We were standing in JL Audio's exhibit area at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show, near a mob surrounding a display of an "exploded" f113. The sub's 13.5" cone had been pulled apart, and its huge magnet assembly, voice-coil, spider, internal amplifier, and control panel were suspended in air.
I nodded enthusiastic agreement.
"What would you think if I asked you to review a pair of f113s?"
"Let's…
Description: Powered, sealed-box subwoofer. Drive-unit: 13.5" W7 cone with 3.5"-diameter voice-coil and 4" peak–peak excursion. Magnet weight: not specified. Low-pass filter: variable, 30–130Hz; 12dB or 24dB/octave. High-pass filter: not supplied. Inputs: stereo or mono balanced Neutrix (single XLR connector), stereo or mono unbalanced (single RCA connector). Input modes: Master, Slave. Outputs: single balanced Neutrix (XLR) to additional subwoofer. Input sensitivity: not specified. Input impedance: not specified. Controls: Power (On, Off, Automatic Signal…
Analog Sources: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ittok tonearm, Spectral moving-coil cartridge; Day-Sequerra Classic FM tuner.
Digital Sources: Krell KRC-28 CD player, Sony SCD-C555ES SACD/CD player, Slim Devices SqueezeBox network music player, Bryston B-100DA D/A converter.
Preamplification: VTL TL-6.5, Krell KCT preamplifiers; Bryston 10B-SUB electronic crossover.
Power Amplifiers: Mark Levinson No.334, Krell FPB-600c, VTL S-400; Bryston 28B-SST monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Quad ESL-989; Velodyne DD-18, REL Studio III…
Description: Two-way, stand-mounted, reflex-loaded loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) gold-anodized, Ceramic-Coated Aluminum Magnesium (C-CAM) alloy dome tweeter; 6.5" (165mm) RST2 metal-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 2.7kHz. Frequency response: 40Hz–43kHz, ±3dB. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 88dB/2.83V/m. Recommended amplification: 40–100W.
Dimensions: 14 3/16" (360mm) H by 8 1/8" (206mm) W by 10 5/8" (270mm) D. Weight: 18.7 lbs (8.5kg) each.
Finishes: Santos rosewood, walnut, cherry veneers; piano-black lacquer.
Serial Number Of Units…
Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xe universal player; Mark Levinson No.30.6, Benchmark DAC 1usb, Bel Canto DAC 3, Musical Fidelity X-DACV8 D/A processors; Slim Devices Transporter WiFi music player with Apple Mac mini running OSX for media storage.
Preamplifiers: Parasound Halo JC2, Ayre K-5xe.
Power Amplifiers: Mark Levinson No.33H, Parasound Halo JC1 monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Sonus Faber Cremona Elipsa, AAD Reference Silver-1.
Cables: Digital: Kimber Illuminations Orchid AES/EBU, AudioQuest OptiLink-5 S/PDIF. Interconnect (balanced): AudioQuest…
The GS10's voltage sensitivity on its tweeter axis was to specification, at an estimated 88dB(B)/2.83V/m. The speaker's impedance remained above 6 ohms over most of the audioband, dropping to a minimum magnitude of 4 ohms at 190Hz (fig.1). The electrical phase angle varies considerably, but as always the most extreme angles occur when the magnitude is high, diminishing the difficulty of the loading. The shape of the magnitude trace suggests that the speaker will sound a bit forward, perhaps even bright, when used with tube amplifiers having a high source impedance…
I may not know all of their names, but we sweep the sidewalk, put out the trash, and jockey for alternate-side-of-the-street parking together, so we do tend to know each other—and each other's business—pretty intimately. That explains why my neighbor…