Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a 15 ohms

Jerome W

Jerome W

Active member
Joined
Apr 5, 2013
Messages
1,289
Location
Near Paris, France
Hi Folks,

I received a pair of Falcon LS3/5a this week.
Listened to them with 2 tube amps of rather low power ( MAC 1500 : 2 x 30W and Halgorythme : 2 x 20W ) and various styles of music.
As much as I love the Harbeth P3ESR, the Falcons are clearly better to my ears. More natural sounding. I connect instantly to the music.
There is no stress at all. The timbres are incredibly natural.
The P3ESR puts maybe a tiny more weight in the notes but on many recordings it does not appear. The Falcons are not lean speakers at all. For their size, the meat on the bone is incredible.
Main differences are in the bass and the treble.
The bass of the Falcons is more neutral. Now that I have them side by side I can hear clearly that the P3ESR's have a bass bump.
The treble of the P3ESR is more resolved, and goes a bit higher. More detailed. More "modern" sounding.
The treble of the Falcons is not rolled off at all. Its resolution is more natural to my ears. Sounds sweeter.

Overall, I enjoy much more the music through the Falcons. Maybe that the P3ESR are harder to drive.

To me the Falcon's are the very best LS3/5a iteration I ever heard.
 
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Congratulations Jerome, are these current production speakers? I'll have to look for them.
 
Wow! Great review. I'll have to look into them. What finish are yours?
 
Jerome - do they have much larger speakers? Are you considering any of those?


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I see. My impression was exact opposite. I guess we all have different hearing :). Enjoy it Jeorme.


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Paul said:
I see. My impression was exact opposite. I guess we all have different hearing :). Enjoy it Jeorme.


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Click to expand...

Paul, the problem is that most 15 ohms are old and may not sound as they were supposed to 30 or 40 years ago. I have listened to rather bad 15 ohms.
Hence the stunning idea of Falcon to make a new version of them.
The LS3/5a original sound, the one that made it a legend, is the 15 ohms version. Not the 11 ohms.
 
Cucumber_jones said:
I thought you were no longer an audiophile!
Click to expand...

So why a LS3/5a lover should be an audiophile ? That is precisely the opposite.
The Falcons are all about music.
When you can enjoy a tiny box like the LS3/5a, as much as a full range Altec based speaker, imho it means that you're not an audiophile. :) just a music lover.
 
Update after a week of owning : the Stereophile review is spot on. Those speakers are incredible at disappearing and the rightness of timbre is just hard to believe.
http://www.stereophile.com/content/falcon-acoustics-ls35a-loudspeaker#Srxqgihi7zIpyhB1.97
I prefer them to my beloved Harbeth P3ESR's.
The P3 have amazing qualities. But listening side by side with these Falcon's, there is the evidence of this upper bass bump ( around 150Hz probably) in the P3 which is completely absent in the Falcons. Does it mean that the Falcons are missing bass compared to the Harbeths ? No. They just present the bass in a more "civilized" and refined way.
Especially, the Falcons are more invisible than the P3. They seem to be less colored and hence I can dive deeper into the music. The "escape" factor is clearly better.
I do love the P3ESR's a lot. But the Falcons are a kind of "refinement" or "upgrade" version. It just seems that all the little "defects" of the P3 have been deeply washed and rinsed with the Falcons.
I do recommend the Falcons more than any speaker I ever met. To the ones who favor music over gear and attitude. For a "little secondary" system or for a main system with top notch high end electronics even in a large space ( the Falcons, like the Harbeth P3ESR's are able to fill large rooms with an incredible ease !).
If you're not after the last octaves of bass, those Falcons are the best ever to my ears, without any reserve.
I just sold my two pairs of P3ESR's. And I ordered a second pair of Falcons.
 
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