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Audio Dealer: Nice to see you again, Mr. Audiophile. Now that you've spent a couple of weeks with the Teslas, are you ready to buy them?

Audiophile's Left Brain: Well, they are gorgeous. They're large enough to look like a piece of modern furniture but not so big as to overpower our listening room. The slim look and curved ends make them unique and equally attractive. I've grown tired of all those big, rectangular boxes. Even the legs look good.

Audiophile's Right Brain: Yeah, they're easy to look at and priced right, too. There certainly…

There were no surprises in the Tesla's plot of electrical impedance magnitude and phase (fig.1). The shape of the curve in the bass implies that the rear port is tuned to a low 22Hz, revealed by the dip in magnitude at that frequency. (I left the foam plug in place for all the measurements, though I did remove the grille socks.) The impedance drop to 5 ohms at 90Hz should not present good amplifiers with any drive problems, though as a great deal of high-power musical information lies in this upper-bass region, this impedance dip will also lead to a more limited…

Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, floor-standing, dynamic loudspeaker. Drivers: two 6.5" bass/midranges, one 1" aluminum-dome tweeter. Crossover frequency: 1kHz. Frequency response: 32Hz–35kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity: 88dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms.
Dimensions: 49" H by 8" W by 13" D. Weight: 52 lbs each.
Serial numbers of review samples: 00377, 00378.
Price: $1990/pair (1992); no longer available (2006). Approximate number of dealers: 45.
Manufacturer: Scientific Fidelity, 6301 Riggs Place, Los Angeles, CA 90045 (1991). No longer trading (2006…

Editor:
"Any magazine which publishes reviews has a primary responsibility to the truth."—John Atkinson, "As We See It," Stereophile, Vol.14 No.12

Borrowing a few lines from Stereophile seems to be the best way to make a point. All we at Scientific Fidelity want is the same thing from this review: the truth.

"Cuz Oi Di'I' Moiiiiiii Whyyyyyyyyyy!"—Corey Greenberg, Stereophile, this issue

Now, I must admit I have never heard Sid Vicious do "My Way," and I'm not sure I want to. My personal tastes lean more toward the Sinatra version, for…

Editor: It is not Vifa's assignment to comment on tests of loudspeakers [that use Vifa drive-units], as Vifa cannot take on the responsibility of the use and the sound of its speakers in the final product. As is known, we are involved in the design of neither cabinets nor crossovers.

Meanwhile, it is Vifa's assignment to deliver faultless, high-quality products which fulfill the high acoustical demands our customers are making today.

Mike Maloney [of Scientific Fidelity] was never promised a letter from Vifa…

It…

I haven't met Ray Samuels, except by phone, but I have one of his products in my hands right now. Well, actually, I have it in the palm of one hand: the incredibly tiny Emmeline The Hornet portable headphone amp, which I heard about from Wes Phillips via the Stereophile e-newsletter of June 1, 2006.

As soon as I read what Wes said, I knew I had to have a Hornet. Not because I own an iPod—I don't and probably, just to be contrarian, never will—but because I take my Sony D-EJ100 portable CD player to the library,…

Description: Rechargeable, battery-powered, portable headphone amplifier with three gain settings, one 1.8" stereo input jack, one 1/8" stereo output jack. No other specifications listed.
Dimensions: 3" L by 2" W by 1" H.
Price: $350. Approximate number of dealers: 1 (sold direct).
Manufacturer: Ray Samuels Audio, 8005 Keeler, Skokie, IL 60076. Tel: (847) 673-8739. Web: www.raysamuelsaudio.com.

Wes Phillips enthused over Ray Samuels Audio's Emmeline The Hornet portable headphone amplifier ($350) in our early-June eNewsletter, as did Sam Tellig in "Sam's Space" in September, and again in this issue. I thought it worthwhile, therefore, to complement those positive impressions with some measurements. (I remembered to fully charge the Hornet's internal 9V battery before starting the testing.)

The Hornet's maximum voltage gains, with its volume control set to its maximum, were 5.6dB, 12.7dB, and 20.8dB with the rear-panel switch set to its Low, Medium…

There is an apparent contradiction at the heart of the jazz aesthetic. On the one hand, the jazz art form demands constant innovation. The worst putdown a jazz musician can hear is not that he or she can't play, but that she or he sounds like someone else. On the…