Description: Four-way, sealed-box loudspeaker with powered subwoofer. Drive-units: 1" dual-chamber, coated aluminum-alloy dome tweeter; 4.5" woven-cone midrange; 6.5" woven-fiber cone woofer; two 8" carbon-loaded cellulose-cone subwoofers. . Crossover frequencies: 100Hz, 900Hz, 5kHz, first-order slopes. Subwoofer amplifier: built-in, 250W, with multiband room-response compensation. Frequency response: 24Hz –30kHz, ±2dB. Impedance: 6 ohms ( ±3 ohms). Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m.
Dimensions: 43" (1100mm) H by 10" (255mm) W by 19" (485mm) D. Weight: 122 lbs (55.5kg…
search
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xe & Muse Polyhymnia universal players; McIntosh MS750 music server.
Preamplifiers: Ayre K-1xe, Krell Evolution 202.
Power Amplifiers: Ayre MX-R, Krell Evolution 600, Portal Paladin (all monoblocks); Boulder 860.
Loudspeakers: Wilson Audio Specialties WATT/Puppy 8.
Cables: Interconnect: Shunyata Research Aries & Antar. Speaker: Shunyata Research Lyra.
Accessories: Ayre L-5xe line filter, Furutech eTP-609 distribution box,
APC APCS15 AC line conditioner; Furutech RDP panels, RealTraps Mini & Mondo Traps.—…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Like the plain-Jane fabric Quatro, the Quatro Wood's voltage sensitivity was well below average, at an estimated 83.5dB/2.83V/m. Its impedance, however, remains above 8 ohms at almost all frequencies, and the electrical phase angle is mild (fig.1), meaning that the speaker will be very easy to drive. The peak of 24 ohms at 60Hz suggests that this is the tuning frequency of the front-facing woofer, although, as with the Quatro, the use of an in-line high-pass filter in the amplifier feed will roll off the output above this frequency.
Fig.1…
It is the audio writer's nightmare that the combination of the large number of exhibitors at a Consumer Electronics Show and the very limited amount of time the Show's doors are open will lead him to miss the event's biggest story. I came close to living that nightmare last January, at the 2007 CES, when I realized that I had missed an entire floor of Las Vegas's Venetian Hotel. And it was, of course, the floor where, among other high-profile high-end companies, Sumiko was debuting the Cremona Elipsa from Italian speaker manufacturer Sonus Faber.
I rushed up to the Venetian's…
It's fair to say that the lows didn't have the tight slam of, say, the Wilson Audio Sophia, or the ultimate weight of the Dynaudio C4's lows, though the Sonus Faber also never sounded anything less than tuneful in this frequency region —just a bit of upper-bass character, was all. But there was no coloration —pink noise on the optimal axis sounded continuous, without any frequency bands jumping forward at me, and instrumental tonal qualities sounded superbly natural. Throughout my auditioning, I continued to be impressed by the Elipsa's smooth, grain-free treble and its articulate, smooth,…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, floorstanding, reflex-loaded loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) ring-radiator tweeter; 6" (150mm) wood-fiber –cone midrange unit; 10.25" (260mm) aluminum/magnesium alloy-cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 250Hz, 2.3kHz. Crossover slopes: second-order. Frequency range: 35Hz –30kHz. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 91dB/2.83V/m. Recommended amplification: 50 –250W (without clipping).
Dimensions: 49" (1245mm) H by 21.7" (550mm) W by 17.9" (455mm) D. Weight: 107 lbs (48.5kg) each, net; 250 lbs/pair (113.5kg), shipping.
Finishes…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xe, Pioneer DV-578A universal players; Mark Levinson No.30.6, Benchmark DAC 1usb, Bel Canto e.one DAC 3, Musical Fidelity X-DACV8 D/A processors; Logitech (Slim Devices) Transporter WiFi music player with Apple Mac mini running OSX for media storage.
Preamplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 2, Ayre K-5xe, Mark Levinson No.380S.
Power Amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1 & Mark Levinson No.33H monoblocks; Boulder 860.
Loudspeakers: Monitor Audio Gold Signature GS10.
Cables: Digital: Kimber Illuminations Orchid AES/EBU, AudioQuest…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The Cremona Elipsa has a usefully higher voltage sensitivity than average, at an estimated 90dB(B)/2.83V/m. Though this is slightly lower than the specified 91dB, the shortfall is not important. While it will therefore require less of a voltage swing to play loud, the speaker is still a demanding load for the partnering amplifier, with an impedance magnitude that drops to 2.5 ohms throughout the upper bass (fig.1). There is also a punishing combination of 4 ohms magnitude and –50 ° electrical phase angle at 70Hz that will suck gobs of current from the amplifier…
In 1962, when tennis rackets were made of wood, newspeople were known for challenging the government, and the off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks was in its second year (the show closed in 2002), Nippon Columbia's Denki Onkyo (or Den-On) division introduced to the professional audio world a brand-new moving-coil phono cartridge. Developed in cooperation with the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, the DL-103 was one of the first attempts at making a truly wide-bandwidth stereo cartridge that nonetheless could withstand the rigors of back-cueing. The DL-103 was a nearly instant success with…
In my Naim Aro tonearm, a stock Denon DL-103 requires no fiddling whatsoever to achieve accurate van Baerwald alignment, measured with a Dennessen protractor. Significantly, the Zu DL-103 also exhibited literally perfect overhang and offset in the Naim, indicating that Zu Audio has been careful to retain all of Denon's original mounting dimensions in the design and manufacture of their cartridge body. (Used with the Dennessen and similar gauges, the very square-sided Zu makes it a breeze to judge offset angle in particular.)
For those reasons alone, most of my listening to the Zu DL-103…