Loudspeakers

If you don't own the April 1996 issue of HFN, let me summarise our review of Rogers' original AB1 subwoofer [inset here]. A key difference lies in the enclosure material – the AB1 prototypes used birch ply, but production models were made of Medite, Rogers arguing that MDF 'simply sounded better'. As many are now learning thanks to cancel culture, what was OK in the past no longer applies, so the new AB3a reverts to the wood of the AB1 prototype and the LS3/5A itself.

With only one B110 woofer, a passive crossover and no electronics, AB1s were far simpler beasts, devoid of adjustability. You simply inserted them in place of the stands you were using. Amusingly, even if you didn't wire them in, AB1s actually made decent, complementary supports, especially if you weighed down the speaker sitting on top with 'bricks' such as the VPI or the HFN Flux Dumper. You could wire the LS3/5As off links from the AB1s, which were driven by the amp, or you could bi-wire them. And the sound? A bit 'one-note', but a tad louder and deeper, and for many of us, that was enough.