Cult classics

*ProAc Tablette 10 loudspeaker

WHEN the BBC LS 3/5A studio monitor loudspeaker was first launched in the 1960s, it radically altered expectations of what was possible from a mini-monitor.

Barely 12 inches high, 7.5 inches wide and 6 inches deep, the bass output from such a small enclosure would never be earth-shattering, but listeners were willing to forgive the relative absence of a low end because the speaker excelled in all the other parts of the frequency spectrum.

The BBC - yes, the broadcaster - then granted licences to a small number of firms over the years to manufacture the LS 3/5A, and because the speaker was widely acknowledged to have met the original brief of transparent and natural reproduction of recorded material, the LS 3/5A has now acquired cult status, with original 1960 versions fetching large su…