Advice on Sterling LS3/6

And referring to the driver changes, the OEM drivers in the LS3/6 and SB-88 are actually SEAS units anyway - the bass driver has some custom doping applied by SEAS to Derek Hughes specification.

Same with the original bass drivers used in the LS3/5a V2 and V3, they are SEAS units with custom doping applied by SEAS.

SEAS have changed their business model though, and will not now supply those drive units unless in very large quantities.

This was one incentive to get involved with the sales, to secure those drive units so they don't get 'lost' when the company shuts down.

My 11ohm LS3/5as that use the Cicable external crossovers requires the SP1228 B110 variant, and those drivers are available anymore, so I wanted to delay the time that that is the same situation for Stirling speakers.

I also wanted to secure the stock of the Scanspeak tweeters used in the early V2s, as these are also not now available and the replacement uses different mounting points. My Xtracable external crossover require this tweeter. This tweeter does seem to fail often though, so I might eventually have to start recommending the Hiquphon OWI-92 tweeter as the only option.

The situation with the LS3/5as is somewhat relieved by later V2s using a Swisstone driver, which is a Volt produced driver with more Derk Hughes specified doping applied.

As we have around 60 pairs of these, and I can source more if I need for servicing, when I do the conversions of V2s to V3.2s I am replacing any SEAS bass drivers I find with these Swisstone units, so increasing the stock of spare SEAS LS3/5a bass drivers. Derek has designed the v3.2 crossovers to use either bass drive unit, according to some jumpers on the PCB.

So anybody who buys a v3.2 with the SEAS bass units in is able to switch to the Swisstone units if needed later in their life. There will be some V2s out their wth the Swisstone units, but all other V2s and V3s will be SEAS and so may require the SEAS spares. 

We have quite a lot of the SEAS tweeters used in the LS3/5a and the topmost tweeter in the LS3/6, but these have also proved to be pretty robust.

The Stirling LS3/6 is such an amazing speaker.

I own a pair and I recently purchased the Harbeth 40.3 XD a few months ago and let me tell you, the LS3/6 is not embarrassed by the big Harbeths. 
The Harbeths work better for me because of my large room but I did not sell the Stirling because I felt in love with their sound many years ago when I first purchased them and I am still in love with them.

Their sound is natural, their midrange is addictive, they match nicely with a variety of tube amps, they are beautifully crafted, they are transparent to the source, man, I should stop cause I can go on and on forever.

I might add that Andrew did a phenomenal job packing up the pair of LS3/6 that I bought.  Jeff Stake was a pleasure to do business with, too.