Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

THe speakers was substituted for the SL600s in my usual system of Krell KSA-50 power amplifier, Audio Research SP-10 preamp, CAL Tempest II and Meridian MCD Pro CD players, and Koetsu Red/SME V/Linn Sondek LP player mounted on a Torlyte stand. (At the end of the listening period, I substituted a 1987 Linn/Ittok combination fitted with the new composite armboard and the new Linn Troika cartridge, the whole sitting on a Sound Organization table.) Interconnect was Monster Interlink Reference A, and Monster M1 speaker cable was used for all speakers.

The Celestions were carefully positioned for optimum performance, and either Heybrook metal-frame or Celestion/Foundation lead/sand-filled metal-pillar stands were used to raise the speakers to the appropriate heights. The stands were spiked to couple vibrations to the tile-on-concrete floor beneath the rug.

Each pair of speakers was used over an extended period of time for all my recreational listening; once I had become happy that I was getting the best sound, a more critical series of listening tests was performed using an identical selection of music to get an idea of the comparative strengths and weaknesses of each design.

The tracks used were as follows: Chopin Waltz in C-sharp minor, HFN/RR test CD (my own recording, made with the Calrec Soundfield mike in crossed figure-eight mode); the drumkit recording on the HFN/RR test CD (again recorded with the Soundfield mike); Beethoven "Pathetique" sonata performed by James Boyk, Performance Recordings PR-5 (recorded with crossed figure-eight ribbon mikes); Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage (Fogarty's Cove Music FCM-004, a naturally recorded collection of Nova Scotian-style songs sung by a baritone, recommended to me by Mission's Armi Leonetti); Ray Noble's "The very thought of you" (Ken Kessler's favorite test track, the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald backed by a naturally miked big band, recorded in 1962 when engineers didn't know enough to spoil the music); and Stravinsky's Firebird suite, on Sheffield Lab CD-24 (pure Blumlein-miked orchestra, using Coles ribbon mikes). Particularly useful for judging accuracy of timbre on voice was the Freehold, New Jersey, recording of "Papa-oom-mow-mow" (Rhino RNLP 70827).

The two things these recordings have in common, apart from the fact that I know them all intimately, is that they all were recorded in such a way as to produce a tightly defined, tonally neutral soundstage, and that none have been "doctored." As I have pointed out before, how on Earth can a reviewer make valid value judgments if he doesn't know what to expect from the recordings he uses to make those judgments? Somehow he or she has to break the circle of not knowing what a recording sounds like apart from judging it using loudspeakers, the properties of which he or she doesn't know apart from judging them using the unknown recording.

A note to those who condemn tweakery out of hand: At the start of the auditioning of the first model, I had other loudspeakers in a pile in the corner of my listening room, some 10 feet from the left-hand speaker. Sitting listening to my chosen test tracks, I starting noting down adverse comments regarding stereo imaging: unstable center imaging, different image width at different frequencies, etc. The penny dropped; I removed all the other speakers from the room; now, the imaging was actually very good.

So I advise you to insist upon auditioning loudspeakers one pair at a time before making a final purchase decision. Dealers won't like you, but only then will you get a true idea of the soundstage capability of a pair of speakers. Reviewers also hate auditioning loudspeakers one pair at a time, particularly if the speakers are heavy, but I can assure you that that will be Stereophile's policy.—John Atkinson