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My listening area is a 5500-cubic-foot living room that opens into the upstairs and to a bigger kitchen area. This open space, comprising the entire first floor and upstairs, has the volume to challenge the performance of a large subwoofer. The floor is wooden, which means it can flex and enhance the subwoofer's action on 25–40Hz notes. The room has two large rugs, five chairs, and a sofa. Tonal balance of the room leans toward brightness.

Monster Cable interconnects were run from the tape outputs of a Mark Levinson ML-7A preamplifier to the Velodyne Remote…

While critics routinely lavish endless praise on the writers of standards, it's the rare instrumentalist who can, with only his hands, his audible humming, and his fertile mind, transform an iconic song like "Body and Soul" into a work of art that can almost be labeled an "original." The great Keith Jarrett's ballad playing, perhaps the most…

If Bismarck were alive today and a savvy audiophile, and if a journalist were to ask him what would be the most decisive factor in the future of high-performance audio from here on out, I think he would unhesitatingly answer…

So it was with Amar Bose, of Bose Corporation, in 1965. So it is with Jorma Salmi, of Gradient Ltd., in 2010.

For all that, Amar Bose's model 901 loudspeaker and Jorma Salmi's Helsinki 1.5 ($6500/pair) are as different as night and day.…

Installation and setup
The Helsinki 1.5's installation guide, available as a .pdf document from the Gradient website, suggests starting with the Helsinkis toed-in about 45°, and with the woofer magnets facing each other. SimpliFi Audio's own installation guide, provided to me by Tim Ryan, agrees with the 45° angle and goes further, saying each speaker should be no more than a foot away from either its respective…

Description: Three-way floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 0.75" aluminum-dome tweeter, 5" paper-cone midrange, 12" paper-cone woofer. Sensitivity: 85dB/W/m. Impedance: 6 ohms nominal, >4 ohms minimum. Recommended amplification: 25–250W.
Dimensions: 36" (920mm) H by 14" (360mm) W by 19.75" (505mm) D (sort of). Weight: 50.6 lbs (23kg).
Finishes: Birch, Walnut (oiled), Oak (oiled), Black, White; metallic paint on driver enclosures, add $750/pair.
Serial Numbers Of Units Reviewed: 00376, 00377.
Price: $6500/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 5…

Analog Sources: Thorens TD-124 Mk.II turntable; EMT 997, Schick tonearms; Shindo SPU, EMT OFD 25 & OFD 65 cartridges.
Digital Source: Ayre Acoustics QB-9 USB DAC (with Apple iTunes).Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Hommage T1, various ">Bob's Devices step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto, Fi 2b preamplifiers.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne, PrimaLuna DiaLogue Seven monoblocks, Electrocompaniet AW400.
Integrated Amplifier: Ayre Acoustics AX-7e.
Loudspeakers: Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE, Wilson Audio Specialties Sophia 2.
Cables:…

I performed the quasi-anechoic measurements on the Gradient Helsinki 1.5 with DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone. The nearfield measurements were done with an Earthworks QTC-40 microphone, which has a ¼" capsule. Gradient specifies the Helsinki 1.5's voltage sensitivity as 85dB/2.83V/m; my estimate was 84.4dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is within experimental error of the specification. However, this is lower than average; as Art Dudley noted, the Helsinki 1.5 was a little more power-hungry than the speakers he's accustomed to. The impedance…