While I was using the Dunlavys, I was experimenting with the Meridian remastering converter to determine the optimal treatment for our Concert recording. This takes in high-resolution digital data and redithers/noise-…
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Part of the reason for the excellent soundstaging must be the very close pair-matching—when I was measuring the in-room balance at the listening seat (see below), the upper midrange and treble responses of each speaker were effectively identical. Such outstanding imaging is also dependent on a speaker's transparency and resolution of detail: here, too, the SC-I excelled.
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, stand-mounted, sealed-box loudspeaker with a low-frequency Q of approximately 0.6. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) silk-dome tweeter; two 5.5" (140mm) plastic-cone woofers. Measured crossover frequency: 3.5kHz. Electrical crossover slopes: first-order, 6dB/octave, minimum-phase, compensated for driver response anomalies. Frequency response at 10' on HF axis: 80Hz–20kHz ±2dB. Phase response at 10' on HF axis: 200Hz–10kHz ±20° (pulse response said to be "better than most CD players"). Harmonic distortion: <0.5% at 90dB spl above 250Hz. Pair…
Sidebar 2: Review context
Power amplifiers used to drive these speakers were either a pair of Mark Levinson No.20.6 monoblocks, a Krell KSA-100S, or a Krell KSA-50S; the preamplifier was the remote-controlled Mark Levinson No.38S, or the value-for-money McCormack TLC-1 buffered passive control unit. A Mod Squad Phono Drive EPS amplified LP signals from a Linn Sondek/Cirkus/Trampolin/Lingo/Ekos/Arkiv setup sitting on an ArchiDee table. Digital source was a Mark Levinson No.30 or a Counterpoint DA-10, each driven by a Mark Levinson No.31 transport via Madrigal AES/EBU cable. An Audio…
Manufacturer's Comment
Editor: We are indebted to Stereophile for another excellent and well-written review of one of our products. As a designer and manufacturer of high-end audiophile products intended to represent the true cutting edge of new technology, it is satisfying to know that a magazine exists with a well-intentioned and competent editorial staff concerned with the needs of both manufacturers and their customers. In this regard, we believe that Stereophile serves a serious need that many magazines might wish to note and better emulate.
Since John Atkinson's review is…
It's the time for giving gifts, so here's my plan: I will start off by telling you about some great new things, then remind you about some old favorites. Okay?
The right way to cover the waterfront
It is a rare and wonderful pleasure when something is done in the way it really should be done. Everyone who has read Ashley Kahn's previous books, on John Coltrane's A Love Supreme and Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, knows that he is the master of comprehensive and fascinating detail, intelligently organized and sensitively handled. The logistical advantage of those books is that you can…
My Favorite Things: Hardware
I now feel like cuing up John Coltrane's version of that song. Anyway, on to hardware. If you want to refresh your recollection about what I've written about something in the past, please just do a search, either within Stereophile's website, or via google.com or ixquick.com.
I now feel like cuing up John Coltrane's version of that song. Anyway, on to hardware. If you want to refresh your recollection about what I've written about something in the past, please just do a search, either within Stereophile's website, or via google.com or ixquick.com.
Most days, I'm tempted to think that the darTZeel NHB-108 Model One power amplifier (Stereophile, September 2003, Vol.26 No.9) is in a class by itself. Then I remind myself that there are a couple of "contendahs," such as the ASR Emitter, that I haven't heard. The darTZeel's drive…
My Favorite Things: Recordings, etc.
If you have any interest at all in pipe organs, read Craig Whitney's All the Stops: The Glorious Pipe Organ and Its American Masters, which I discussed at length in my October column. Such a great book!
If you have any interest at all in pipe organs, read Craig Whitney's All the Stops: The Glorious Pipe Organ and Its American Masters, which I discussed at length in my October column. Such a great book!
One of the best organ recordings I've heard in a while is Olivier Latry's César Franck program, In Spiritum, played in Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral. The liner notes list the organ builders at Notre Dame as going back to 1402—90 years before Columbus set sail. That's history!
Here in the US, we tend to put a premium on the new. The Eugene…
Sidebar: Sources
Ashley Kahn, The House that Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. New York, W.W. Norton, 2006. Hardcover, 338 pages, 9.5" by 7.25". ISBN 978-0-393-05879-6. $29.95.
The House that Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records, various artists. Impulse! 6680 (4 CDs).
The House that Trane Built: The Best of Impulse Records, various artists. Impulse! 674402 (CD sampler).
Craig R. Whitney, All the Stops: The Glorious Pipe Organ and Its American Masters. New York, Public Affairs Books, 2004. Paperback, 352 pages, 8.25" by 5.5". ISBN 1-58648-262-9. $17.95.
In…
This Is The Perfect Time—the time of year we love most. Madison Avenue's confounding street signs are suddenly dressed in green and red wreaths, the city's weary scaffolding blinks happily with golden light, the ordinary clamor of traffic and jackhammers is magically transformed into jingle bells and drummer boys. There is music everywhere and nothing to get in our way: A look down the avenue in either direction throws open a window to all that is past and all that is to come.
Let us take a moment now to stop and admire the view, for this has been an extraordinary year in hi-fi.…
2006 Joint Loudspeakers
Quad ESL-2805 ($9000/pair; reviewed by Sam Tellig, Vol.29 No.7, July 2006)
Sonus Faber Amati anniversario ($27,500/pair; reviewed by John Atkinson, Vol.29 No.5, May 2006 review)
Vandersteen Quatro ($6995/pair; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.29 No.7, July 2006 review)
Runners-up (in alphabetical order)
B&W 802D ($12,000/pair; reviewed by Kalman Rubinson, Vol.28 No.12, December 2005 review)
ESP Concert Grand SI ($40,000/pair; reviewed by John Marks, Vol.29 No.4, April 2006 review)
Lipinski Sound L-707 ($4590/pair; reviewed by Larry…