Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

ProAc Response 2.5 loudspeaker

Michael Fremer Jul 10, 2005 First Published: Jan 10, 1996

ProAc's designer Stuart Tyler sounded casual—almost bemused—when I spoke with him recently about the new 2.5, a floorstanding, two-way ported box in the middle price slot ($4500/pair) of his Response series. While answering my pressing queries about the crossover point, driver materials, cabinet construction, and other reviewer obsessions, his body language said, "Does any of that really matter with these speakers? You know what the real story is here."

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

ProAc Future One loudspeaker

Michael Fremer Jul 03, 2005 First Published: Oct 10, 2000

A company other than ProAc best describes the Future One: "And now for something completely different!" Of course, that was a company of British comedians. There's nothing funny about the talented British speaker designer Stuart Tyler's latest effort, but there is something odd: Tyler is reputed to have said of the Future One, "This is the loudspeaker I have always wanted to build."

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

PBN Montana EPS loudspeaker

Barry Willis Jul 03, 2005 First Published: Oct 03, 1999

Most speakers don't come in heavy wooden crates—they come in cardboard cartons, two per box, light enough to be tucked under one arm and carried out to the car. Not so in HighEndLand, where the smallest minimonitor can test a healthy man's strength. There are plenty of good reasons for this cult of robustness, foremost among them structural stability and the suppression of resonances.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Hales Design Group Transcendence Five loudspeaker

Robert Deutsch Jul 03, 2005 First Published: Jun 03, 1999

Paul">http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/117">Paul Hales has been a busy guy lately. In little over a year, he has designed and brought to production four new speakers in his Revelation series (footnote 1); his cost-no-object flagship, the Alexandra, which had been seen but not heard at a number of shows, was finally demonstrated at the 1999 CES; and he has introduced the new Transcendence series, which replaces the Concept series. (He's also produced a brand-new baby girl during this period, although I believe his wife made a significant contribution to that project.)

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Canton Vento 809 DC loudspeaker

Wes Phillips Jun 19, 2005 First Published: Jun 19, 2005

"I have an interesting loudspeaker for you to review," said John Atkinson.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews Budget Component Reviews

Infinity Primus 360 loudspeaker

Robert J. Reina Jun 19, 2005 First Published: Jun 19, 2005

When I reviewed Infinity's">http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/404infinity">Infinity's Primus 150 loudspeaker in the April 2004 Stereophile, I was very impressed with its overall performance. To this day, I continue to be amazed at the level of realism this $198/pair loudspeaker can reproduce, and I've kept the review pair to serve as a benchmark for an entry-level audiophile speaker. When I'd completed that review, my first thought was: Now—what can Infinity do within the affordable Primus series for more money? So I requested a review sample of the Primus series' flagship, the three-way Primus 360 floorstanding speaker. After all, how could I resist listening to a speaker that claims 38Hz bass extension for only $658/pair?

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews Budget Component Reviews

MartinLogan Montage loudspeaker

Kalman Rubinson, John Atkinson May 22, 2005 First Published: May 22, 2005

This lapsed fan of electrostatic speakers finds it curious that, while MartinLogan is the predominant representative of this technology in the US, I had never auditioned an ML design in my home. I've enjoyed many Janszen tweeters, a KLH 9, an AcousTech X, Stax ELS-F81s, and I've dallied with Quad">http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/416">Quad ESL-63s. But as dumb luck would have it, the first MartinLogan speaker to reach me, the new Montage, is a hybrid model.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Monsoon Audio FPF-1000 loudspeaker

Kalman Rubinson May 01, 2005 First Published: Oct 01, 2001

I used to be an audio cheapskate even worse than Sam Tellig. Anytime I saw an interesting device for sale, I immediately began to figure out how I might build it for myself for a fraction of the cost.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Linn Akurate 242 loudspeaker

Art Dudley Apr 17, 2005 First Published: Apr 17, 2005

In 1985 or so, a middle-aged audiophile who lived in New York City called to invite me to come listen to his stereo: It was, he assured me, the best in the world. All he wanted was the pleasure of my opinion, for which he offered the princely sum of $100. (As I learned in the months and years to come, this same audiophile called virtually every other audio writer in the metropolitan area whose phone number he could get hold of, making the same offer.)

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

NHT Evolution T6 loudspeaker system

John Atkinson Apr 17, 2005 First Published: Apr 17, 2005

Twelve years ago, loudspeaker manufacturer NHT launched its model 3.3, a floorstanding, full-range design that Corey Greenberg summed up in the March">http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/1293nht/index2.html">March 1994 Stereophile as doing "everything I want a He-Man reference loudspeaker to do...I find myself without a single area of performance I've heard bettered by any other speaker." The NHT">http://www.stereophile.com/loudspeakerreviews/1293nht">NHT 3.3 basically combined a high-performance monitor with a sideways-firing subwoofer in the same enclosure, and when I first saw NHT's Evolution T6 system at the 2002 CEDIA convention, I was reminded of the classic 3.3, but a 3.3 updated for the needs of home theater as well as music. And despite inflation and the incorporation of a line-level crossover and a pair of monoblock amplifiers to drive the subwoofers, a two-channel T6 system costs the same as a pair of 3.3s: $4000.