Floorstanding loudspeakers — Graham Audio LS4/4

The LS4/4 is a three-way floorstander by Graham Audio, designed by Derek Hughes as a development of the company's LS5/5. The LS5/5 began life as a studio speaker for large BBC control rooms, and Hughes scaled the concept down for smaller domestic spaces, keeping the same tweeter and midrange unit and fitting a smaller bass driver. Some markets list it as the LS4/4F. In the USA the pair cost USD 14,990 in cherry or oak, and in Australia AUD 19,999.

Key specs that matter

Drivers are a 270 mm long-throw bass unit, a 200 mm midrange and a 25 mm soft-dome tweeter, crossing over at 400 Hz and 3.5 kHz. The enclosure is reflex loaded. Graham rates response at 40 Hz to 20 kHz within 2 dB, sensitivity at 88 dB SPL for 2.83 V at 1 m and nominal impedance at 8 ohm. Maximum output exceeds 103 dB for a pair at 2 m. Each cabinet is 31 cm wide, 110 cm tall and 48 cm deep, with a weight of 45 kg, and connections are made through gold-plated terminals.

Engineering and use context

Using a 270 mm woofer instead of the 300 mm unit of the LS5/5 allows a narrow 31 cm front, so the tall, slim floorstanding box takes up less wall width than the parent design while keeping the same crossover frequencies. Birch plywood panels are assembled according to the BBC thin-wall damped method, where panels are kept light and damped rather than made as heavy and stiff as possible, so that their resonances are low in level. The front baffle is slotted in the manner of the LS5/5. The slots in front of the bass and midrange cones make them act as narrower sources near the top of their range, widening dispersion around the crossover regions and giving a more even off-axis output. Hughes developed the model from Graham's work on reviving the BBC design, and the company describes it as studio grade equipment for home use. Cherry and oak veneers are standard, while walnut, rosewood, ebony, teak and sprayed finishes are special-order options with longer lead times and prices on request. The three-way layout with a dedicated 200 mm midrange keeps the bass unit out of the vocal band, since it hands over at 400 Hz.

Pairing

With 88 dB sensitivity and a nominal 8 ohm load, the LS4/4 suits amplifiers between 50 and 200 W of unclipped programme power, a range that covers most solid-state integrated amplifiers and larger valve designs. The floor-standing cabinet needs no separate stands.

Alternatives

The Graham LS5/5F is the floorstanding version of the full-size LS5/5, using the larger 300 mm bass unit in a bigger cabinet.