Description: Three-and-a-half-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 15" W-sandwich-cone woofer with a 3" voice-coil, 11" W-sandwich-cone woofer, with a 2.5" voice-coil, two 6.5" W-sandwich-cone midrange units with 1.5" voice-coils, focus plug, and "Power Flower" magnet system, inverted 1" beryllium-dome tweeter. Crossover frequencies: 50Hz, 250Hz, 2.5kHz. Crossover slopes: 24dB/octave. Frequency response: -6dB at 16Hz, -3dB at 40kHz on reference axis. Sensitivity: 92dB/2.8V/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Minimum impedance: 5 ohms. Maximal…
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Sidebar 2: Measurements
The enormous weight of the Grande Utopia Be makes it difficult to move around, so the decision was made early on to bypass Stereophile's usual speaker-measurement regime and rely instead on the in-room, averaged-response technique I've been using for the last 15 years.
Such an approach can never provide "absolute" data about a speaker's performance, because it measures only the combination of speakers and room. However, it can be argued that this technique is actually more meaningful in terms of the actual listening experience. I've tested hundreds of…
Manufacturer's Comment
Editor: Hindsight is a wonderful thing, especially where loudspeakers and rooms are concerned!
Paul Messenger seemed to love his time with the Grande Utopia Be at our HQ in St. Etienne, so much so that we immediately encouraged him to try the speaker at home.
It is such a great shame that Paul's enjoyment should be limited by problems between his room and the GUBe. It's an exceptionally precise and sensitive musical instrument, but nevertheless one that we have had great results with in rooms large and small. Normally with this speaker, we—and, in…
"Is that it?" I asked.
Mission's director of acoustic design, Peter Comeau, had finished screwing in four chromed, four-part cones into the base of each of the Pilastro speakers that now graced my listening room. Comeau had been a leading audio reviewer in the UK in the 1970s, before he jumped the tracks to found speaker and LP turntable manufacturer Heybrook. Now with Mission, he'd just set up the English company's new flagship in my room, and it seemed that we'd done very little maneuvering of the 340-lb speakers before he'd declared himself happy with the sound they were making.
…
The four Nomex-coned 8" woofers use a double-layer voice-coil wound on an aluminum former to give high power handling and low distortion. The woofers are mounted two on each side at the base of the cabinet, with the chassis of opposing pairs mechanically linked by a "force pipe" so that the net mechanical excitation of the enclosure is zero. Above them are mounted the six passive radiators, three to a side. These also use Nomex cones, and weights can be added to optimize the bass tuning for a specific room.
The hardwired crossover filters are specified to use audiophile-grade components…
The Pilastro's midrange matched its treble in clarity and lack of coloration. The speakers opened a superbly clear window into Eva Cassidy's handling of Sting's "Fields of Gold" (Songbird, Didgeridoo G2-10045, UK) that was intensely communicative—it made me regret I had not come across this naturally gifted singer's work before she died. Even the Pilastro's midrange clarity, however, couldn't do anything to rescue Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Live in New York City SACD (Columbia C2S 85490): great music-making and great songwriting perverted by an anti-hi-fi mix that fills up…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, ABR-loaded floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.25" (28mm) ferrofluid-cooled, viscous-laminated ring-dome tweeter, two 6.5" (165mm) natural-hemp-cone midrange units, four 8" (200mm) air-dried Nomex-cone woofers, six 8" (200mm) air-dried Nomex-cone ABR (Auxiliary Bass Radiator) units. Crossover: acoustic second-order filter slopes at 110Hz and 2.2kHz. Frequency response: 25Hz-48kHz, ±3dB, -6dB at 22Hz. Sensitivity: 95dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 6 ohms (3.2 ohms minimum). Recommended power: 15-500W.
Dimensions: 57.5" (1460mm) H…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: Linn Sondek LP12/Cirkus/Trampolin/Lingo/Ekos/Arkiv LP player on a Sound Organisation table.
Digital sources: Mark Levinson No.31.5 CD transport; Mark Levinson No.30.6 D/A processor; dCS 972 upsampler; Accuphase DP-85 SACD player; Technics DVD-A10 DVD-Audio player; Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD player.
Preamplification: Linn Linto phono preamp, Mark Levinson No.380S line preamp, Z-Systems rdp-1 digital control center (updated to handle 96kHz sources).
Power amplifiers: Mark Levinson No.33H monoblocks.
Cables: Datalinks: Kimber…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The big Mission was very much more sensitive than the average loudspeaker, at an estimated 93.7dB(B)/2.83V/m. However, its plot of impedance magnitude and electrical phase (fig.1) indicate that it is really a 4 ohm design over much of the audioband. The Pilastro's minimum impedance of 2.9 ohms at 70Hz and a phase angle that varies between ±40 degrees mean that a good high-current amplifier is advised. The impedance traces are free from the wrinkles and discontinuities that would otherwise reveal the presence of panel resonances, and examining the cabinet's…
"To be an influence in any society...one can be a little different, but only a little; a little above one's neighbours, but not too much."—C.P. Snow, The Masters, 1951
In April 1993, I was invited to talk to an audience of retailers and manufacturers at the 1993 PARA (Professional Audio/Video Retailers Association) Conference, Scottsdale, Arizona. The subject was the "high-end review." (The context was a series of lectures about becoming a high-end retailer.) As my text included considerable discussion of Stereophile's reviewing philosophy, I felt it would be worth publishing (in…