EUREKA Archimedes
Somewhere in Denmark a research project is in progress to determine the subjective effect that the listening room and loudspeaker directivity have on reproduced sound. More specifically, under a European R&D funding scheme called Eureka, Bang & Olufsen of Denmark, KEF Electronics Limited of the UK, and The Acoustics Laboratory of the Technical University of Denmark have embarked on a project called Archimedes. They hope to find, first of all, if it is even possible, given current technology and funding constraints, to arrive at useful specifics and…
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Hanging above the expensive desk in my penthouse office atop Manhattan's prestigious Stereophile Tower is a photocopy of a New Yorker cartoon, in which a bewildered-looking guy complains, "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about."
Indeed. It has been nearly 15 years since I started accompanying this magazine's equipment reports with measurements. Not only have I measured every loudspeaker Stereophile has reviewed since the fall of 1989 and every digital component since June 1997, I have been responsible for measuring every amplifier since June 2000…
Polk Audio is the Rodney Dangerfield of high-end audio. Why does this conscientious, innovative, and well-organized company garner no respect from hard-to-please audiophiles?
Well, for years we've all seen the multipage glossy color ads featuring designer Matthew Polk in his pristine lab coat. The audiophile cynic responds: How can these speakers be any good? But Matthew Polk shouldn't be criticized for sponsoring an aggressive marketing and distribution campaign? It certainly seems to have worked; the name recognition of his company among the general public seems to be a great…
I am spending only so much ink on these two shortcomings because the RT25i's combination of strengths exceeded by a wide margin the performance of any speaker I've heard under $1000/pair, and are more likely to be found on speakers costing much more than that.
Listening: The Upside
Here, in a nutshell, is what the Polk RT25i did well: linear and organic low-level dynamic resolution, as in live music; superlative resolution of inner detail; on good recordings, a highly accurate depiction of room ambience; extremely flat but natural reproduction of transient articulation; and…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded bookshelf loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" trilaminate polymer-dome tweeter, 5?" mineral-loaded polymer/composite-cone woofer. Crossover frequency and slope: 3kHz, second-order with Mylar HF bypass cap. Frequency range: 50-26Hz. Frequency response: 60Hz-25kHz, -3dB. Sensitivity: 89dB/W/m. Recommended Amplifier Power: 20-100Wpc.
Dimensions: 11 1/8" H by 6 5/8" W by 10 3/8" D. Shipping weight: 28 lbs (pair).
Finishes: Maple, natural cherry, black oak (real wood veneer).
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 00727 & 8.
…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: VPI TNT IV turntable, Immedia tonearm, Koetsu Urushi cartridge; Rega Planar 3 turntable, Syrinx PU-3 tonearm, Clearaudio Aurum Beta cartridge.
Digital source: California Audio Labs Icon Mk.II Power Boss and Creek CD53 Mk.II CD players
.Preamplification: Vendetta Research SCP-2D phono stage, Audible Illusions Modulus L1 line stage.
Power amplifier: Audio Research VT100 Mk.II.
Integrated amplifiers: Creek 5350SE, JoLida JD-101A.
Cables: Interconnect: MIT MI-350 CVTwin Terminator, MI-330SG, Terminator 2. Speaker: Acarian Systems…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Despite its diminutive size, the Polk RT25i plays quite loud, its B-weighted sensitivity weighing in at 88dB(B)/2.83V/m. Its plot of impedance magnitude and phase against frequency (fig.1) also reveals it to be only a moderately needy load for the partnering amplifier. The minimum impedance value is 3.9 ohms in the lower midrange, though the combination of 5 ohms magnitude and a capacitive phase angle of 45 degrees at 150Hz probably means that inexpensive receivers rated as 8 ohm models will not give of their best with this speaker.
The saddle in fig.1's…
"Here's somebody who just loves to sing." Over the telephone, Peter Guralnick sounds sad, incredulous. "But he's unable at the end of his life to force himself into the recording studio—the fear of completion, fear of exposing your untrammeled idea to execution. What a terrible thing to lose that ability, that faith in yourself."
Writing about the final decade and a half of the life of Elvis Presley is, by any measure, a sad affair. Almost from the time he returned from the army in 1960, things slid downhill with seeming inexorability until his death in 1977. Except for a very few oases…
"In doing these things I listened to all these interviews Elvis did in 1956, got all this primary source material. Then, when I was writing the liner notes for The Complete Sun Sessions, I called up Sam Phillips, whom I had originally interviewed in 1979. But instead of interviewing him on philosophical matters or taking whatever came, I talked to him about producing Elvis. Then I talked to Stan Kesler [the Sun Studios musician who wrote "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone," which Elvis recorded at Sun (the Memphis Recording Service) in December 1954] and Scotty [Moore, Elvis' first guitar…
"[Parker] was very helpful to me. He'd tell me how he wasn't going to give me these answers. But then he'd also say where I might go for the answers. It's misleading, because [officially] he didn't do interviews. I'd put things out there, he'd volley them back by return mail. I spent a lot of time thinking of how to say things, and he'd still always be three steps ahead of me."
Parker is usually cited as one of the chief villains of the Elvis story, the man who sold Elvis' talent down the Hollywood river for cash. But as Guralnick makes clear, the Colonel had other, darker, more personal…