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The bass was slightly looser with the Melos. I imagine that most or all tube amps will behave similarly, since they have less ironclad control in that region than do transistor amps. The Melos measured the way it sounded: about 0.5 to 1dB more at each 1/3-octave step than the Krell. Had I kept the Melos amps longer, I would have moved the speakers slightly out into the room again and taken advantage of that bass bloom. If the Melos is representative of the best tube designs out there, then tube-amp owners will be able to take advantage of the Flatline 175s in a unique way: the ribbons will…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way hybrid loudspeaker. Drive-units: 69" treble/midrange ribbon, 5" plastic-cone midrange/upper-bass driver, 10" pulp-cone, side-firing woofer. Crossover frequencies: 350Hz and 100Hz. Crossover slopes: first-order, 6dB/octave. Impedance: 3–5 ohms. Frequency response: 35Hz–40kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity: 88dB/W/m.
Dimensions: 71" H by 14" W by 12.5" D. Weight: 75 lbs each.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 175-1014/1015.
Price: $4495/pair in cherrywood, $3995/pair in oak (1994); no longer available (2010). Approximate number of dealers: 7.…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
Flatline's 175 is not very sensitive, 2.83V RMS of B-weighted noise raising an estimated sound-pressure level of just 82dB at 1m. This is much lower than the specified 88dB, and might contribute to RN's finding that the speakers lacked "jump factor." However, to some extent this will be compensated for by the ribbon's cylindrical-wavefront dispersion: the level drops with distance according to more of a 1/d law than the 1/d2 typical of point-source radiators.
The ribbon's impedance, shown separately on the right-hand side of fig.1, drops to a value of 2.4…
A world-renowned musician had scheduled an appearance as guest soloist with the string quartet in residence at a certain university. When he arrived he noticed a pair of microphones arrayed over the small stage and, following the wires, located a college student backstage next to a tape recorder and a pair of headphones.
Rearing himself to his full and not inconsiderable height, he fixated the youth with a withering stare and said "There will be no recording."
The recordist said "But I always record these concerts. I do it for the players. They like to evaluate their performances…
Some of the audiophile-disc manufacturers eschew that kind of temporal butchery and allow the work to be played all the way through before going back to correct fluffs. But many of the performances they get are still uninspired, perhaps because the conductor and the orchestra are bored with the potboilers that comprise the core of audiophile discography, and almost certainly because there is no audience to bounce a mood off.
The French record company Lirynx (which also releases Sirynx, unless I have that backwards) has come up with an ingenious solution to the problem. First they record…
Here's a question for a Stereophile.com poll: What's the best hi-fi value of the last 15 years? I'd bet that, 16 years after its introduction, Grado Laboratories' SR60 headphones would get more than a few votes.
When introduced, in 1993 or '94, the Grado SR60 was cheap by hi-fi standards—just $69. The early '90s were a great era for personal sound—ie, headphones. It was a time when, for the first time in my memory, it became possible to buy really good headphones for under $1000, let alone for less than $100.
Corey Greenberg, in his June 1994 review of the Grado SR60s (…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Dynamic open-air headphones. Driver matching: within ±0.1dB. Frequency range: 20Hz–20kHz. Sensitivity: 98dB SPL for 1mW input. Nominal impedance: 32 ohms.
Serial Number Of Unit Reviewed: None found.
Price: $79/pair. Large Grado earpads: $15–$20. Approximate number of dealers: Not disclosed.
Manufacturer: Grado Laboratories, 4612 Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11220. Tel: (718) 435-5340. Fax: (718) 633-6941. Web: www.gradolabs.com.
Sidebar 2: Exploding A Myth About Headphones
Headphones are just little loudspeakers—and everyone knows that a loudspeaker with a higher impedance means an easier load for the amplifier. Why, then, do people always assume that lower-impedance headphones are easier for portable players to drive? Because they're wrong, that's why.
With headphones as with speakers, a lower impedance means a greater demand for current from and thus more stress on the amplifier. In combination with high output impedance, a low headphone impedance can lead to alterations in the 'phones' frequency…
Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment
Analog Source: Thorens TD-124 turntable, Ortofon RS-212 tonearm, EMT XSD-15 cartridge.
Digital Sources: Apple iPhone 3G & iPod Nano (fourth generation), Marantz SA-7S1 SACD/CD player, Benchmark DAC1 D/A converter.
Preamplifier: EAR 834P phono preamplifier.
Integrated Amplifier: Leben CS600 (headphone-amplification mode).
Headphones: Sennheiser HD-650, Westone ES3x custom in-ear phones.
Loudspeakers: DeVore Fidelity Gibbon The Nines.
Cables: Digital: Stereovox HDVX. Interconnect: Q-Audio Tao (unbalanced), Chord. Speaker: Auditorium 23…
Sidebar 4: Measurements
As Jim Austin explains, electrical impedance of headphones is a matter much misunderstood—even among reviewers, who, you would think, should know better. (The Internet has brought forth an entire community of reviewers who seem ignorant of the basics of audio engineering.) I examined the Grado SR60i's electrical impedance (fig.1) with my Audio Precision System One and the headphones sitting against my ears. The SR60i has a minimum impedance of 32 ohms, as specified. A broad rise evident in the midbass and centered at 75Hz is presumably due to the drive-unit's free…