EAR/Technics RS-1500 tape deck, EAR Acute Classic CD Player, Helius Designs Viridia turntable, Omega Standard tonearm, Denon DL-103R cartridge, PranaFidelity purna/ca preamplifier, purna/ma amplifier, and Vayu/fs loudspeakers;, Etc.

It took two tries over the course of two days to find a seat, but on Sunday afternoon, I finally squeezed into the room shared by EAR and PranaFidelity. The wait was worth it.

After the overplayed “These Bones Will Rise Again” from a CD of the Fairfield Four—a recording whose limited octave compass established the beauty of the system’s midrange—EAR’s Dan Meinwald took over and it was on to “Stratusphunk” from an LP of the George Russell Sextet. The bass line was excellent—absolutely firm—and the balance between highs and lows ideal.

Then, as if my mind had not been shattered enough by 2.5 days at the show, it was on to the unique Joanna Newsom, whose squeeky little voice, sadly overshadowed by engineering that over-emphasized her accompaniment, revealed the fineness of the tweeter in PranaFidelity’s Vayu/fs loudspeakers ($8950/pair). Some resonant nodes seem to have been activated in the room, but that didn’t stop me from giving two thumbs up to an EAR/Technics RS-1500 tape deck, modified by Tim de Paravicini ($10,000) and EAR Acute Classic CD Player ($6795), Helius Designs Viridia turntable ($7195) with Omega Standard tonearm ($3695) and Denon DL-103R cartridge ($449), PranaFidelity purna/ca preamplifier ($4500-$9950 depending upon configuration and options), purna/ma amplifier ($8950), and Furutech cabling & AC distribution.

COMMENTS
Ortofan's picture

... indeed reveal "the fineness of the tweeter in PranaFidelity’s Vayu/fs loudspeakers", what is the upper limit of her vocal range and what is the crossover point between the woofers and the tweeter in the speakers?

Jason Victor Serinus's picture

I'm afraid I can neither squeek nor squeak by with this one. My error. Her voice is high, but not "that" high.

Jim Austin's picture

I'm afraid I can neither squeek nor squeak by with this one. My error. Her voice is high, but not "that" high.

This comment, and Jason's reply, got me thinking about the point he made. A typical crossover frequency for a 30mm tweeter is 2.2kHz. The highest note in the classical repertoire is G6, in Mozart's "Popoli di Tessaglia!", K. 316, and in operas by Massenet and Salieri. (Yes, of course, I had that information committed to memory. Internet, what internet? ;-) G6, in modern tuning, is at 1539.47Hz. All notes above C#6 will have second harmonics at or above that tweeter crossover frequency--and some loudspeakers will cross over lower.

In the human voice, the second harmonic can easily be as high in level as the fundamental. This is especially true in voices pushed to their limit; operatic singers are especially prone to exaggerated harmonics because of the need to increase volume and project. When this happens, the voice can start to seem harsh. Squeaky? I'm not sure.

This is all interesting, but there's also a point: When I read Ortofan's comment, I thought, "oops, he's right, Jason (and I) missed that one." But in fact, a 'hot' tweeter could exaggerate the second harmonic on the highest notes and higher harmonics (third can also be high in level) on considerably lower notes, rendering vocal quality harsh. Quite a reasonable observation in general.

For Newsom in particular? I don't think her voice is that high, but I'm not sure. I'd need to put it on and measure--I have two of her LPs, and quite enjoy her odd voice, harp accompaniment, and strange lyrics--which I don't have time to do right now. I welcome others to try it and report back.

Jim Austin, Editor
Stereophile

Bogolu Haranath's picture

There are couple of different ways to fix this problem, which can happen around the crossover region, say around 1 to 4 KHz ...... One of them is to use a 'filler driver' between the midrange and the tweeter ..... JA1 talks about it ....... The Revel Ultima Salon2 uses similar driver ...... Some other examples are, Revel Gem2, Yamaha NS-5000, Harbeth 40.2, Vandersteen etc. ...... Another quick fix is to use tone controls ..... One can also engineer a 'dip' in this crossover region such as DeVore GibbonX :-) .......

Bogolu Haranath's picture

BTW ..... If you still have the Revel Salon2, try playing Newsom LPs, through those speakers ....... Chances are you won't hear any problems with her voice :-) .........

Ortofan's picture

... doesn't exactly leave the impression that her vocal range is nearly as wide as that of, say, Joan Sutherland or Mariah Carey.

Bogolu Haranath's picture

Voice of Ms. Joan Sutherland would certainly be one of the good tests for evaluating the crossover region between the midrange and the tweeter :-) ...........

Bogolu Haranath's picture

Check out the album 'Masters of the Voice - Soprano' by various artists :-) ........

Bogolu Haranath's picture

Since you mentioned Carlo Bergonzi in another forum, also check out the album ........

'Masters of the Voice - Tenor' by various artists :-) ..........

Bogolu Haranath's picture

May be she was 'sick' at the time of this particular recording ....... May be she had the flu :-) .......

Bogolu Haranath's picture

Joanna Newsom ........ 'The Milk-Eyed Mender' ....... Album :-) ........

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