Description: Two-way floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 2.5" transformer-coupled ribbon tweeter, 10.3" paper-cone woofer with an integral "whizzer" cone. Woofer loading: proprietary (see text). Frequency range: 30Hz–40kHz. Sensitivity: 97dB/W/m. Impedance: 12 ohms nominal, 9 ohms minimum.
Dimensions: 49" (1255mm) H by 12" (310mm) W by 12" (310mm) D. Weight: 65 lbs (29.5kg) net, 73 lbs (33.2kg) shipping.
Finishes: Matte wood-veneer finishes standard; additional finishes available at extra cost.
Serial Numbers Of Units Reviewed: 92176, 92177.
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Thorens TD-124 Mk.II turntable; EMT 997 tonearm; Shindo SPU, Ortofon SPU 90th Anniversary, EMT OFD 25 & OFD 65 cartridges.
Digital Sources: Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player, Wavelength Cosecant v3 USB DAC (with Apple iMac).
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Hommage T1 step-up transformer, Shindo Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks & Haut-Brion, Quad II, Fi 2A3 Stereo.
Loudspeakers: Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE, Quad ESL.
Cables: USB: Kimber B Bus. Interconnect: Audio Note AN-vx, Shindo…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
One of the Zu Essence's unique selling points is its very high efficiency. While my estimate of its sensitivity, 92.5dB(B)/2.83V/m, is lower than the specified 97dB (due, I suspect, both to the 12 ohm impedance and to the lack of presence-region energy in the on-axis response—see later), it's still 10dB higher than the sensitivity of the BBC LS3/5A. Probably to oversimplify, the Zu speaker driven by 10W will play as loudly as the LS3/5A driven by 100W—assuming the little BBC monitor could actually handle 100W without melting!
Not only does the Essence not…
There have been lots of great, and even some fabulous books of music criticism or reportage, and I've recommended several in these pages. So far, however, only one has made me chuckle, chortle, or laugh out loud, time and time again.
Don Breithaupt and Jeff Breithaupt's Precious and Few: Pop Music in the Early '70s ($12.99; New York, St. Martin's Griffin, 1996) covers popular music from the breakup of the Beatles, in 1970, to the ascendance of disco, in 1975. One of the many startling, thought-provoking aperÁus contained in this eminently readable, down-to-earth survey is that, for the…
As I stated in my coverage of the PSB Imagine B ($1000/pair) in the February issue, if your budget for an entire system comes to the $1995 you'd have to pay for the Carat I57 CD receiver alone, the $1999 combination of Arcam Solo Mini and PSB Imagine Bs is very admirable—I just don't have a huge amount of confidence that, down the road, you won't get the itch to spend a little more to get a little more.
However, on the subject of spending more—and this part has me scratching my head—while the Solo Mini's sound has a strong family resemblance to that of the twice-as-powerful,…
Sidebar: Contacts
Arcam, Pembroke Avenue, Waterbeach, Cambridge CB25 9QR, England, UK. US distributor: American Audio & Video, 153 Willow Drive, Plattsburgh, NY 12903. Tel: (866) 916-4667. Web: www.americanaudiovideo.com.
Carat, InoVadis, 314 rue Milliez, 94506 Champigny cedex, France. Tel: (33) 1-55-09-18-30. Fax: (33) 1-55-09-15-31. Web: www.carat-audio.com. US distributor: VMAX Services Inc., PO Box 570, Chazy, NY 12921. Tel: (800) 771-8279, (514) 932-7786. Fax: (514) 931-8891. Web: www.vmax-services.com.
Luxman, Overseas Sales: Level Three, Three Pacific Place, 1 Queen'…
It's a guy thing, dating from those sandbox days when such declarations were not only socially acceptable but expected of us: Mickey Mantle could run the bases faster than Whitey Ford, the Chevrolet Corvette was cooler than the Ford Mustang, Jimmy Page played faster than Jeff Beck, Superman was stronger than Batman. (Women, those devious serpent-hearkeners of Old Testament fame, are for once blameless: They never argue that Charlotte Bronte wrote better tea-drinking scenes than Jane Austen, or that Hugh Grant looks better in a powdered wig than Daniel Day Lewis.)
Consequently, there are…
I conferred with David Grier, and we set a date and a price. I wrote back to the people on the list, announcing an instructional workshop on Sunday, June 14, from 2 to 4pm, and a concert that evening, from 7pm to whenever. Admission for the workshop was $40, admission to the concert was $35, and admission to both could be had for the special price of $65. My family and I decided to foot the bill for free refreshments during both: After all, that's what we'd do with any party at our place. (A few folks offered to bring a dish to pass, God bless them.) I asked people to RSVP as early as…
One of the great divides in high-end audio concerns the question of how much bass is enough bass? The decision facing a speaker designer about how much low-frequency extension is appropriate is a fundamental one, so to speak: every extra 5Hz of bass will dramatically increase the retail price, as the speaker must be correspondingly bigger. Furthermore, the larger the speaker, the larger its problems, which in turn requires throwing more money at the design to solve those problems.
There is no mystery, therefore, why the highest-performing full-range loudspeakers tend to be large…
But my experience of the original AE1 persuaded me that there was more to the Mk.III than was reaching my ear. First, I experimented with positioning, and ended up with the speakers about 30" from the sidewalls. Second, I changed the toe-in angle so that I could see the inside edges of the speakers; ie, their axes now crossed well behind my listening position. Third, while I'm not a strong believer in loudspeaker "break-in," it was inarguable that, as the weeks progressed, the Acoustic Energy's overbright balance became more listenable. It was still a speaker with generous high-frequency…