuning. No real news in that thread in that regard.

I'm surprised that you found LSA to be forward sounding though. My experience of the past week or two has been the opposite and the imaging is excellent.

 

[davidro]

Oh by the way I do agree Larry acted a bit out of line there in that thread. But given LSA's lack of publicity I can understand why he was sore.

 

[BankShot]

For what it's worth LSA, like every other speaker, has its following. Some like the sound of an LSA speaker, others don't particularly like it for some reason or another and that's what makes for all the different speakers out there. I for one enjoy the sound of LSA and I'm a dyed in the wool PL Andromeda owner. I was not trying to duplicate the Andromeda sound with the LSAs, rather I was wanting to set up a second system in a smaller room and fell in love with not just the sound of the LSAs but also for this one time, their looks too. Everyone who's seen them has commented on how gorgeous that little Rosewood enclosure is and that even includes a few gals who could care less about speakers, sound or looks...................:thmbsp:

 

[BankShot]

Just thought I'd add to this thread by adding some speaker stands to the mix. I just today placed my order for the LSA stands. After searching high and low and seeing just about every stand made that would compliment my new .5s, I decided to bite the bullet and get the ones made for this speaker. Should have them in approx. one week and I was even able to get a nice discount on them making the purchase even sweeter. The .5s and the EPOS sub are working their respective magics together and making for some really great listening in this second smaller listening room I purchased them for. I love that piano lacquer base the LSA stands rest on. They really will look great and will complete the room and the look I was hoping for. Oh, and the sound too of course..................

Good Listening to everyone..........Terry:thmbsp:

 

[MWalt]

Just thought I'd add to this thread by adding some speaker stands to the mix. I just today placed my order for the LSA stands. After searching high and low and seeing just about every stand made that would compliment my new .5s, I decided to bite the bullet and get the ones made for this speaker. Should have them in approx. one week and I was even able to get a nice discount on them making the purchase even sweeter. The .5s and the EPOS sub are working their respective magics together and making for some really great listening in this second smaller listening room I purchased them for. I love that piano lacquer base the LSA stands rest on. They really will look great and will complete the room and the look I was hoping for. Oh, and the sound too of course..................

Good Listening to everyone..........Terry:thmbsp:

Pics, Terry!!!!!

 

[BankShot]

Pics, Terry!!!!!

Haven't taken the time to figure out how to post pics here as yet. That's why my avatar says "work in progress". If you care to go on the LSA website or just Google LSA Speaker Stands, you can see the speakers and the stands there. Not to be redundant but both the LSA speakers and stands are gorgeous and compliment one another superbly...............:thmbsp:

 

[Art K.]

Just found out we have an LSA dealer in the NW. I might have a listen one of these days. I'm not shopping but it's always fun to listen.

 

[davidro]

Everyone who's seen them has commented on how gorgeous that little Rosewood enclosure is and that even includes a few gals who could care less about speakers, sound or looks...................:thmbsp:

They really are a beauty.

Just thought I'd add to this thread by adding some speaker stands to the mix. I just today placed my order for the LSA stands. After searching high and low and seeing just about every stand made that would compliment my new .5s, I decided to bite the bullet and get the ones made for this speaker. Should have them in approx. one week and I was even able to get a nice discount on them making the purchase even sweeter. The .5s and the EPOS sub are working their respective magics together and making for some really great listening in this second smaller listening room I purchased them for. I love that piano lacquer base the LSA stands rest on. They really will look great and will complete the room and the look I was hoping for. Oh, and the sound too of course..................

Good Listening to everyone..........Terry:thmbsp:

Congratulation! I wish I could get me a pair of LSA stands too.

Just found out we have an LSA dealer in the NW. I might have a listen one of these days. I'm not shopping but it's always fun to listen.

Please do that and let us know what you think of them!

 

[BankShot]

There is one thing bad about me buying these small bookshelf LSA speakers. I find myself in their room listening to them now more than I am in my big listening room with my main system. These speakers really hold onto you and won't let you get away. I did a few tests using them with and without the EPOS sub and have found that for most music and for especially when I want to turn up the volume on a particular piece of music, the sub is almost a necessity. Not so I guess if you aren't into hearing the bottom half octave and feeling that deep sensation in your gut, etc. Really glad I bought these as I was close to buying a pair of Paradigm Titan Monitors but for some reason got sold on that Rosewood enclosure and couldn't talk myself out of it................:yes: Besides what's a few hundred more bucks when it involves good sound AND good looks...

 

[davidro]

These speakers deprive you of sleep yes

 

[BankShot]

These speakers deprive you of sleep yes

Indeed they can and do. Just the other night I settled down to listen to them for what I thought was going to be just a few minutes. That few minutes turned into a few hours real quick!!! They are certainly not a fatiguing speaker as many can be and I find I can have them on and never get tired of the sound they are producing. Amazing speaker for its size. I wish I could have gotten the LSA1 Statements or at the very least the Signatures but alas it was not to be at this time. I wanted a decent sub to go with them and I had to also buy a cabinet to house the components in, hence the (hate to say this) downgrade to the .5s. I fully intend on buying the LSA2 Statements in the not too distant future as I was in love with them listening to them while there auditioning the smaller pairs. Truly some very nice stuff coming out of Nashville right now.....

Regards, Terry:thmbsp: