Description: Two-way, sealed-box, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 0.9" (22mm), ferrofluid-cooled, soft-dome tweeter; 6" (150mm), ep38 plastic-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 4.8kHz. Frequency response: 75Hz–20kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 85dB/2.83V/m, anechoic. Dispersion: within 3dB of response on reference axis, horizontal over 40° arc (±20°), vertical over 20° arc (±10°). Harmonic distortion (measured at 90dB/m): <1%, 100Hz –20kHz. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 6.3 ohms minimum. Power handling: 125W unclipped program.
Dimensions: 12" (305mm) H by 6.5…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xeMP universal player; Boulder 1021, Meridian 808i.2 CD players; Benchmark DAC 1 D/A converter; Logitech (Slim Devices) Transporter WiFi music player with Apple Mac mini for media storage; dCS 972 D/D converter.
Preamplifiers: Simaudio Moon Evolution P-8, Parasound Halo JC 2.
Power Amplifier: Simaudio Moon Evolution W-7.
Loudspeakers: PSB Imagine B, Rogers BBC LS3/5a (1978 vintage).
Cables: Digital: Kimber Illuminations Orchid AES/EBU, Stereovox CV2 electrical S/PDIF, AudioQuest OptiLink-5 S/PDIF. Interconnect (balanced…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
A speaker as small as the Spendor SA1 can't be expected to offer a high voltage sensitivity; my measurements indicated that it was a little more sensitive than the BBC LS3/5a, at 83dB(B)/2.83V/m, though this is 1dB lower than specified. Offsetting the Spendor's need for volts is its high impedance. Fig.1 shows the speaker's impedance and electrical phase, the former plotted on a wider 5dB/division scale rather than our usual 2dB/division. The sealed enclosure is tuned to 80Hz, indicated by the impedance peak of 46 ohms at that frequency. The impedance drops below…
When I was a kid, I saw the Marlon Brando remake of Mutiny on the Bounty. I'm sure you know the story—lots of bad-guy/good-guy tension between Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian. There's also an overlay of class conflict, but with a twist: The up-and-comer is the sadist, while it's the aristocrat who is nature's nobleman.
From the outset, Bligh complains about his cabin's not being cleaned properly. In an effort to save time and ingratiate himself with his superiors, Bligh ill-advisedly attempts to round the Horn in winter, and the Bounty is almost completely inundated by a huge wave…
The answer is a resounding yes. Consider my chessboard shaken by Peachtree Audio's Nova USB integrated amplifier ($1199).
The Nova USB is your grandfather's integrated amplifier with a few twists—a high-quality internal USB D/A converter feeding (in class-A) a tubed line stage, which then hands off to an 80Wpc class-A/B power amplifier—all in one stylish cabinet at a fairly amazing price.
The Nova has eight inputs: five digital (one USB, two coaxial S/PDIF, two optical TosLink), and three line-level analog, the third of which is a home-theater pass-through. Before I move…
Sidebar: Contacts
Denon Electronics (USA) LLC, 100 Corporate Drive, Mahwah, NJ 07430-2041. Tel: (201) 762-6500. Fax: (201) 762-6670. Web: www.usa.denon.com.
Peachtree Audio, Signal Path International, Bellevue, WA. Tel: (704) 391-9337. Web: signalpathint.com.
I used to be with it, but then they changed what it was. Now what I'm with isn't it, and what's it seems scary and weird. It'll happen to you.—Abraham Simpson
Unsurprisingly for such an insecure lot, we audiophiles can't help filtering our joys through the perceptions of others: Will our wives tolerate the looks of those speakers, or the tangle of wires behind them? Do our children risk being burned or electrocuted by our creepy-looking amplifiers? Why don't our younger friends share our passions? Why are there so many ugly people in this neighborhood?
The bad thing—or…
But I wondered about the gear in my main system: Audio Note AN-E SPe/HE loudspeakers, Shindo Corton-Charlemagne mono amplifiers, Shindo Masseto preamplifier, and a tricked-out Thorens TD-124 turntable with EMT 997 tonearm. That system uses long speaker cables, too: a 6m (19.5') pair of Auditorium 23 copper. Granted, the Auditorium 23 cable, with its more pliant conductors and attractive green-fabric sheath, is easier to install and to live with than Naim's NACA5. On the other hand, at $2350 for that 6m pair, the Auditorium 23 speaker cable is considerably more expensive—though still far…
Many audiophiles who have only recently subscribed to Stereophile will be surprised to find that those clunky, heat-producing, short-lived tubes that reigned up through the mid-'60s are still Executive Monarchs in the mid-'80s. Why, for Heaven's sake? Because, despite everything, people like them.
\That "everything" includes the aforementioned liabilities, very high product cost (because of the massive output transformers and high-voltage B+ storage capacitors required), and gut-busting weight in high-powered versions.
Then there's the terrible emotional price one must…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: All-tubed mono power amplifier. Rated power: 200W inot 8 ohms (23dBW). Power bandwidth: 20Hz–15kHz. THD: 1% at rated power.
Weight: 81 lbs.
Price: $6000/pair (1985); no longer available (2009).
Manufacturer: Conrad Johnson Design, 2800R Dorr Ave., Fairfax VA 22031. (703)-528-8650.
Description: All-tubed mono power amplifier. Rated power: 200W inot 8 ohms (23dBW). Power bandwidth: 20Hz–15kHz. THD: 1% at rated power.
Weight: 81 lbs.
Price: $6000/pair (1985); no longer available (2009).
Manufacturer: Conrad Johnson Design, 2800R Dorr Ave., Fairfax VA 22031. (703)-528-8650.