
LS3/5A production resumes
Veteran UK speaker manufacturers Rogers have just restarted production of the legendary LS3/5A, alongside that of its bigger brother, the LS5/9 (pictured below). As well as making Classic models (built to the exacting specifications of the originals), both speakers will also be available in SE (Studio Edition) versions, which are fitted with Panzerholz (a hardwood/resin compound) baffles and upgraded crossovers, for the most demanding of studio applications .
The revival is being headed by Andy Whittle, who was Rogers Technical Director back in the 90s, when the company were still making the original LS3/5A. To find out what makes that speakers design so special (and why second-hand models are still so highly sought after), well let SOS speaker guru Phil Wards fascinating history lesson (originally published in SOS June 2016) do the talking...
History Of The LS3/5A
The LS3/5A originated in the mid-'70s, at a time when the BBC designed a fair proportion of their own broadcast and studio equipment. The whole idea of state-owned broadcasters designing and building their own kit is all but unthinkable now, but right up until relatively recently, if the BBC found themselves needing a specific tool that wasn't available commercially, their Kingswood Warren research labs were tasked to come up with the goods.
The genesis of the LS3/5A was not as straightforward, however, as the Kingswood Warren boffins simply being asked to design a compact monitor and dutifully delivering. Although there was a need at the BBC for a Grade II' compact monitor for use in outside broadcast trucks, the development of the speaker that became the LS3/5A didn't kick off in direct response to such a request. In fact the progenitor was a speaker designed for one-eighth-scale acoustic modelling of concert halls...
Long before virtual' computer-based acoustic modelling of performance spaces was possible, such work was done using literal modelling techniques. A physical scale model of the space would be built and miniature speakers and microphones placed appropriately within it to analyse its internal acoustic characteristics.
Now, there is no record (well, not in any document I've found) of who the engineer was to whom it first occurred that the acoustic modelling speaker used at Kingswood Warren actually sounded pretty good and might form the basis of a compact monitor. But whoever it was, I'd wager they had no idea at the time how significant a lightbulb moment they'd had.
In the early 1970s, when our story begins, speakers, whether for domestic or professional applications, were on the whole pretty big. Stereo hadn't really been around all that long, and neither had powerful transistor amplifiers, so a single, large speaker was still the norm. Now, even if it's on the large side, positioning one speaker is far easier than positioning a pair, as is required to create a stereo image, so the physical size of the speaker wasn't so much of an issue. With stereo, however, came the problem of speaker positioning, and with that not only came the need for speakers to be smaller, but also for pairs of speakers to be closely matched in terms of performance.
It hardly seems believable now, but back then, there were very few commercially available small speakers that would satisfy the BBC's needs. One of those few speakers that was available to the BBC was the original Goodmans Maxim, and a 1965 internal Kingswood Warren report describes its performance and assesses its potential. The report was written by Dudley Harwood, who went on to found Harbeth Audio (the company name being a conjunction of Harwood's name and that of his wife, Elizabeth). The Goodmans Maxim itself was designed by a young Laurie Fincham, who went on to become Technical Director of KEF, manufacturers of the drive units eventually used in the LS3/5A. There's none of that six degrees of separation' stuff in the British loudspeaker business; one or two degrees will usually suffice.
Harwood's Maxim report, which can be found at http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pu..., makes interesting reading (well, it does if, like me, you're irrationally interested in the history of speaker design). Even without converting the archaic imperial measurements of the test results, it's obvious that the Maxim, by today's standards, was inefficient, had restricted bandwidth at both ends of the spectrum, and displayed precious little power handling. However, those shortcomings weren't issues that Harwood expressed much concern over; in fact he was generally satisfied with the Maxim's performance. The issue that was of most concern to Harwood was sample consistency.
Along with the basic requirement for a small speaker that performed adequately for broadcast quality monitoring, the BBC needed the speaker to be consistent from sample to sample. If, say, a single speaker in an OB truck failed, it would be decidedly inconvenient if the pair had to be replaced, and equally unsatisfactory if the second pair didn't sound the same as the first. So each individual speaker was required to perform within response limits that, even today, are a challenge. If the Goodmans Maxim report revealed one thing, it was that this degree of consistency would not likely be found in an existing commercial speaker. So, with a concept on the table for a design inspired by the acoustic modelling speaker, the Kingswood Warren engineers turned to KEF Electronics for help.
KEF got the call partly because, now under Laurie Fincham's engineering leadership, the company were by some distance the most technologically advanced in the field, and partly because there was already an established relationship with the BBC. An earlier research project at Kingswood Warren into thermoplastic diaphrag
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
25/09/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
25/09/2026
Infront has named Ronald den Hollander as CEO of its Host Broadcast Services (HBS) subsidiary, effective 1 October 2026. The appointment follows the previously ...
25/09/2026
The North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) will hold Cyber University 2.0, a full-day cybersecurity summit for the broadcast and media industries, on Tu...
25/09/2026
Alpha Networks and Ateme have delivered a joint video platform for the digital d...
25/09/2026
Encompass Digital Media has announced the migration of multiple Viaplay free-to-air channels - TV3, TV6, TV8, and TV10 - to its Altitude Scheduling platform. Al...
25/09/2026
NAB Show New York 2026 will take place October 21-22 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. Registration is open at nabshow.com/newyork.
Th...
25/09/2026
NHL Network has announced its studio programming lineup for the 2026-27 regular ...
25/09/2026
Clear-Com has announced that First Baptist Nashville has upgraded its production communications with a Clear-Com intercom system as part of a sanctuary technolo...
25/09/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has deployed EVS XT-VIA live video production s...
25/09/2026
BBright, a Hexaglobe Group company, has announced that dotCentral has joined as a sales and support partner in the United States.
BBright's portfolio cover...
25/09/2026
MeyerPro delivered audio, video, broadcast, and LED production for the Acumatica Summit 2026 at the Seattle Convention Center's Summit Building, January 25-...
25/09/2026
The Professional Women's Hockey League has announced its inaugural All-Star Weekend, to be held Saturday, March 7, 2026, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The...
25/09/2026
The 2026 Presidents Cup is underway at Medinah Country Club outside of Chicago with Team USA and an International Team of men's golfers facing off for four ...
25/09/2026
Warner Bros. Discovery's Atlanta hub hosted a day of discussion on REMI prod...
25/09/2026
Algorithm update & new DVA vibrato-detection engine
A new flagship version of Antares' iconic pitch-correction software has arrived, and along with a co...
25/09/2026
New flagship unit to arrive in early 2027
Two notes Audio Engineering have revealed that a new and improved version of their hugely popular reactive load bo...
25/09/2026
AI-free mixing tool gets an upgrade
Launched in October 2025, Tim Exiles Finalist is an algorithmic mixing tool that's been designed for those who don...
25/09/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Mobile Test Summit 2026 puts the spotlight on 6G - registrations...
25/09/2026
In our latest blog, Tim Pearson reflects on IBC 2026 and considers the main learnings against an industry that saw AI finally coming out of the labs and into pr...
25/09/2026
Digital Anarchy Releases Newest Version of its Real-Time Skin Retouching Tool fo...
25/09/2026
Blackmagic Design Used on More Than 50 Summer Films in 2026
Brie Clayton September 25, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image: Disclosure Day
Blackmagic Design p...
25/09/2026
How I Automated Social Media Resizing in After Effects - Free Script
Graham Quince September 25, 2026
0 Comments
If your text keeps getting cut off on...
25/09/2026
IBC has unveiled the winners of the prestigious IBC2026 Innovation Awards at an event held at the RAI Amsterdam on Sunday 13 September, honouring collaborative ...
25/09/2026
IBC2026 brought the global media, entertainment and technology community together for four days of business, innovation and collaboration at the RAI Amsterdam. ...
25/09/2026
Lightware testing has revealed that each USB-C port on Apple's new MacBook Neo consumes three of the seven USB tiers available under the USB specification, ...
25/09/2026
Lightware is supporting educational institutions in building modern learning environments by combining professional training with education-focused AV technolog...
25/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
25/09/2026
Long-Standing Customer Renews Multiyear Contract for VO's Secure Video Player, Content Security, and Device Monitoring Solutions
Viaccess-Orca (VO), a glob...
25/09/2026
Automate Video Progress Bars in After Effects - No Keyframes!
Graham Quince September 24, 2026
0 Comments
Learn how to create an automated video playb...
25/09/2026
Friday 25 September 2026
How to watch an unmissable weekend of women's football on Sky Sports and NOW
Sky Sports and NOW will broadcast seven live games f...
25/09/2026
Friday 25 September 2026
YAGA trailer released, coming exclusively to Sky and N...
25/09/2026
Watch this space: a new strategic direction for UK media. Arqiva has submitted its response to the Governments Green Paper on the future of television distribut...
25/09/2026
Want to be part of this year's Late Late Toy Show?
Final call for applications in search for this year's stars
The most wonderful night of the year is...
24/09/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) is supporting Virginia Public Media (VPM), the ...
24/09/2026
RED Digital Cinema's RED V-RAPTOR [X] and RED V-RAPTOR XL [X] cameras with the Phantom Track feature are the first cameras to receive GhostFrame Pro Certifi...
24/09/2026
Bringing together the full family of networks, FOX Sports is also adding Tubi, F...
24/09/2026
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) has unveiled...
24/09/2026
The blog collects SVG's reporting on AI across U.S. and European sports broadcasting
Since SVG launched the AI Innovation Lab in April to advance the devel...
24/09/2026
SVG's annual TranSPORT conference, which will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 20 in...
24/09/2026
The self-built Master Control Room has cut streaming operations incident-respo...
24/09/2026
Ortana Media Group, the software systems integrator behind the Cubix workflow platform, has connected AudioShake's audio separation models to ScorePlay thro...
24/09/2026
AudioShake has released Multi-Speaker 2.0, the company's newest Multi-Speaker model, which removes 75% more noise and offers 32% better separation of overla...
24/09/2026
By Jon Morgan, Founder and Executive Producer, Ryval Studios
For Major League B...