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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.)
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…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.5" (38mm) ring-radiator tweeter, 4.5" (110mm) aluminum-cone woofer. Crossover: 2kHz, second-order. Frequency response: 45Hz–40kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 87dB/2.83V/m. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 5.8 ohms minimum. THD: 0.3%, 200Hz–20kHz (no level specified). Power handling: 200W. Maximum SPL: 105dB at 1m.
Dimensions: 12.2" (310mm) H by 7.3" (185mm) W by 9.8" (250mm) D. Weight: 24.2 lbs (11kg) each.
Finishes: Piano Black; Cherry Red wood veneer; eight-layer, hand-rubbed Piaggio Red or…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xeMP universal player; Meridian 808i.2 CD player; dCS Puccini SACD player; Benchmark DAC1, Ayre QB-9 D/A converters; Logitech (Slim Devices) Transporter WiFi music player with Apple Mac mini for media storage; dCS 972 D/D converter.
Preamplifier: Simaudio Moon Evolution P-8.
Power Amplifier Simaudio Moon Evolution W-7.
Loudspeakers: PSB Imagine B, Spendor SA1, Totem Acoustic Mani-2.
Cables: Digital: Kimber Illuminations Orchid AES/EBU, Stereovox CV2 electrical S/PDIF, AudioQuest OptiLink-5 S/PDIF. Interconnect (balanced…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Despite its small size, the Acoustic Energy AE1 Mk.III Special Edition was usefully more sensitive than the BBC LS3/5A, at an estimated 85dB(B)/2.83V/m, though this is still lower than average. The speaker's impedance drops below 6 ohms only in the lower midrange and the mid-treble, with a minimum value of 5.1 ohms at 190Hz (fig.1). As a result, the AE1 shouldn't be too hard to drive, though the combination of 6 ohms magnitude and –35° phase angle at 140Hz and 3.8kHz will mean that the speaker will work best with a good 4 ohm-rated amplifier. The shape of the…
In my reviewing career, except for fleeting listening sessions at the occasional audio show, I've had little contact with products from the Italian loudspeaker maker Chario. When asked if I'd be interested in reviewing an affordable bookshelf speaker from them, I did some research and discovered that Chario is distributed in the US by Koetsu USA. Well, with that kind of pedigree—I'm a loyal owner of two Koetsu Urushi cartridges—I thought I'd better give the Premium 1000 ($1015/pair) a careful listen. A few months later, I was tucking in to a pair of review samples.
Chario currently…
The ability of the Premium 1000 to unravel detail even during the most densely recorded passages made it a natural fit for difficult orchestral recordings. The boisterous opening movement of Penderecki's Credo, with Helmut Rilling and the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra and Choir (CD, H‰nssler Classic CD 98.311), was reproduced without a trace of compression or coagulation. Even during the fortissimo passages, I was able to clearly follow each instrument in the orchestra. And listening to Louis Andriessen's De Tijd, with Reinbert de Leeuw leading the Percussion Group The Hague and the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (27mm) soft-dome tweeter, 5" (130mm) pulp-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 1450Hz. Sensitivity: 86dB/2.83V/m. Low-frequency cutoff: 60Hz at –3dB. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Suggested amplification: 100W maximum average power.
Dimensions: 14.8" (380mm) H by 6.6" (170mm) W by 10.9" (280mm) D. Weight: 19.8 lbs (9kg).
Finishes: Mahogany, Cherry, Black, Dark Walnut (real-wood veneers).
Serial Numbers Of Units Reviewed: 255, 256.
Price: $1015/pair. Optional matching stands: $…