LS3/5A & Pass Labs

I bought a pair from Stirling two years ago. excellent service. remember the ls3/5as take a lot of running in, so don't be disappointed when you take them out of the box.
They make both standard cabinets and reference ones. The reference ones are mabe from birch ply and are a copy of the BBC 001/2 prototype pair.

all the ls 3/5's have the same refined musical quality. i would think the sterlings would be no exception. it is still relitively easy to find harbeth,rogers and spendor. kef's are maybe a bit more rare.

What about chartwell?

I have the Chartwell's 15Ohms and a friend of mine has Rogers 11 Ohms and another one Rogers 15 Ohms. I have in my own system compared the Rogers 11 Ohms and my Chartwells, although strictly speaking both the speakers more or less had similar sound but if one goes deep down into the nitty gritty of things than there is a difference between the two, at least to my ears.

I found Rogers to be able to handle the Rock better than Chartwells and had a bit punchier bass.

The Chartwells on the other hand were smoother at the top end and had better resolving capability when it came to the female vocals as well as slightly deeper bass. (not in volume).

Now when it comes down to personal preference one needs to consider one of the two. I personally prefer the sound of Chartwells.

By the way Chartwells are 15 Ohms

Regarding integrating a sub- with a little time and effort with a sound meter and test cd you can do it nicely. Using a crossover and an active sub means less work for your 30 wpc amp since it will not see frequencies below your crossover point. You can also insert a relatively inexpensive DSP-based parametric equalizer between the crossover and sub to quell any problem bass frequencies that you identify with the meter/test cd.
Using this approach with an aleph P, aleph 30, bryston crossover and REL subs worked great for me.