In June, I reviewed the surprising Audioengine HD6 powered speakers. Playing a Bluetooth device through the HD6 speaker is the best sound I know of for the money. No, it isn’t quite truly high-end, but it sure is satisfying for a price most people can afford. I’ve personally owned a pair of Audioengine A2 powered speakers since 2008. They’ve traveled with me on vacation and played music from my iMac, and I’ve always loved them.

The guys at Audioengine told me, “Our goals for the HD3s were to use HD Series design cues, add wireless, and tune the sound to be pretty much the same as A2+ but to take it up a notch.  The bass-cut switch is also a useful feature, and not only for subwoofers but people using the speakers on a more reactive (or more resonant/less dense) desktop or similar surface.”  So it was with real anticipation that I unboxed the new, similar-size Audioengine HD3.

As I said, I liked the HD6s when I reviewed them, and in many ways, the HD3s are a desktop version of the HD6s. They have the same beautiful looks, the same versatile inputs and good sound for the money. They also have a very good headphone amp that can be used by just plugging your headphones into the front of the left speaker. One nice addition to the HD3s is the switch on the back to reduce the bass — a real blessing if you are positioning the speakers close to the wall. While the HD3s can be put on stands and used as speakers for a small audio system or in a video system, they really come into their own as desktop or bookshelf speakers.

Description

The HD3s are available in matte black or furniture-grade cherry or walnut wood veneer. Like the HD6 speakers, they have aluminum trim. Each HD3 speaker measures 7 by 4.3 by 5.5 inches (HWS). This size makes them small enough to be used as desktop computer speakers or to pack in a small bag and carry with you on trips. The drivers are a 0.75-inch Silk Dome tweeter and a 2.75-inch Kevlar woofer. The removable grilles snap on magnetically.

As for ease of use, the Audioengine HD3 has most any connectivity option you could want. The power/volume knob is on the bottom left-hand corner of the left speaker. On the right side of this speaker are a headphone jack and a button for Bluetooth pairing. The HD3 can remember up to six devices, though it can only pair with one at a time. The amps are also in the left speaker, and all of the inputs and outputs are located on the back of this speaker. The connections include an antenna for Bluetooth reception and a binding post output for connecting the two speakers using a cable that is included. There are also RCA stereo inputs and outputs, a 3.5mm audio input for mobile devices, and a micro USB input for connecting to a computer — a way to bypass the digital-to-analog converter on your computer’s output and let the HD3 handle things. The HD3 upsamples to 24-bit PCM with its DAC.

The back panel also includes the connection for the AC adapter and the bass reduction switch that I mentioned earlier. Audioengine included the bass reduction switch for a couple of reasons. If the speakers are to be used with a subwoofer, the bass switch helps to ensure that the speakers aren’t doubling up on the same low frequencies. The second reason for the switch is to control resonance and extra bass vibrations that can occur when the speakers are placed too close to the rear wall or in a corner, a problem I had when I traveled with the A2. I have found that the bass reduction switch works great to prevent things from getting too boomy when the position of the speakers is less than optimal.

With any of these connections, the sound quality of the HD3s was very good, though the range for the Bluetooth option didn’t sound as full as the range for other options. Still, the Bluetooth option does give you the ability to quickly hook up a smartphone or tablet and stream music wirelessly if you are in a hurry. The built in DAC sounds much better than plugging into the 3.5mm plug from laptops and desktop systems.

Listening

If you are familiar with the sound of Audioengine products, the Audioengine HD3 is cut from the same bolt of natural-sounding cloth. For those who haven’t listened to a pair of Audioengine speakers, check out my reviews of the Audioengine A2s and the HD6s. The HD3s are a significant step up in refinement, power and dynamics from the A2s. They give you much of what you get from the HD6s, but in a smaller presentation and with a low-end that goes lower than you would expect from a speaker of its size. The quality of the bass is also better than most tiny speakers. It’s quick and tuneful and not at all boomy, unless you have to place it right up against the wall, which is where the bass reduction switch comes in very handy.

One of the breakthroughs of the A2s was how little they compressed the dynamics of the music for such small speakers. With the HD3s you get really quick micro-dynamics and better-than-expected overall dynamics. The HD3s weren’t as satisfying in my home video system as the HD6s, but with a sub, they did a very nice job.

Where the HD3s are exceptional is as desktop speakers. I listened to them in my office, which is about 110 square feet. This setup has a Samsung 38-inch monitor, so I set them on the far sides of the desk and brought them out about ten inches from the wall. In this system, they sounded great on music and movies and did a good job playing complicated passages with lots of instruments or voices. While they don’t go much below 60 hertz, the bass has nice punch and tunefulness. I never thought that I needed a subwoofer in my office system. They also sounded quite nice when I had to get up and walk around the office or wander into the next room.

The Audioengine HD3s played voices naturally with a better sense of air around them than I had expected from a speaker sitting on a desk. The balance of the midrange and lower midrange on the HD3s was natural and warm but without any thickness or looseness. They never sounded bright or overly detailed and provided a very satisfying sound for both music and videos.

I have been amazed that the little A2s could handle everything from orchestras to rock at pretty loud volumes without falling apart. This is even more true with the HD3s; it doesn’t matter if you’re talking about a tympani passage from an orchestra, the upright bass in a jazz trio, or a singer really belting it out, the HD3s handled it in a way that let me enjoy the musical experience. Of course, they don’t go that deep. I mean, don’t forget that they output a mere 30Wpc peak and have only 2.75-inch midrange/woofer drivers. I’m saying this, I guess, because when listening I often did forget.

Conclusion

So now Audioengine gives you a real choice when it comes to powered desktop speakers. If you only want to spend $249, they still sell the A2 Powered Speakers. If you want a little better sounding speaker with better looks, a headphone amp with volume control, and every feature I could want, then there is the HD3. They are the best desktop speakers I have ever heard.

Copy editor: Dan Rubin

My first encounter with Paradigm was in 1992, about ten years after the company made its start just outside of Toronto, Canada. I wanted an inexpensive but decent sounding pair of bookshelf speakers for a second system that would go in a bonus room office above the garage. So I did what audiophiles usually did in the previous century, I got in my car and drove down to my local audio shop. Sam and Ed of Audio Solutions were always ready to greet me when I walked through the doors. The Atom was the newest model from Paradigm that they had in stock, but the more substantial Titan was only a little more expensive and seemed the better value given the relatively large space I had planned for them.

Like its cousin, the PSB Alpha, the Titan was a 6.5-inch 2-way with a non-removable grill cloth and drivers that mounted to the baffle from inside the cabinet. The back of the Titan’s enclosure was made of quality plastic with a cardboard port and 5-way binding posts. The white vinyl wrapped enclosures were made of particleboard and not particularly heavy, but they felt sturdy enough and sounded great. They were bright, punchy speakers that were a step above mass-market alternatives and a solid value for $219/pair.

Until just a few years ago, I continued to think of Paradigm as a fine Canadian budget-oriented loudspeaker manufacturer and often recommended them to friends and family who were just getting started with the audio hobby. You really could not go wrong with Paradigm loudspeakers in a starter system.

Obviously, I had not been paying close enough attention to the brand, because over the past twenty-five or so years, Paradigm has dramatically expanded the depth and breadth of their loudspeaker product lines. At present, the company offers over twenty different collections and series of products ranging from wireless lifestyle and outdoor rock-shaped garden speakers to 9,000 watt home theater subs and $35K high-end towers. It’s astonishing to me how far the company has come since I brought home that first pair of Titans.

The Premier Series is new for 2018 and includes two different sizes of towers, center channels, and bookshelf speakers ranging from $399 to $999, all individually priced. While one might guess that Premier was the top series, followed by Prestige and then Persona, the reality is the opposite. To drive this point home, the Persona 9H is 3.5 times heavier and 17.5 times more expensive than the corresponding Premier 800F tower. The Premier Series sits between the Monitor SE Series and Prestige Series, offering customers a high-performance yet affordable entry point with plenty of room to grow.

The home theater press has covered the Premier series, yet I have not seen as much discussion of them in audiophile circles. Given their heritage, I expected Paradigm Premier loudspeakers to perform well for our 2-channel use case, so I was delighted to have an opportunity to spend time with the 200B, the larger of the two bookshelf models, for The Reign of the Mini-Monitors Series.

Persona 200B and my old Titans are both 6.5-inch 2-way monitors, but that’s where the similarity ends. Comparing the two would be as pointless as comparing a 1991 Honda Accord to a 2019 Tesla Model 3, so I won’t even bother. Instead, I’ll share my understanding of the 200B’s design and how they perform within the context of dedicated 2-channel listening.

Product Description

The Premier 200B speakers are packaged and sold separately in the US for $499 each. Within each box, there’s a user’s guide and a black fabric-wrapped plastic grill backed with six strong magnets hiding behind soft foam-rubber pads. A seventh pad protects the silver Paradigm “P” logo at the bottom of the 200B’s front baffle when it is covered by the grill. The top of the 200B is covered in a convex plastic cap. Rapping on it with your knuckles produces a dull “thak-thak” sound. A similar flat plastic cap, fitted with four ⅜-inch tall circular rubber feet, covers the bottom. The feet are near the corners of the relatively deep enclosure, preventing them from interfering with the rubber bumpers on the top plates of my Sanus speaker stands.

The front baffle is covered in a high-quality plastic from which the tweeter’s waveguide is formed. A natural wood pattern is printed on veneer, which wraps around the sides and back. The rear panel sports a flared port and a single pair of gold-plated 5-way binding posts.

Function Follows Form

While the swirly pattern that covers the 200B’s midrange is definitely eye-catching and screams of trickle-down technology from Paradigm’s fabulous Persona Series, I really didn’t think much about it during initial setup and early listening sessions. However, after a week or so, I noticed something peculiar: a complete absence of any subtle peaky response in the upper mids and lower treble. In my room, this was most readily observed with other speakers during piano runs but sometimes also with brass and stringed instruments. There is an evenness of tone from the 200B across this range in passages where I am accustomed to hearing some notes slightly accentuated.

It was at this point that I reached out to Oleg Bogdanov, Director of Product Development for Paradigm, to better understand the magic behind this improvement. He explained that, for their new lines, including Premier, Paradigm has incorporated their patented technology called Perforated Phase-Aligning Lens or PPA™ for short.

“Situated in front of the tweeter and midrange drivers, the PPA acts like a phase plug, blocking the interaction of out-of-phase frequencies, smoothing output, and increasing the perception of details without coloring the sound. The PPA also serves to protect delicate drivers.”

From a distance, the 200B’s tweeter looks like a typical 1-inch dome positioned at the center of a dispersion controlling waveguide. Closer inspection reveals what is actually another PPA™ Lens. These two advanced phase plug lenses affecting the mids and highs work together to render an uncanny evenness of tone across their respective ranges. I have never experienced this phenomenon in this room, even from loudspeakers ten times the price of the 200B. It’s really quite remarkable.

The following is a press release from Sonus Faber

Sonus Faber Lumina I

Vicenza, Italy (September 8, 2020) — Sonus faber is proud to announce Lumina collection, the new line conceived on the notion that now, more than ever, it is important to savor time for ourselves and celebrate life’s precious moments. In today’s world, we have come to fully appreciate our living spaces where these moments come to life.

Sound is one of the main elements that defines the way we live, with music raising our spirits, echoing our emotions, inspiring feelings of nostalgia and creating an atmosphere of belonging that starts in our homes. Music is the universal language able to activate processes in your body, in your mind, in your heart and in your soul. The true sound of music is something everyone deserves to have in their homes.

“Lumina” in Latin means “LIGHT”, but also a source of energy and life. To Sonus faber, this name can be broken down further to add complexity to the term, becoming a sort of acronym:

• “LU” –LUXURY SOUND EXPERIENCE: The first two letters stand for luxury— the taste of precious moments, the discovery of refined details and the understanding of truly relevant things. This element symbolizes our commitment to deliver a luxury music experience in all Sonus faber homes, which is facilitated through our longstanding tradition of refined materials and careful craftsmanship.
• “MI” –MINIMALIST DESIGN: The second two letters stand for minimalist. This principal of minimalism directly captures the essence of the product, which was thoughtfully designed in conjunction with the theory “less is more.” The new collection comprises the core values of Sonus faber and the precious materials that identify the brand, such as real multilayer wood and leather and combines them with incredible performance in a simple yet luxurious design. Simplicity remains central to the collection’s identity with its easy set-up, accessible price point, and excellent sound performance– empowering everyone to enjoy a true Sonus faber experience.
• “NA” –NATURAL SOUND: Finally, the last two letters embody the natural sound reproduction and Voice of Sonus faber. The Lumina electro-acoustic project is targeting solutions designed for modern lifestyles and various listening environments, without compromising performance. Multichannel systems and multimedia solutions are perfect for Lumina, offering excellent room coverage for audiences to enjoy a captivating and authentic experience from every seat in the room. Due to updated technology, Lumina speakers are incredibly adaptable and sound excellent wherever they are placed—even close to a back wall or on a bookshelf. The beauty of the new Lumina collection is that they can be placed virtually anywhere and will still deliver a breathtaking performance.

Sonus Faber Lumina I

LUMINA COLLECTION AND THE HOME THEATER EXPERIENCE

The Lumina collection features three models: Lumina I, an extremely compact bookshelf speaker, that looks great as an individual stereo pair or as surround speaker in a cinema set up; Lumina III is an elegant floor-standing model that ensures powerful, distortion-free sound and high speech intelligibility for games and movies; Lumina Center I is a center channel speaker option aligned in appearance and acoustics that fit perfectly with its siblings in the full collection. This essential combination of models is a perfectly balanced solution for traditional stereo system enthusiasts as much as for those looking to experience a multichannel home theater system.

FINISHES

Lumina collection is available in three finishes: Walnut, Wengè and Piano Black.

RETAIL PRICE

The suggested retail prices for the collection are:

–          Lumina III: $ 2.199

–          Lumina I: $ 899

–          Lumina Center I: $ 699

MARKET AVAILABILITY

Lumina Collection will be available worldwide beginning September 2020 through authorized Sonus faber dealers.

Sonus Faber Lumina Center I

The product category of mini-monitors is arguably the most visible among all too many audiophiles, at times generating equal portions of excitement and disappointment. We can stack equipment to save space but we cannot hide big speakers, so bookshelf speakers are often the first if not the only choice for many readers. Dagogo readers have read about my exploits with large speaker systems, and I have been continuingly curious about the state of affairs with mini-monitors, and have auditioned several models, including the Rogers LS 3/5a Classic, the subject of this review.

The old Rogers BBC LS 3/5a mini-monitor of the seventies was considered one of the most accurate transducers of its time. The original Rogers factory tried to keep up with latest audio trends in the following decades and at one time even revised the LS 3/5a crossover network to facilitate a lower impedance crossover network that also allowed for bi-wiring. But demand for the original 15-ohm design in the used marketplace was robust and has persisted ever since. This speaks volumes to the legitimacy and performance of the original design as pursued by the audiophile consumer.

Mini-monitors bring excitement for their space-saving aspect and some models’ propensity to play loud without notable distortion. There exist dozens of bookshelf speaker models from notable brands with exorbitant prices and performance claims. Bearing in mind that there is only so much a small radiating area from a mini-monitor can do will quickly separate the ones with solid performance and value from the rest. Headphone listening is the default solution for readers with limited space and I have been auditioning quite a few, but if you want the soundstage to be in front of you, speakers are the only solution.

Per Andy Whittle, chief engineer of the reborn Rogers, production of the original LS 3/5a was suspended in 1999 due to the Asian financial crisis. In 2018, a Hong Kong audio group funded the reopening of the company, and production resumed with Andy at the helm. Per Andy:

“We have gone to great efforts to make the new Classic as close as possible to the original BBC 15 Ohm version. Everything is made under license from the BBC. The cabinet is made here in UK and 100% to the original BBC specifications. We make the cabinet here in UK same as the original Rogers LS3/5a cabinet from the beginning, e.g. highest quality 12mm Russian birch plywood.

Balance veneered, hardwood beech batons for fixing the baffle to and bracing the cabinet. Damping sheet to damp the panels and lined with acoustic foam. The front baffle is made from 9mm Russian birch plywood and stained black. The baffle is fixed to the cabinet with wood screws and the grille cloth material is the correct BBC specified TYGAN…acoustically transparent and much better sounding than normal grille cloth material.

For the speaker terminals we have used Multi Contact 4mm sockets from Switzerland and we get these silver plated for optimum sound quality.

The crossover uses the correct laminated type inductors with variable tapping for HF adjustment. Every component on the crossover was critically appraised for the best sound, crossover is 100% made in UK. Drive units were reverse engineered in Asia with Bextrene cone woofer and mylar dome tweeter. Final assembly, hand doping, pair matching and QC are all done in UK. The fit and finish of the new Classic surpasses that of the original gracing it with stature and elegance!

We are now also manufacturing the BBC LS5/9 to the same exacting standards.”
The Rogers tweeter and midrange driver are certainly rather unique, and the cabinet in which they are mounted is of professional grade and high quality in materials and construction.

Auditioning the Rogers LS 3/5a Classic took place in my main listening room, which measures 17.5 feet wide and 24 feet long with a ceiling that rises from 9 feet high at the right wall to 15 feet on the left wall. The Rogers speakers were placed on a pair of $335 Skylan SP-30thirty-inch sand-filled stands, each positioned five feet away from the front wall and two feet away from a side wall. The speakers were spaced eleven feet apart and nine feet away from the listening position, which sat right beneath the apex of an equilateral triangle. I toed the speakers in completely so that I’d also be on the vertical axis of the tweeters. The soundstaging thus obtained had excellent horizontal spread of instruments on stage, so that even slightly off-centered seating would receive a more even spread of the stage.

Each of the mini-monitors was adorned with a pair of 4mm banana receptors for the positive and return run, a perfect match for my Audio Note UK AN-SPx 27-strand 99.99% silver speaker cables with banana connectors. Interconnects were the Audio Note UK 42-strand Sogon and AN-Vx RCAs.

The AN-K/SPe is a two-way rectangular box that is wider than it is deep. The speaker employs a 0.75-inch silk dome tweeter and an 8-inch paper woofer with foam surrounds in a sealed cabinet design. If this speaker description reads as exciting as a puffed rice cake then I don’t blame you. When I first saw the AN-K they were in a room with far fancier loudspeakers with metal tweeters, curved cabinets, and exotic woofer materials. Moreover, the AN-K was up against loudspeakers I had heard of and knew from the glitzy magazine hype.

Back in the early 2000s in Canada, I asked the sales staff at Soundhounds, Victoria BC’s premier high end audio store, to prepare a series of stand mount speakers to audition. In the shootout were the usual suspects of the time, which included B&W, Paradigm, Dynaudio and Reference 3a. I had auditioned these brands for over a decade; however, this was my chance to audition them in the same dedicated audio room back to back.

I was smart enough to ask the dealer to add any other speaker they thought would be suitable in terms of price and size. They added the Audio Note AN-K/SPe, a rather retro-looking cabinet design that looked like it could have been from the 1970s or early 1980s. Since the AN-K speakers are based on the Snell Type K from the early 1980s, the retro impression was and is certainly valid.

To my shock, dismay, and horror, the AN-K/SPe won the shootout. “Who is Audio Note ?” I thought at the time. This little-known brand with dumpy looks just handed the big boys their lunch. I did some research; the company was known for SET amplifiers at crazy prices and expensive cables. Groan! Snake-oil incarnate! How could unknown speakers from an amplifier maker so easily best highly regarded speaker manufacturers who were and are dedicated solely to making loudspeakers?

Yet, the AN K/SPe separated itself immediately with piano, Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata to be specific. The AN-K/SPe reproduced the piano such that it was felt in the room. The instrument sounded more complete from top to bottom while the other speakers came across as pale imitations. The Reference 3a MM De Capo i delivered seemingly good spatial cues and it also had a bigger bass response than the B&W, Paradigm, and Dynaudio at the time. The De Capo i was a favorite of mine and came close in certain respects. I felt it possessed superior image depth but over time the image depth never went away — every piece of music had a seemingly deep sound stage. I chalked it up to an artifact of the loudspeaker rather than presenting what was on the recording. The other speakers under test lacked a sense of cohesiveness and presented more of an X-ray presentation of the music. The leading edge was there but I could hear the separation of sound from driver to driver to driver. The AN-K/SPe was so far-and-away the better speaker that it reduced speakers that I greatly admired and was preparing to purchase, to virtually unlistenable. The analogy I can come up with would be that they sounded like 128Kbps MP3 versus FLAC.

Something must have been wrong. There is no way paper beats Kevlar, and silk beats titanium. And all the magazines were pushing narrow baffle speakers with curves over hard edges and wide baffles.

I went back several times to be sure I was not reacting to a novel presentation of music that might, over longer periods, show up more warts. After all, the company was known for SET amplifiers and I remember the arguments back in the day, and still today, that people who liked SET amplifiers were gravitating to the smoke and mirrors of various distortions. Once the smoke and mirrors passed, and over a long term of listening, SET amplifier charms would wear off. SET amplifiers aren’t, quote, “Hi-Fi.”

After a few more head-to-head comparisons in a follow up session with B&W’s N805 and the Reference 3a MM De Capo i, the AN-K/SPe continued to win my heart and mind. The N805’s treble sounded grainy on Barber’s “Adagio for Strings” as well as with oboes and flutes with various Vivaldi pieces that I was so enamoured with at the time. The K/SPe reminded me of a single-driver speaker but with bass and treble. The De Capo i lost ground with vocal reproductions as occasionally they seemed pushed too far back in the mix and I had trouble making out lyrics clearly — the speaker made me work harder. Meanwhile, the AN-K/SPe kept everything balanced and straightforward and honest. If the album had a singer more upfront, I heard the singer more upfront. If a singer was further back, I heard him further back.

The following is a press release from Kanto Audio.

The LS3/5a is perhaps the most famous loudspeaker in the audio world with many versions made, past and present, by many companies. Various versions of the speakers have been reviewed at Dagogo, most recently a current Rogers offering, which was reviewed by Constantine Soo. Indeed, I had also requested a pair but when I saw that he was covering that model, I elected to request the considerably bigger brother from Rogers, the LS5/9.

Rogers dates back to 1947 and has been bought and sold several times over the years. Today, the speakers are being manufactured back in the UK under the direction of Andy Whittle who is one of the foremost experts on all things LS3/5a. Andy has worked for several companies over the years, including Audio Note UK, Celestion, Mordaunt-Short, and Exposure. He was responsible for designing my lovely Audio Note AX Two loudspeakers, which I have owned for the last 10 years. What I tend to say about the AX Two is that “you’ll have to pry them from my cold dead hands” as I have found them to be one of the great under-the-radar bargains in audio.

I must admit that I am more of a fan of larger and fuller-range stand mounts like the Rogers LS 5/9. To me, they serve up a larger, more complete presentation than their little LS 3/5a sibling. There are sometimes drawbacks to larger speakers, of course, because more bass tends to create more room-induced problems. Moreover, cohesiveness may become a problem often in the vocal band. Fortunately, these fears were unfounded in this case. The LS 5/9 gets the vocal band bang-on, and that’s why I requested the speaker for review. If I am going to spend months listening to a speaker it has to get the midrange right. It has to be all-day enjoyable.

Out of the box I was greeted to a top-notch Russian Birch finish (Rosewood) with nice Tygan grilles. Andy tells me the LS 5/9 should be used with the grills on. The speakers come in three standard finishes but you can special order them in other finishes at additional cost. As an aside, I am pleased that more manufacturers are offering more finish options so you can get it the way you want it.

Around the back, the speakers have a single pair of small terminals for connecting speaker wire with banana connectors. They are a perfect match for my Audio Note SPe silver cables. Under the speaker grilles, there are resistor jump links to adjust the treble.

The LS5/9, unlike the LS3/5a, is a ported cabinet. The port is in the front and affords a nice degree of positioning flexibility. I placed the speakers where my Audio Note AN-K/SPe speakers, a sealed cabinet design, were sitting and was pleasantly surprised at how well the Rogers did very close to my rear walls. My flat in Hong Kong is considered large with a living room of 13 by 18 feet with 9-foot ceilings. The solid concrete walls don’t sing along to the music like wood-framed housing. One of the reasons the LS speakers are so hugely popular in Asia, I suspect, is due to their positioning flexibility. You can place them away from room boundaries in a near-field listening set-up to get the soundstage and imaging to your preference.

The Rogers LS5/9 were the store’s demonstrator pair so they were already broken in when I received them. In the first hour of listening, it was clear that the speakers present the vocal band in a more upfront manner than my Audio Note K/SPe. The K/SPe, while being physically a little smaller than the LS5/9, delivers more bass and dynamic impact than the LS5/9. The LS5/9 sounded slightly washed out in comparison. However, the ear adjusts quickly and I began to appreciate the cohesiveness in the midrange and treble with the Rogers. Instruments and vocals had a high degree of realism and a tactile, reach-out-and-touch-you sensation that most speakers lack.

Male and female vocals are a strength of good two-way stand-mount speakers and the LS5/9 is definitely in the upper echelon in this area. Assuming the recording quality is good, I enjoyed everything I played — and I could play it all day. On Lizz Wright’s Grace, her relaxed vocals and emotive presence take center stage. This sense of truth was also there on Snowy White’s Released album, which highlighted the LS5/9’s ability to offer up a superb dose of articulation. Unlike many professional speakers, the LS 5/9 does not sacrifice music for keyhole audiophile talking points. You can enjoy the music at low volumes without over-analyzing aspects of the sound.

Blue Rodeo’s Five Days in July sounds sublime — vocals are clear and sound vital. A young Sarah McLachlan is ethereal on backing vocals on “What is this Love.” There is a weepy quality to the track that the LS 5/9 conveys without shout or bombast. A lot of speakers seem to have an edge, creating a sense of unease, and I appreciate a speaker that retains a balanced presentation. It’s not all vocals; acoustic instruments, such as piano and guitar, are always well rendered and toe-tapping.

With bigger full-range classical music, such as Bernstein’s live recording of Beethoven’s Ode to Freedom, the LS 5/9 were supremely coherent in the middle registers. Of course, they cannot generate the full range thunder of the album. This is to be expected from speakers this size. If you are looking to feel the bass, you will need to augment the LS 5/9 with subwoofers.

In the electronic music genre, Boards of Canada’s Tomorrow’s Harvest is atmospheric, melancholic, science-fiction-like music that reminds me of Blade Runner. The LS 5/9 does a wonderful job in allowing all of the layers to come through and the feeling of dread to fill the room.

Rated as 87dB sensitive and 8 ohms, the speakers gave my 8-watt Audio Note Empress Silver monoblocks no trouble on any music, though Rogers does recommend 30 watts. I found no power-related difference in terms of woofer control or distortion using my 250 watts per channel Wyred4Sound monoblocks. However, the added power will come in if one plays at much louder levels. I suspect if you are buying this sort of speaker, which is all about tone, accuracy, and coherency, your intent is not to shake the paint off your walls. The LS 5/9 is a superb low-volume listening speaker and I never felt the need to turn the volume up to make things out. This is something that is fairly rare in loudspeakers and important for those of us who wish to keep our hearing for the longterm.

Something I learned during the time I had the speakers for review is that Rogers has developed an upgraded version of the LS 5/9 called the SE, and Andy noted that:

“For the SE version, we have upgraded the baffle from plywood to Panzerholz. Panzerholz is a high-temperature resin impregnated plywood and is very good at damping any resonances. We also upgrade the ferrite cores to dust iron cores.

We also make a matching Panzerholz stand for the 5/9 and the LS 3/5A which is a good upgrade.”

Rogers LS 5/9 SE

With Andy’s background at Audio Note, and with the substantial improvements afforded to Audio Note speaker upgrade versions with the aid of superior parts, I anxiously await trying out the Rogers LS 5/9 SE version.

One of the great things I can conclude about the Rogers LS 5/9 is that while I was listening, I always felt that what I was hearing was true to the recording. A lot of speaker makers like to say their speakers are accurate, but I often find them to sound bright, which leads to fatigue. And there is often a lean quality to them. The Rogers LS 5/9 blends the sense of monitoring accuracy — such that you would certainly feel like they deserve to be in a recording or mastering studio — but also the sense that they belong at home, being the sort of speaker you can sit back and enjoy. I don’t get that with some other speakers, such as those from ATC or PMC, which lean more to the analytical side of the spectrum. The Rogers LS 5/9 strikes a seamless balance into both home and studio listening. No doubt this is the reason they have such a tremendous following in the audio community.

Review system:

Analog Source:

• Audio Note TT3/PSU1 Turntable
• Audio Note IQ3 Moving Magnet Cartridge
• Audio Note Arm3(v.2) Tone arm

Digital Source:

• Cambridge Audio CXC Transport
• Audio Note 0.1x DAC

Amplification:

• Audio Note M1 Phono Preamp
• Audio Note M6 Phono Preamp
• Audio Note Empress Silver Monoblock amplifiers
• Wyred4Sound mAmp Monoblock amplifiers

Cables:

• Audio Note SPe speaker cables
• Audio Note V and Lx Interconnects
• Audio Note ISIS modified power bar

Copy editor: Dan Rubin