I understand Leicester Hifi has been involved in low volume speaker production for some time. This was my first encounter with such a product. If you've read any other of my show reports you'll know I'm absolutely not a fan of the LS3/5a speakers, their clones, their recreations or a number of speakers "inspired" by them. Beyond great vocal clarity I find them thin, pushy and get tired of listening to them very quickly.
But wait - I had a chat with the designer of the diminutive LH1 speaker shown here and, when offering my thoughts on their performance, expressed my surprise at how an LS3/5a derivative sounded so different. I was firmly advised that the only similarity with that classic design is in size and looks. The drivers, crossovers and internal damping arrangements share nothing with LS3/5a and as such are a different solution. And boy does it show in their performance. This is a design that challenges expectations and perceptions. It's fast, tuneful, provides a surprising amount of weight and impresses with its smoothness (note, smoothness in this sense is not about smoothing the edges off or being laid back, it just doesn't exhibit any nasty edges). Imaging is first class. Even playing our choice of Deadmau5's Avarita it did a great job on such a bass heavy track.
Also worthy of note here is that this enjoyable result was being fed by nothing more exotic than a Wiim Pro-plus streamer - a mere £219 (its hiding behind the yellow board on the bottom of the rack). CS710 Pre-amp (£4k) and 620E-III stereo power amp (£2k?) are from Crimson Audio, cables by Audioquest.
Impressed - if you're limited on space or you want to hear what an LS3/5a size product can achieve (and for £1500 about half the price of the current clone products), seek out these little boxes for a listen. A worthy double award winner.
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