LATEST ADDITIONS

After several failed attempts, some sweating, and a bit of cursing, we were able to lock the replacement drive-unit into the Giya cabinet. Success! And then we realized we’d forgotten an O-ring…

John Atkinson measures the distance from his microphone to the Giya’s midrange drive-unit. For a larger view, visit <a href="http://forum.stereophile.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2218/passwor… Gallery</a>.

After we lifted the big Vivid Giya onto a rotating platter, JA got under the hood and connected the speaker cables to his test amp. JA <i>loves</i> it when speaker terminals are hidden beneath a speaker. For a larger view, visit <a href="http://forum.stereophile.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2217/passwor… Gallery</a>.

JA positions his microphone in such a way that any room reflections become insignificant. For a larger view, visit <a href="http://forum.stereophile.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2215/size/bi… Gallery</a>.

JA uses a different mic, set at a much closer proximity to the drive-unit, to capture the side-firing woofer’s nearfield response. For a larger view, visit <a href="http://forum.stereophile.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2214/size/bi… Gallery</a>.

<I>I am not in the mood for whirling.</I>&#151;the Beatles, "Revolution 9"

It's been over two years since I <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/subwoofers/907jl">reviewed</A&gt; a pair of JL Audio's Fathom f113 subwoofers. <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/musicintheround/1106mitr">Kalman Rubinson</A> and I both gave the f113 top marks for delivering clean, powerful bass in a wide variety of full-range systems. At the end of the review period, JL Audio's Carl Kennedy told me that they wouldn't send me another subwoofer for review until they had developed one that outperformed the Fathom f113 (footnote 1). To this day, the Fathom f113 tops the subwoofer category in <I>Stereophile</I>'s "Recommended Components."