[jandrews]

Curious if anyone is happily running 15 Ohm Ls3/5a speakers with their SET120?
I see some have successfully paired Harbeth P3esr’s but haven’t seen too much mentioned about the Falcon Ls3/5a, for instance.
I’m currently using Fritz Carbon 7 SE’s with my 120, but am interested in trying some more traditional British speakers but I (obviously) want to keep my amp!
Thanks
JS

[mick wolfe]

I think despite losing a significant amount of power going into 15 ohms, you'll be fine with either the Falcon or Harbeth. Neither are head bangers anyway. That said, I certainly wouldn't sell or trade the Carbon 7's in order to pull off this experiment. Having heard the 7's at my place just a few weeks ago, I can't imagine either of these LS3/5A variants keeping up. This especially if you like to "wick it up" occasionally. IOW, the 7's played a variety of genres at decent (but not insane) volume levels with a nice sense of ease.  It's doubtful that the Brit monitors could pull this off at the same SPL's without clear distortion or even damage. All said, take this all with a grain of salt if you were going to retain the 7's anyway. It a perfect world, it would be nice to have both options.

[jandrews]

Thanks Nick
No, I’m not planning on selling the Fritz speakers..they are keepers for me.
Just considering adding on a pair of silver badge used Falcon ls3/5a’s, but just wanted to know if they would pair well with my existing amp.
I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t.  Many ppl have commented that those sealed speakers love solid state amps with current on reserve.
Btw , they are 15 Ohm , but only 83dB sens.

[WGH]

I heard the Falcon LS3/5a with a Pass First Watt F6 which has 25 watts into 8 ohms and the sound was beautiful, I finally heard why people love this little speaker. The LS3/5a was paired with a REL S/510 and it sounded like a full range speaker. I think the AVA 120 will do just fine.

Fritz loaned me a pair of Carbon 7 SE and they are currently on a Tucson tour. We will be comparing them to the LS3/5a in the near future.

[mick wolfe]

Yes, that audition I mentioned above  is part of the "Tucson Fritz Carbon 7 SE tour".  Thanks again to Wayne (WGH) for making this possible.  I'll stand by my last statement in regard to the two speakers in question.  " In a perfect world, it would nice to have both options".  The Falcon for the legendary and magical LS3/5A midrange and the Carbon 7 SE for when one wants to cut loose with some rock or raw blues. This not to say the 7 lacks in midrange prowess either, but there's certainly something spooky about what an LS3/5A brings to the table in this regard. 

[jandrews]

The Carbon 7 definitely has the midrange beauty dialed in and for that matter I think the SET120 does too. Those two together are a magical pairing.
(I’m also VERY interested in trying the M225 mono amps with the Fritz Carbons)
I sometimes do feel there is a little too much bass from the Fritz’s depending on what I’m listening to.
It could be my room or the way I have them set up.  Lately, I’ve  been experimenting with plugging the ports.
I have a good feeling about the SET120 and the Falcons.
Will report back if I can make it happen this week

[WGH]

I sometimes do feel there is a little too much bass from the Fritz’s depending on what I’m listening to.
It could be my room or the way I have them set up.

Definitely the room. So far I have heard the Carbon 7's set up in 3 rooms.

At Fritz's house there was tons of bass and I was looking for the sub, he didn't have one. The speakers were close to the front wall and a corner.




At my house the speakers front baffle was 4' from the front wall and bass was tight but wanting. My REL sub fixed the bass




At Mick's house in the teeny tiny vinyl room the stars aligned and bass, midrange and treble was perfect. Mick has 2 tiny REL subs, they were not re-adjusted and we never heard them.
I think the Carbon 7's are one of the few speakers that will work very well in a small room.

[jandrews]

@WGH
Thanks for sharing those photos.
Looks like there’s AVA amplification in your room. What is it?
Any other rooms using AVA?
Yes , my slightly bass heavy presentation is probably my room.
I have my speakers set-up in a somewhat unconventional diagonal placement because of the way the room is oriented. I think there’s some extra bass and room gain coming out of that far corner….even though the speakers are pretty far out.
It’s by no means problematic but it’s a lot of bass. 
My Magnepan LRS loved this placement.   The Fritz’s with their low frequency handling don’t necessarily need any extra.
You can see my AVA RB10 and AVA SET120 in the back , along with a 3.3 watt 2a3 variant single ended triode amp that drives the Carbon 7’s just fine.

[WGH]

Looks like there’s AVA amplification in your room. What is it?
Any other rooms using AVA?

I use the AVA Fet Valve CFR Hybrid Preamp and Vision SET 400 Amp connected by Hapa Audio Quiescence interconnects. I have a small house, this is the only audio-video room, hence the "wall of toys."

The CFR Hybrid preamp has Mullard12AT7 and Genalex Gold Lion 12AU7 tubes which are less sharp than the stock JJ tubes. The Salk HT2-TL speakers benefit from a less aggressive presentation. The difference is subtle and room/speaker dependent, Frank Van Alstine didn't hear any difference in his room with Philharmonic Three speakers.


The diagonal placement looks like the Carbon 7's are horn loaded, there is probably a big bass node in the corner. If you wanted to experiment stuff a blanket or comforter in the corner to hear what happens to the bass.

[JackD]

Or stack bed pillows end to end in the corner to above the height of the ports.

[fritzspeakers]

My SET 120 Control amp and SET 400 both worked and sounded great driving my Harbeth P3's, ProAc  Tablette 10 Signature, Stirling Broadcast LS/35a,  & Falcon Acoustics 8 ohm speakers in my 14 x 22 ft living room.

[jandrews]

Thanks for the insight John
Great to know
JS

[jandrews]

Well , I didn't move quick enough and the Falcons sold already

So ,I'm very happily listening to my Carbon 7 Se mk 2's powered by my SET120 & RB10 today while I'm working from home.

Will keep my eye out for a decently priced set of ls3/5a's in the coming weeks

[mick wolfe]

TRM has a used pair of Falcon Silver Badges priced at $2366. Don't know if that's in your price range though  You might also check on with Mobile Fidelity version of the Falcon. They occasionally have B-stock (returns) of their version of the Falcon Silver Badge. (www.falconspeakers.com)

[jandrews]

I still haven’t picked up any ls3/5a speakers but I did have the good fortune to buy a previously loved pair of Fritz Mini Monitors last week. They have been out of production for a few years and it seems like they may be loosely inspired by Totem 1’s.
https://www.fritzspeakers.com/FritzMiniSpecs.asp

I’ve only set them up briefly in my apt in the city where I am a few days a week for work.
Not my home.  They are currently hooked up to a VERY budget portable streaming setup. (Wiim Pro Plus streamer into a Vista Audio Spark integrated with BJC for both the interconnects and speaker cables.  The power cable on the Spark is a Signal Cables Magic)
But they sound superb…. This whole little rig does.
I’ll be bringing them to my house next week to pair with my Van Alstine amp and preamp.  Very much looking forward to that.

They are ported, so not an obvious replacement for a sealed bbc monitor

They are not as deep, textured and palpable as my Carbon 7’s SE mk2’s, but they are so so nice.
They push out an image that really floats, is balanced and they have outstanding bass from such little speakers
(12.5x7x9 for the Mini Monitors vs 16x9x12 for the Carbon 7’s.)
I’ll probably end up gifting them to my dad in the coming months.
Pic below:

[maty]

It is a shame that the manufacturer does not share at least two measurements: frequency response and impedance/phase graph.

https://www.fritzspeakers.com/FritzMiniSpecs.asp

[jandrews]

I believe he does for his current offerings
https://www.fritzspeakers.com/DreamWeaverFritzCarbon7Mk2SpecPage.asp