Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

When i saw the picture of these speakers I thought they were my Vandersteen VLR Wood bookshelf speakers. They look remarkably similar. The VLR'S also have coaxial drivers and are about 12 inches tall. Vandersteen also states in the manual that spades are required, but i have mine connected with bananas while i shop for new wire. I'm gonna look into those Cardas adapters. The VLR'S also have wood cabinets, but the face of the speakers are not wood. One other difference is the vlr have a sealed cabinet.

how these compare to Harbeth P3ESRs. I see one of these in my future!

This is a fascinating report and, between the subjective report and the bench measurements, I am motivated to hear them. The only piece of info I do not see is some objective measure of what the dynamic capabilities are. How can those little cones play loud enough (for me)?

There was also the RCA MI-11411 series "coaxial" driver in the 40's to mention another. (Actually "coincident" is more appropriate where coaxial actually may involve a bridge such auto speaker drivers often have.)

But as to the "Golden Ratio" issue...is it possible the internal dimensions conform more closely to that than the external ones? Those would be the ones that matter more.

These are very good looking speakers whose design has clearly been given a great deal of thought. I would be delighted to own them. I'm sure they produce excellent sound. However, the review doesn't seem to support the conclusion. "The finest stand mount speaker I've ever heard," with no qualifiers? Really? Not "at its price" or "for its size" or "for those listening in small spaces"? Could the reviewer comment on the differences between these and the KEF LS-50, another small, highly touted, bookshelf speaker with a coaxial design?

it's pretty easy to compare them. Leaving aside the subjective comments, the KEF certainly has more bass extension and somewhat higher sensitivity. I believe the cone area on the KEF is larger as well, which accounts for the bass response. I have heard the LS-50 more than once and I own a set of speakers based on the coaxial unit that is one size up from the one used in the T & F speaker. These coaxial drivers all have a unique coherence to their sound, which is reminiscent of what you get in a full range driver. Done right they're very smooth with no obvious handover between drivers. Their vertical and lateral responses are virtually identical and as you can see in John's dispersion graphs there are no major holes or peaks off axis. All of this points to a good sounding speaker. Where I see the problem is in dynamic ability and ultimate SPL capability, which has to limited by the small cone size. Also, at high levels you run into intermodulation problems because the cone acts as a waveguide for the tweeter's radiation. As the woofer cone moves, you then modulate the energy coming from the tweeter as well. I'd think these would be good candidates for a subwoofer, but getting a seamless match might not be that easy.

Thank you for this review and taking the time to review this product. I'm sure that its makers put thought and workmanship into the speaker under review.

I don't have the access to listen to as many products as the Stereophile staff. Forgive me for asking if $3,450 is a sum that we should spend on a speaker with 82dB sensitivity (requiring a new amplifier in many cases), and that weighs in comparably to speakers that cost less than $500 in many cases.

A major kit retailer sells a DIY product whose driver is probably the same as the one we see on this product. I'll let the curious investigate this product, and its cost.

Before we declare this product "the finest stand-mount ever," we might benefit from a few more reviews of similarly priced products that are available. For about $345 more per pair, and for a tank-like product weighing in at 16 lbs. more per unit, Stereophile could provide some more perspective, for all, by testing this recently released product:

http://aerialacoustics.com/portfolio/aerial-5t/

And for some unique engineering and solid manufacturing, we are still awaiting the SP test for this product. It has just been enhanced with a passive radiator, it has good sensitivity, deep bass, its own waveguide technology, and has an impedance curve that can accommodate virtually any amplification. It's also about $600 less than the product we read about in this review. A European sound engineer called it "the best nearfield monitor he had ever used in his studio."

http://www.amphion.fi/en/products/argon3s/

Let's have a few more tests, in some cases long overdue, before we make such sweeping declarations about a single product.

Footnote 2: As the Golden Ratio is either 1.618 or its reciprocal, 0.618, as the ratio of the Sun's height to its width is 1.3125, that of its height to its depth 1.5, and that of the width to the depth, 1.1, Trenner & Friedl's use of the Golden Ratio in its promotional literature is both incorrect and misleading.—John Atkinson

Could it be that the interior dimensions of the enclosure match the golden-section proportions? After all, if there is some magical audio property to that ratio, it would presumably have its effect inside the box rather than outside.

They may sound wonderful, but I fail to understand how a pair of $150 drivers and $75 for crossover parts and cabinets can add up to a $3500/pr. speakers.

Could be interesting with a test of the large Trenner&Friedl Ra's, since it appears to be DeVores Orangotangs, which are Your's uncrowned king. (probably mine too..)

God this makes me laugh at all the disposable income.
If you people buying these are business owners you are not paying your employees enough.
Status seeking chumps.

http://www.madisound.com/pdf/L12RE_XFC_AppNote.pdf