Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Kii Three's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses. I fed MLSSA's single-ended analog output to the Three's balanced XLR jack using an adapter, and used the Kii Control to set the speaker's operating conditions, including setting the polarity to Pos, and disabling the contour and boundary equalization so that I'd be examining the Three's fundamental behavior.
Had I read Kal Rubinson's review text when I began taking the…
I started my second day at the Chicago show in the Dynaudio room, where the Danish loudspeaker company's Special 40 stand-mounts ($3000/pair) were being driven by an Octave 80SE integrated amplifier ($10,500) with its Super Black Box external power supply ($3000). Source was an Aurender server and the speakers were set up across the small room's diagonal. An arrangement of "What a Wonderful World" for voice and guitar was playing when I entered the room, followed by that audiophile staple, José Carreras's performance of the Ramirez Misa Criola. In both cases, the stereo image was superb, with…
The remarkably relaxed, smiling faces of AXPONA Tradeshow Coordinator Jordan Brereton (left) and VP/Event Director Liz Miller (right) say it all. Photographed after show's close, Jordan and Liz were poised to announce that under the leadership of JD Events Founder and CEO Joel Davis, their team of 8 had sold 8134 tickets—up 21% from 2017—and welcomed 5718 unique visitors to the largest consumer audio show in the United States. The number of tickets sold to students ages 15-25 increased by 27%. This to a show with 165 active exhibit rooms and an over-15,000 square foot exhibit hall that hosted…
If you do a Google search for "loudspeaker" combined with "full-range," "line source," "one-way," and "modular," you'll get results that match some, but not all, of the characteristics of the Ruel Audio R7. The Audience ClearAudient 16+16 comes the closest, with 16 drivers firing forward and 16 to the back, but its small full-range drivers are supplemented with eight 6x9" passive radiators, and it does not have modular construction. Plus, it appears not to be in production. For that matter, Google misses Ruel, but it has been granted a provisional patent.
It's a very interesting,…
Somehow, I managed to cover 19 rooms on the second day of LAAS. That included taking in a special half-hour MQA demo with Bob Stuart and Peter McGrath in the large Sunny Components room—reports from me and John Atkinson to come—and a bit of an after-hours presentation by JC Calmettes of Jadis in the Brooks Berdan room. While I certainly can tell you a fair amount about the sound in those 19 rooms, I have no idea what the temperature was like beyond the confines of the over-conditioned Sheraton Gateway LAX, because I first set foot outside the front door after dark on Sunday evening, when I…
As well as live music, the Montreal show offered a full schedule of seminars. Roon's Steve Silberman presented two seminars to packed houses on Saturday on getting the best from the Roon music app and the Roon Nucleus servers, including how to take advantage of the system's powerful DSP engine.
While the Roon seminars were held in the large St-Laurent 7 room, most of the other seminars took place in the smaller Outremont 3 room. Presenters included VTL's Luke Manley answering the question "Why Tubes?" and VPI's founder Harry Weisfeld talking turntables. I took in Elac's Andrew…
Ever since I reviewed PrimaLuna's ProLogue Premium, for the June 2012 issue, it has been the model I would turn to when I wanted a moderately priced integrated amplifier to try with a new speaker. It never disappointed me, and never seemed outclassed, even when the speaker was the MartinLogan Montis ($10,000/pair). At $2399, the ProLogue Premium to me represents the "sweet spot" for systems in the range of $4000–$10,000 or higher. Although its 35Wpc may not be enough for some speakers (depending on the room and personal preference), I never had any such problem, regardless of whether the…
Robert Schryer
Dean Wareham: I Have Nothing To Say To The Mayor of L.A.
Dean Wareham, vocals, guitar, composer; Roger Brogan, drums; Jason Quever, guitar, organ, cello, drums; Britta Phillips, bass, vocals, keyboards.
Double Feature CDDBL0018 (CD). 2021. Jason Quever, prod.; Scott Hull, eng.
Dean Wareham, a New Zealand native turned NYC-based American, co-founded indie pop bands Galaxie 500 and Luna. Wareham has delivered a gem of indie folk with this, his third solo release. There's something about the mood in this recording that I find incandescent and…
I was hosting a seminar on the Friday afternoon of the show—"50 Years of Being an Audiophile," where I examined how my system and tastes in music and sound quality has evolved since I bought my first audio components five decades ago—and was starting my drive home to Brooklyn Sunday morning, which left me Saturday to visit exhibitors' rooms. My apologies, therefore, to those I wasn't able to get to.
I started my tour in the ground-floor room next to the restaurant hosted by Colorado dealer ListenUp. There I did a double-take—wasn't that a JBL Century L100 three-way loudspeaker, with its…
When I began writing for Stereophile, I dreaded doing comparisons. They were stressful and tedious—and what if I got them wrong? But I quickly learned: Not only do readers enjoy comparisons, they need them. How else might they imagine the relative merits of the component under consideration? Once I realized this, I began acquiring a range of reference amplifiers, such as the low-power Pass Laboratories XA25 and PrimaLuna ProLogue Premium, the high-power Bel Canto Design e.One REF600M monoblocks, and the single-ended Line Magnetic LM-518 IA. I also collected a range of affordable, popular…
