LST revisted....pleasant surprise!

[lakecat]

I got these LST's two summers ago and when I brought them home, I tested them on a Sansui G-8000. Knowing it couldn't handle the 4ohm with much volume, I still really like the sound. They were set up on top of some 3a's I had set up at the time so no further testing was done as I wanted to refinish them and update them before I actually used them. Life got in the way and time passed. I did purchase some Polk SRS SDA 1.2tl's last summer after visiting a friend in Cincy that had them and really, really liked the sound.....so the LST's got put on a back burner and had been stored in my office. 

Last week, I finally decided to get the LST's out and test them.....and get them refinished and updated when weather changed. I had bought new fuses so put them in after carrying the heavy beasts downstairs to great room. Seeing they were studio monitors, I decided to put them up high.....and had my son help me get them on top of the Polks which have a height of 64". I hooked them up to my McIntosh 2205 and put in a cd. I set everything flat on the MX-117 pre-amp and sat down about twenty feet away.....with volume at about ten watts.

I about fell over! The sound was just awesome. Clarity, depth, sound stage, plenty of bass, and highs that were crisp and clear. Voices were so forward that they seem to be in the room. I was simply shocked! It was 3a's on steroids!..lol. I have been playing them for two weeks now and waiting for my ears to say.... ( I am tired of them now...let's move on)...but nope....every time I sit down with these, I sit there with a smile....and find I am muttering to myself....:)

Now the Polks are as dynamic in their own right but now I am in love with both and troubled by what to do. I know when I refinish the LST's, I will get attached to them even more. It is like being in love with a beautiful blonde and a brunette!..lol.  I am half joking of course but damn these bad boys are something....and to go toe to toe with the Polks is impressive! 

Frank....I understand your passion now...high five!   As of now....keeping both but the only negative I see with the LST's is the needed height for them to sound correct. 

 

(dang it....had pics but getting error message....and this was after deleting a ton of pics.)

[AR surround]

Lakecat: It's really great that you are able to feed your LST beasts with the power they need using the big Mac amp...as well as installing them at the correct height.   I thought Frank's setup was wild with two pairs of stacked LST's, but then I learned of a fellow forum member who has 10 of them double stacked in a 5.1 system.   One day I would like to indulge in a pair of LST's but I simply don't have a place for them.

[frankmarsi]

Ah-gee fellas, glad to hear of your enjoyment.  

Lakecat, I'm not familiar with your set-up but, I will add what I've learned since I first acquired mine in 1987, and then set-up in 1989. One major aspect is that these speakers were made to be placed against the front wall. 

In terms of driving power, they will accept pretty much all you can give them with high power amplifiers.

I went from two Phase Linear PL400's which will put-out about 400 WPC RMS @ 4 Ohms and until I felt it necessary, my feelings were the smaller 400WPC was running out of steam so, I just had to get bigger amplifiers to experience the LST's full ability.

It wasn't until I purchased two Phase Linear PL-700 Series II amps which will do 700 WPC RMS @ 4 Ohms, and that brought me to new glorious heights that's hard to convey to most others who haven't heard the system I speak of. I was inspired to do so after meeting a British AR executive that I met in 1990 at the 'Singer' stereo shop in NYC at the introduction showing of AR's new high-power amplifier with matching pre-amp and their 'new' 3 way speaker which I have never seen for sale since. He told me of the AR's executive staff using 4 LST's along with 2 Phase Linear PL-700B amplifiers. He enthusiastically stated the sound was beyond description. He, at that time set my mind in motion to have the same set-up. I had already had the four LST"s but only one PL-400. It wasn't until the early 2009 that I upgraded to using larger dual amps. Using such high power has been a life long dream.

Bear in mind, higher power doesn't only mean higher volume. It primarily means more defined detail, depth, exciting fast and effortless transients, a higher level of transparency with a large amount of space and 'air' around each instrument and each note. Additionally,  a huge and deep soundstage with more over-all naturalness and coupled with huge power is a larger scale of the music playback, AKA a much bigger sound. That sense of scale cannot be realized with anything but high power. An apt term would be 'life-like' and so, a satisfyingly 'real' sounding system. 

These LST speakers are a demanding speaker when it comes to wattage and that is a fact. They were made for professional situations and will absorb wattage like sponges so, anything below 400 WPC will not be as satisfying or totally adequate for long term use as it is with higher power- you can take that to the bank.

As typical of most of the classic line, the tweeters are the only short coming and this issue should be addressed if you really want to hear what they're capable of.

I will also stress that they will reflect the quality of input that you feed into them, quality source inputs are mandatory.

For me, my LST's are my standard and each time my considerations for change were solely to input better quality program-material and better quality source transducers in terms of better cartridges and tonearms.   I went from $300.- $500. cartridges to $700.-$1,000 and then, to $2,000. high quality cartridges and presently I'm using a Benz-Micro 'Gull-Wing' MC at $4,000. With each and every change the LST's reflected the changes of input quality bringing me to new and excitingly lofty levels of realistic sound quality. To quote TAS in their review of this cartridge's sound as being; "more produced than reproduced". Using the 'Gull-Wing' cartridge lately has put my Delos, Kleos, Ortofon Cadenza Blue and ART-9 cartridges on temporary hiatus.

In other words, these speakers are the standard-bearers and will give back in spades what you give to them, while each time always responding to a higher order of input quality, in this case higher priced phono cartridges. 

Consequently, I almost feel that I've reached a level that the only way to improve upon what I've assembled to this point is by spending large sums of money and changing my system entirely. Costlier speakers, costlier amps, costlier everything. However, I've been in the same AR groove for almost half a century now and I find myself extremely content at this level with this system. Dare I say, this system must be heard to be believed.

So, to cap it all off, the AR-LST's will respond to every change that is made in front of them. As it is, my most expensive cartridge actually costs more than my four LST's and not in any way have they taken a back seat, they simply, like I said, give back what you put into them. Neutral and able to respond to any changes for the better and seemingly limitless in their capabilities really speaks to their level of high quality musical reproduction.

Good luck and welcome to the higher echelon of AR speakers.

P.S. I need to head up north and get "AR surround" in tune with LSTs. If I invite him here, he probably won't want to leave.

P.S. II "lakecat", your description of these speakers was a very good one and welcome to the very special niche of TOTL AR speaker owners, congratulations.

 

 

[ar_pro]

It is like being in love with a beautiful blonde and a brunette!

Blonde, lakecat. Always go with the blonde. 

Seriously, congratulations on the LST's - with the MC2205 , they should sound amazing. Any thoughts on having a pair of dedicated stands built to measure?

[Liangshan Marsh]

7 hours ago, lakecat said:

 I hooked them up to my McIntosh 2205 and put in a cd. I set everything flat on the MX-117 pre-amp and sat down about twenty feet away.....with volume at about ten watts.

I about fell over! The sound was just awesome. Clarity, depth, sound stage, plenty of bass, and highs that were crisp and clear. Voices were so forward that they seem to be in the room. I was simply shocked! It was 3a's on steroids!..lol. I have been playing them for two weeks now and waiting for my ears to say.... ( I am tired of them now...let's move on)...but nope....every time I sit down with these, I sit there with a smile....and find I am muttering to myself....:)

 

Hi Lakecat, Congrats you have a nice set of MAC  Amp and pre-amp matching up with the LST speakers. Hope you enjoy it for a long time, BTW do you have any experience if the MC MX-113 or MX-112 hooking up with the MC 2105 or 2205, do they sound ok, accepted...? how do they compare with the MC MX-117....?  8/10....?

[AR surround]

4 hours ago, frankmarsi said:

...P.S. I need to head up north and get "AR surround" in tune with LSTs.

If I invite him here, he probably won't want to leave...

 

Yes, you might have to deal with that situation although I'm quite happy with my current rig.

[Pete B]

It is always good to hear that a person is getting so much enjoyment from their

system, that is what it is all about.

[lakecat]

On 4/20/2019 at 6:58 PM, Liangshan Marsh said:

Hi Lakecat, Congrats you have a nice set of MAC  Amp and pre-amp matching up with the LST speakers. Hope you enjoy it for a long time, BTW do you have any experience if the MC MX-113 or MX-112 hooking up with the MC 2105 or 2205, do they sound ok, accepted...? how do they compare with the MC MX-117....?  8/10....?

The 117 is the perfect match for the 2205 but the others you mention would do fine. 

[Ronan]

On 4/20/2019 at 9:22 AM, lakecat said:

I got these LST's two summers ago and when I brought them home, I tested them on a Sansui G-8000. Knowing it couldn't handle the 4ohm with much volume, I still really like the sound. They were set up on top of some 3a's I had set up at the time so no further testing was done as I wanted to refinish them and update them before I actually used them. Life got in the way and time passed. I did purchase some Polk SRS SDA 1.2tl's last summer after visiting a friend in Cincy that had them and really, really liked the sound.....so the LST's got put on a back burner and had been stored in my office. 

Last week, I finally decided to get the LST's out and test them.....and get them refinished and updated when weather changed. I had bought new fuses so put them in after carrying the heavy beasts downstairs to great room. Seeing they were studio monitors, I decided to put them up high.....and had my son help me get them on top of the Polks which have a height of 64". I hooked them up to my McIntosh 2205 and put in a cd. I set everything flat on the MX-117 pre-amp and sat down about twenty feet away.....with volume at about ten watts.

I about fell over! The sound was just awesome. Clarity, depth, sound stage, plenty of bass, and highs that were crisp and clear. Voices were so forward that they seem to be in the room. I was simply shocked! It was 3a's on steroids!..lol. I have been playing them for two weeks now and waiting for my ears to say.... ( I am tired of them now...let's move on)...but nope....every time I sit down with these, I sit there with a smile....and find I am muttering to myself....:)

Now the Polks are as dynamic in their own right but now I am in love with both and troubled by what to do. I know when I refinish the LST's, I will get attached to them even more. It is like being in love with a beautiful blonde and a brunette!..lol.  I am half joking of course but damn these bad boys are something....and to go toe to toe with the Polks is impressive! 

Frank....I understand your passion now...high five!   As of now....keeping both but the only negative I see with the LST's is the needed height for them to sound correct. 

 

(dang it....had pics but getting error message....and this was after deleting a ton of pics.)

Hello Lakecat!

Do you still use the Mac 2205 for the AR-LST, I had read over the foreign speakers forums some one upgraded  the AMP for LST from the MAC 2205 to Mac 2500, the Guy  said the mac 2500 is better than the 2205 when using for AR-LST, ME myself had owned the LST, in the past I had used the Mcintosh MC 275, a huge modern Mcintosh 402 weigh 120 pounds, 400 watts stereo 800 watts mono and fisher C-500 for the LST, I don't understand how come the HUGE Mac 402 , hooked up to the AR-LST, the bass is not tight as the Fisher C-500 tube receiver... so after using 3 amps for a while , result: 1. Fisher C-500, 2. Mcintosh mc 275 tube, 3. Mcintosh 402 ...so I temporary end up use the Fisher 500 C for my AR-LST,,, I am still looking for the Mac 2205 and the Phase Linear 700 series II amp that Frankmarsi recommended the best AMP for the LST....but not find both of it yet.

[lakecat]

16 hours ago, Ronan said:

Hello Lakecat!

Do you still use the Mac 2205 for the AR-LST, I had read over the foreign speakers forums some one upgraded  the AMP for LST from the MAC 2205 to Mac 2500, the Guy  said the mac 2500 is better than the 2205 when using for AR-LST, ME myself had owned the LST, in the past I had used the Mcintosh MC 275, a huge modern Mcintosh 402 weigh 120 pounds, 400 watts stereo 800 watts mono and fisher C-500 for the LST, I don't understand how come the HUGE Mac 402 , hooked up to the AR-LST, the bass is not tight as the Fisher C-500 tube receiver... so after using 3 amps for a while , result: 1. Fisher C-500, 2. Mcintosh mc 275 tube, 3. Mcintosh 402 ...so I temporary end up use the Fisher 500 C for my AR-LST,,, I am still looking for the Mac 2205 and the Phase Linear 700 series II amp that Frankmarsi recommended the best AMP for the LST....but not find both of it yet.

Hi...yes, I still use my 2205 for the 4 ohm speakers. I had it recapped so it's working great. I can't comment on the other amps as I have only had this 2205...but amazing that 402 didn't sound as good as expected.

I still haven't refinished the LST's yet. Their placement makes it tough to find a spot for them....so been on back burner. 

[Giorgio AR]

20 hours ago, Ronan said:

2. Mcintosh mc 275 tube

Ronan, currently I have connected a tube amp to my AR LSTs with great satisfaction.
Pioneer C21 preamplifier and Nuova Elettronica tube amp (1990 year) with KT88 (40w x 2), excellent sound quality, good volume (clearly the AR LSTs would support numerous multiples of power).