Description: Floor-standing, active column for attenuating low-frequency resonances in listening rooms.
Dimensions: Column: 31" circumference (36.5" including base), 9.5" diameter (15" including base), 84" high; outboard power supply: 6.5" W by 2.25" H by 8.5" D, not including feet or rear-panel jacks.
Price: $2500/pair (1989); no longer available (2007). Approximate number of dealers: 60.
Manufacturer: Phantom Acoustics, distributed by InConcert, Auburn, CA (1989).
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Sidebar 2: Specifications
To many audiophiles, the name Boston Acoustics is synonymous with mass-market budget loudspeakers. Although many of its products have offered good value for the money, Boston Acoustics has never been known for driving the envelope of high-priced loudspeaker design (footnote 1). The company has been content to churn out well-designed, affordable boxes and let others attempt state-of-the-art loudspeakers. Until now.
In early 1991, Boston Acoustics began "The Lynnfield Project," an ambitious effort to develop a line of high-end loudspeakers that would push the edge of current loudspeaker…
The tweeter AMD is injection-molded from high-temperature, glass-filled nylon. This technique assures the closer tolerances (±0.001") necessary for accurate tuning of the tubes to much shorter wavelengths. This is a novel approach to loudspeaker design—rather than try to suppress cone ringing, the AMDs simply attenuate it before it can reach the listener.
While this is a clever idea, I was concerned about diffraction from the large structures in front of the midrange and so close to the tweeter. Most designs avoid protrusions from the baffle, sometimes even flush-mounting the heads of…
Music
For all the work and dedicated engineering that went into the 500L, I'm sorry to say that I didn't enjoy my time with the speaker. It did some things well—which I'll describe—but it was overall just too bright and forward-balanced for my taste. The treble was aggressive and overly prominent, constantly reminding me that I was listening to loudspeakers. Although the Thiel CS3.6 is also forward and immediate-sounding, it isn't aggressive or strident. In addition, the CS3.6's immediacy covers the entire band—the 500L sounded forward only in the treble.
For all the work and dedicated engineering that went into the 500L, I'm sorry to say that I didn't enjoy my time with the speaker. It did some things well—which I'll describe—but it was overall just too bright and forward-balanced for my taste. The treble was aggressive and overly prominent, constantly reminding me that I was listening to loudspeakers. Although the Thiel CS3.6 is also forward and immediate-sounding, it isn't aggressive or strident. In addition, the CS3.6's immediacy covers the entire band—the 500L sounded forward only in the treble.
The violins in Handel's…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, four-piece dynamic loudspeaker system. Driver complement: two 6.5" woofers, one 5.25" aluminum-cone midrange, one 1" aluminum-dome tweeter. Crossover frequencies: 125Hz, 2.6kHz. Frequency response: 32Hz–35kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity: 85dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 5 ohms. Recommended amplifier power: up to 350W.
Overall dimensions: 9" W by 48" H by 18.25" D. Bass unit dimensions: 9" W by 36.75" H by 18.25" D. Overall weight: 100 lbs each.
Finish: rosewood or black ash veneer.
Serial numbers of samples reviewed: LD00173A/B.
Prices: $…
Sidebar 2: System Details
Amplification was provided by a Mark Levinson No.23.5, a pair of VTL 225W monoblocks, and the excellent and reasonably priced 50W class-A Forté Model 4. The preamp was the usual Audio Research LS2B, with AudioQuest Lapis (balanced or unbalanced, depending on the power amplifier) connecting the preamp to the power amplifiers. The digital source included a Mark Levinson No.31 transport driving a Mark Levinson No.30 processor via Madrigal MDC-1 AES/EBU interface. LP playback was provided by a heavily modified Well-Tempered Turntable and Arm fitted with an…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
John Atkinson measured the 500L, and I saw the results only after completing my auditioning. First, the 500L had a measured sensitivity of 86dB/W/m ("B"-weighted, measured with 20kHz-bandwidth noise). This is slightly higher than the specified 85dB figure, but within the margin of error. Fig.1 shows the 500L's impedance magnitude and phase angle, measured with our Audio Precision System One. The bass enclosure's bandpass tuning at 62Hz can be seen in the impedance minimum at that frequency. The minimum impedance is 1.98 ohms at 112Hz, but the speaker dips below 4…
I only found out after beginning my auditioning of Mirage's M-1si loudspeakers that the film 2001, A Space Odyssey was, at practically the same instant, undergoing a brief theatrical revival in major cities around the US. I might have known. Perhaps it was the persistent Strauss melodies that rattled around in my head as I set them up. Perhaps it was the two 5'-tall monoliths that subsequently stared at me as I sat in my listening chair. For whatever reason, the M-1sis were an imposing sight, and the association with out-of-this-world events was not a difficult one to make.
True, the…
From the lute on track 5 (from Lord Herbert of Cherbury's Lute Book, HMU 907068) to the soloists and choir on track 6 (Pelham Humfrey, Verse Anthems, HMU 907053), the organ on track 7 (Bach, Trio Sonatas BWV 525–530, HMU 907055), the early Spanish music of tracks 15 and 16 (Johannes Cornago, Missa de la Mapa Mundi and Secular Music of 15th-Century Spain, HMU 907083), and the Russian Church music on track 18 (Russian Church Music, HMU 907098), there were no missteps with the Mirages. The organ was spacious and airy, the chorus as big, wide, and deep as it should be, the solo voices and…
Sidebar 1: Associated Stuff
The M-1sis were set up in Stereophile's 15.5' by 20' by 9' listening room. CD-based material was used for most of the auditioning, either original CDs or compilation CD-Rs dubbed from my own CD collection. The remainder of the system consisted of the Mark Levinson No.35 D/A converter, the Pioneer PD-65 CD player used as a transport from its coaxial digital output (and also, briefly, the C.E.C. TL 1 transport), the Rowland Consummate preamplifier, and the Bryston 7B monoblock amplifiers in their series mode. The digital interconnect was a Kimber KCAG coaxial,…