Graham Audio LS5/9, Classic English Loudspeaker

The LS5/9 is a high quality studio monitor that was designed by BBC Research and Development and featured a brand new 8 inch bass/midrange drive unit that was developed entirely in-house and constructed using the best materials available at the time.

Designed for use by the BBC in smaller studios and control rooms, the LS5/9 is a close sonic match for the larger LS5/8. Equally at home in a domestic setting, the open and expansive mid-range reveals previously unheard details from even the most familiar recordings.

With Derek Hughes at the drawing board, the original BBC design has been recreated. A new bass/midrange driver has been developed in conjunction with Volt Loudspeakers which uses a substantial die-cast aluminium frame and a massive motor assembly, allied to a diaphragm formed from a selected grade of polypropylene and matched to a high quality rubber surround. Each bass driver is hand-assembled and tested by Volt.

The tweeter is a selected version of the Audax 34mm soft dome, which is protected by a strong metal grille. A sophisticated crossover network blends the units together and equalises the overall response for optimum performance in free space.

The cabinet uses classic BBC "thinwall" construction, and is manufactured in the UK from high quality 9mm birch plywood. Hand-matched veneers are applied and finished to a very high standard indeed. All joints in the cabinet are reinforced with hardwood batons to ensure long life and total air sealing. The panels are mass-loaded to ensure that resonances are moved away from the critical mid-range region, and a layer of Rockwool held in place by fabric provides air damping. The grille - machined from a single piece of 9mm birch plywood - is held in place by concealed rare-earth magnets.

System: 2 Way, reflex loading

Enclosure: Thin wall construction, birch plywood

Finish: Real wood veneer

Dimensions: (w/h/d)28cm by 46cm by 27.5cm

Weight: 14kg

Frequency response: 50Hz to 16kHz, ±3dB

Nominal impedance: 8Ω

Sensitivity: 87dB SPL (2.83V, 1m)

Maximum output: Over 100dB for a pair at 2m

Bass/midrange: 200mm Diaphnatone polypropylene

Tweeter: Son Audax HD13D34H

Recommended amplifier power: 50 to 200 watts unclipped programme

Below from "The Absolute Sound":

"the Graham Audio LS5/9 is an unusual and impressive speaker. It does a startlingly good job of transcending its small size to present large-scale music convincingly. It has a balance very close to neutral and surprising dynamic capacity. And its emphasis on the 50 to 100Hz region (just before its final roll-off) does a good job of providing a full sound, in spite of the near absence of the bottom octaves. Its imaging is simply correct, and its basic sound very much like actual music, with suitable sources.

The BBC had use for a smaller speaker that had dynamic power, a full sound, and an essentially neutral balance. Within the small deviations from absolutely smooth and flat response noted above, these goals are attained here. It may be that you have a need for a small speaker; if so, the Graham Audio LS5/9 is surely an item of extraordinary interest. Few other speakers of its size offer anything like a comparable musical truth. Comes to that, rather few of any size do. As Spencer Hughes once said (according to legend), “Big speakers have big problems.” This little box sounds to me more like music than many a monster high-priced floorstander."