Rogers LS3/5A Need Help


I have an ancient pair of Rogers LS3/5As that the previous owner tinkered with (he discarded the tweeter covers and punched a perfectly round hole in the center of the dome of each tweeter to improve the frequency response; was this tweak actually a thing forty-plus years ago?). Anyway, my wife used these great-sounding little speakers in her accounting office system eight to twelve hours a day for 26 years before retiring. When we brought them home about twelve years ago, one of the little plastic speaker terminals on the back was loose, and when I tried to tighten it the wire broke off inside the speaker. Someone needs to go in and rewire both speakers and replace the original plug-in type terminals with a good set of modern binding posts. Sadly such a task is completely beyond my physical ability. I'm seeking advice from fellow Audiogoners as to what to do next. The original stickers on the back of the speakers are not the same, but the grain of the walnut cabinets lines up perfectly, so I'm reasonably certain these were a matched pair. They need someone with experience working on small speakers. I'm open to all advice and offers, whether to repair/upgrade them or to sell them outright. Before I broke the wire, they sounded terrific. I originally was going to post this in the "How long do good speakers last?" thread because of their age, but decided a fresh thread on LS3/5As is more appropriate. Thank you in advance for your opinions and any help you can offer.

With kind regards,
Mark Hubbard
Eureka, California
Ag insider logo xs@2xmark_hubbard
Hi Mark,
I love LS3 5As. I sold a bunch of them back in the day.

The binding posts were the best they had back then but we have better ones now. To fix them you have to take the woofer out.

If you send them to me I 'll be happy to fix them for you for whatever the parts and shipping costs. UPS come to me my office daily. 

I can check their frequency response curve to make sure they are operating correctly. I never heard of punching a hole through the dome. We certainly never did that. But if the frequency response is good then then it is certainly not a problem. Mike
Hi Mark,

I've had multiple pairs of LS3/5a and in fact for a period 45-35 years ago I ran a "Double LS3/5a" system (ala the 1970s Double Advent System) wired in series for 30 ohms, driven by a pair of Julius Futterman OTL monoblock amps. And I've had some since then too. I know what your problem is and I've worked on prior examples for others.. I'm in Los Angeles and would be happy to assess and get them working for you.

The T27 tweeter *with the perforated dome screen intact* is part of the LS3/5a sound. I have heard of people doing the punctured dome/screenless mod but have never actually encountered it. I'll listen first to determine whether mod is worth correcting, and I think I have a leftover matched pair of KEF T27s in my closet of stuff-that-might-come-in-handy-one-day.

Anyway, if you're interested in taking me up on this, PM me here on Agon to work out the details.

Phil
Nothing will sound quite like the original KEFs- find a pair of Rogers with damage to woofers and cannibalize?    
Brad
I'd hold on to those.....

That's a pretty simple fix.
You should be able to get anyone who is the least bit competent to fix you up.
Probably take all of 2 or 3 hours to disassemble, install new binding posts, and reassemble.

I never heard of anyone punching a hole in the tweeter before. That's really strange, actually.
FalconAcoustics makes and sells replacement tweeters if you want to go that route.
Damaged tweeters! Those are KEF T27's selected in matched pairs! A stupid thing to remove the shields and put a hole in each tweeter! Forty years ago I never heard of anyone modding the LS3/5A. Definitely ruins the resale value!
Yes it sounds like a very easy fix any competent tech can handle it though you may also want to replace the tweeters. Good news LS3/5a's are still being made by lots of folks including Rogers.
You may know this already but these speakers can fetch decent money on the used market. Especially the 15 ohm versions. So, be careful with them, and don’t let someone "take them off your hands."