Rogers LS3/5A SE

Rogers has done the unthinkable - taken a deep breath and improved the iconic LS3/5A. Time to check in with the Special Edition

We could argue whether the Seventies was the greatest decade for music (it was), but to anyone serious about hi-fi it's also remembered for the launch of two components that would become British icons: the Linn Sondek LP12 turntable in 1972 and the BBC-designed LS3/5A compact near-field monitor in 1975. Both are still in production, both still revered across the planet, both visually all but indistinguishable from their 40-plus year-old progenitors. Yet the business sensibilities that have ensured their longevity could hardly be more different, and they are highly germane to this review.

Linn's approach has been a shining example of assiduous evolution over the years to the point where the sonic objectives of the latest Sondeks rolling out of its Glasgow factory are light years removed from the slightly fat and warm presentation that so ensnared audiophiles of the day. The LS3/5A was created by the BBC to fulfil a closed space, outside broadcast brief but quickly worshiped by certain factions of the audiophile community as a kind of standmount deity with magical powers of midband realism. In contrast, it has led a backward looking existence sustained by myriad examples produced under licence to a theoretically immutable BBC spec by a handful of British speaker brands in both original 15ohm, later 11ohm and 15ohm guise once more - some having to use 'close enough' drivers after KEF stopped making the T27 tweeter and B110 mid/bass unit.