Bookshelf Speakers — LORENZO AUDIO LABS LM3

The LM3 is a two-way loudspeaker from Lorenzo Audio Labs, the Spanish company founded in Granada in 2016 by Miguel Lorenzo Castro and Josep M. Gallart, who each bring more than 20 years of experience in loudspeaker design and distribution. The monitor and its stand are built as separate parts but joined and presented as one unit, and the design sets out to take a two-way speaker beyond the usual limits of bandwidth and output. The Lorenzo range also includes the LM1 MK2, LM2 and LM6.

Key specs that matter

A 12 in paper-cone woofer with an AlNiCo magnet works with a horn-loaded AMT tweeter. Frequency response runs from 25 Hz to 23 kHz, sensitivity is 94 dB and nominal impedance is 8 ohms, and the maker specifies amplifiers from 20 W to 300 W. Together with its stand the speaker is 1170 mm tall, 515 mm wide and 415 mm deep, and it weighs 55 kg.

Engineering and use context

Lorenzo makes its 41 mm thick enclosure walls of phenolic laminated wood, with a constrained-layer elastomer that absorbs vibration coming from the drivers. Both the cabinet and the tweeter horn are machined on five-axis CNC equipment. AlNiCo is a classic magnet material chosen for its motor behaviour, and the pleated AMT membrane is efficient enough to match the large woofer. The phase-optimised crossover is wired by hand, with each part soldered directly to the next and no circuit board, using parts from Mundorf, Jantzen and PathAudio. Two reflex ports fire downward and couple the bass to the floor. Lorenzo designs its own steel feet, each with a lower disc of Panzerholz, a dense compressed wood that filters vibration from the floor, and the discs are removable. A fourth-generation craftsman, whose family has worked in marquetry since 1888, applies the natural wood veneer by hand. Standard finishes are ziricote, pau ferro, tamo ash, Macassar ebony, elm root, walnut root, white ebony and high-gloss black, and other woods can be ordered. The company insists on handcrafted production and describes the LM3 as adaptable to small, medium and large rooms thanks to its drivers.

Pairing

The high efficiency and steady load let the LM3 run as comfortably from a low-output valve design near the lower end of the specified power range as from a large solid-state design.

Alternatives

Lorenzo Audio Labs' LM5 is another stand-mounted loudspeaker from the brand.