Any currently produced drivers for LS3/5A?

[5th element]

Originally Posted by sreten

Hi,

One of the worst things that has happened to the british hifi press.
Pander to the gullible, never make any real sense, BS and be a snob.

Sadly, apparently, it works and he is "popular" with casual readers.

rgds, sreten,

He's popular with me, I find his writing amusing and a breath of fresh air compared to the normal rubbish that you see reviewers writing with their attempts at describing how things sound. Of course KK is accused with doing the same thing, but they all are. Of course I haven't taken a hifi mags review seriously for over 10 years, but I still enjoy reading the odd article from time to time and KKs are among the most enjoyable.

[rob g]

Originally Posted by sreten

Hi,

One of the worst things that has happened to the british hifi press.
Pander to the gullible, never make any real sense, BS and be a snob.

Sadly, apparently, it works and he is "popular" with casual readers.

rgds, sreten,

I guess you do not like Jeremy Clarkson then.

[fernanwaka]

Originally Posted by Hazuki

In response to the original questions, I would recommend contacting Stirling Broadcast, whose contact info is given at their website.

I emailed them myself and received a very quick, complete, and courteous response from Mr. Stirling:

"[...]KIT 1:
Matched pair of Monacor drive units with custom neoprene gaskets and latest Stirling crossovers (for use with customers T27's).
£ £ 128.00

KIT 2:
Matched pair of Monacor drive units, Scanspeak tweeters, latest Stirling crossovers and a pair of baffles. Also included: Tweeter mesh grilles, all nuts/bolts/spacers, self adhesive felt squares, our custom neoprene gaskets for all four drive units
£ 268.00

KIT 3:
A pair of fully built & tested "complete matched pair baffle assemblies" (Monacor/Scanspeak/Stirling crossovers), ready to fit into the customers cabinets. These baffle assemblies will fit ALL LS3/5a cabinets from 1974 through to 2011. Top quality UK produced CNC machined birch ply baffles with velcro and tweeter felts fitted, mesh grilles fitted to the tweeters - just connect the flying leads on the crossovers to the rear connectors in your cabinets and screw the baffles down (self adhesive sealing tape included).
£ 328.00

KIT 4:
As per KIT 3, PLUS a pair of cabinets with glued-in rear panels, thin-wall 9mm ply construction...therefore "hybrid" reference cabs - (as used for Rogers 60th Anniversary model).
£ 488.00 to £ 518.00 depending on chosen veneer (Black Ash, Walnut, Cherry, Rosewood or Ebony).

Stirling MS-88 Loudspeakers
As KIT 4, but these are a pair of fully built and tested loudspeakers, fitted with bi-wire gold plated connectors, tygan grilles. Sold with TWO year warranty.
£ 568.00 to £ 598.00 depending on chosen veneer (Black Ash, Walnut, Cherry, Rosewood or Ebony)...."

Stirling manufactured the Rogers' 60th Anniversary LS3/5as, and they (Stirling) tell me that the MS-88 is exactly the same.

For what it's worth, I, myself, am planning on purchasing the Kit 4 -- assuming that they are exactly the same as the MS-88, down to the Tygan. I have a pair of very nice sounding Chinese LS3/5a variants, but, as an ex-Rogers owner, would like an official pair.

The info I received is the same as what was already cited at a certain Thai audio website.

The first four kits are bi-wiring too?

[system7]

Here's Lynn Olsen's views on the KEF B110...

Bextrene Midbass

This is an acetate plastic derived from wood pulp, and is typically damped by a layer of doping material on the front of the cone to control the strong first resonance it displays around 1.5 kHz. It was originally developed by the BBC in 1967 to replace paper with a more consistent and predictable material for monitoring purposes. It came into widespread use in the early Seventies, with the typical audiophile speaker using a 8" KEF or Audax Bextrene midbass driver with an Audax 1" soft-dome tweeter.

The BBC-derived designs always employed notch-filter equalization to flatten the Bextrene driver in the midband; the most famous (or infamous, depending on whether you were the listener or the designer) driver was the KEF B110 used in the BBC LS 3/5a minimonitor. Not everyone knows that this speaker, which is legendary for its sweet midrange, employs a deep notch filter with 6dB of attenuation at 1.5kHz to correct the B110.

Over time, Bextrene has been replaced by BBC-developed polypropylene, which gives much flatter response, does not require a layer of doping material, and provides a 3-4 dB increase in efficiency due to the decrease in cone mass. Bextrene is now considered an obsolete material by nearly all speaker designers.

Strengths are: Consistent batch-to-batch, excellent potential imaging (by mid-Seventies standards). Inner resolution higher than many paper cones.

Weaknesses are: Very low efficiency (82-84 dB at 1 meter), requires a strong notch filter in the midband, a "quacky" coloration by modern standards, sudden, unpleasant onset of breakup at not-so-high levels, and numerous resonances at the top of the working band.

Best Examples are: None. Modern designers are not willing to tolerate the low efficiency and the complex notching and shelving equalization required to make these drivers acceptable. Although some traditionalists revere the KEF B110 used in the Rogers LS 3/5a, the uneven response of this driver requires the LS 3/5a crossover to be very complex. Having worked with the B110 for many years, I feel the modern Vifa P13WH-00-08 (aka Scanspeak Classic P13WH00-08) is superior in every way.

The Art of Speaker Design, Part II

Peerless make a decent 5" polypropylene cone too. Peerless PPB 830860. Used here in this Troels vented design with a choice of Vifa tweeters. Peerless HDS PPB 830860

The SB Acoustics SB15MFC30-8 5" vented Poly Cone Woofer is a rather awesome low inductance design too:
SB Acoustics SB15MFC30-8 5" Poly Cone Woofer: Madisound Speaker Store

[SY]

I hate disagreeing with Lynn, but... Bextrene is nothing that exotic. It's a trademark for a brand of high impact polystyrene. HIPS is polystyrene polymerized in the presence of a small amount of polybutadiene (a common component of automobile tires).

[system7]

Originally Posted by SY

I hate disagreeing with Lynn, but... Bextrene is nothing that exotic. It's a trademark for a brand of high impact polystyrene. HIPS is polystyrene polymerized in the presence of a small amount of polybutadiene (a common component of automobile tires).

I'm quite prepared to believe those cones were made from old plastic milk cartons and ground up tyres and about as rigid, but in fact Lynn Olsen is exatly right....

In the mid 1960s a new bass/midrange unit was under development. For the diaphragm, Raymond Cooke and his (KEF) development team set upon an entirely new material – Bextrene. This was a lightweight acetate plastic sheet derived from wood pulp, subsequently adopted by the BBC for the bass and midrange drivers of the LS5/5 monitor. As well as possessing the required mechanical properties, Bextrene was sufficiently stable to maintain its performance under typical variations in temperature and humidity. Bextrene woofer cones also produced a consistency of sound over a wide bandwidth, qualities which ensured their widespread adoption by other speaker manufacturers in the years that followed.

Hong Kong / Macau - Explore KEF - 1960s (and the LS3/5a)

[tiefbassuebertr]

No hints to currently available Mid-bass drivers near by KEF B110 character (go to post #40)

[SY]

Originally Posted by system7

I'm quite prepared to believe those cones were made from old plastic milk cartons and ground up tyres and about as rigid, but in fact Lynn Olsen is exatly right....

Hong Kong / Macau - Explore KEF - 1960s (and the LS3/5a)

That may be what the website says, but I have used Bextrene in compression molding operations and it was definitely HIPS.

http://www.chemindustry.com/chemicals/0227230.html
http://www.bolcofplastic.com/products/polystyrene.html

[Hazuki]

Originally Posted by fernanwaka

The first four kits are bi-wiring too?

The jpeg files that Stirling sent me of the various veneer choices all show pre-drilled holes on the cabinet backs for bi-wiring.

[raul_77]

Falcon Acoustics have a kit for a clone whit very reasonable cost:

FALCON LS3/5a STYLE MINI-MONITOR S FULL KIT