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Fine Tunes #10 letters part 2

The audiophile electrician speaks out

Editor: As an electrician and audiophile, I thought I should correct some errors in Jonathan Scull's recent comments on grounding ("Fine Tunes," March '99, p.51). According to the National Electric Code, the neutral is the grounded conductor, whose job it is to carry the current back to ground. The "ground" is actually the equipment-grounding conductor and has no electronic purpose whatsoever. The sole purpose of the grounding conductor is life safety.

If a short were to occur in a piece of equipment, the chassis might become energized, and…

Legitimate Dealers Speak Out!

In his April 16, 2001 website essay "Where's Our Freedom of Audio Choice?" reader Jim Tavegia railed against the ubiquitous policy of manufacturers only allowing their products to be available through selected retailers. "If I'm willing to pay the UPS costs, it should be my prerogative to buy equipment anywhere I please," he wrote. This echoes a controversy that appeared in the print magazine 15 years ago. The affair started with some innocent-looking text written by Audio Cheapskate Sam Tellig in the December 1985 Stereophile (Vol.8 No.8):

Where to Buy

I generally recommend…

Legitimate Dealers Speak Out! Page 2

Papa Bach is gone now, along with almost every quality bookstore we had. A Los Angeles Times book reviewer recently pointed out that it's becoming harder than ever to get poetry or scholarly works published; with no retail outlet, such books have nowhere to go. Crown won't carry them, and the bookstores that would have are gone. Art suffers; literature loses some creative spark; new writers are never fledged—the stakes are too high. Remember, Crown orders 10,000 each of 20 titles, not 20 each of 10,000 titles. McBook has proved massively successful at driving out excellence with mediocrity…

Spendor S5e loudspeaker

I'm never more conservative than when the subject turns to home audio. And at the end of the day, I want little more than to preserve the hobby's finest institutions: Alnico magnets. Parchment cones. Mono. Sonata form. Ballads that actually tell stories. Give me tubes. Give me vinyl. Give me thin-walled hardwood cabinets, obsolete tweeters, and handmade polypropylene woofers. Give me the Spendor BC1.

It was a dark day when Spendor stopped making their first and finest loudspeaker—or so I used to think. I got over it when I heard the Spendor SP100 in the early 1990s, and when I admitted…

Spendor S5e loudspeaker Page 2

The Spendors arrived with nary a scratch, thanks to their well-designed cartons, and the newly designed MDF bases permitted easy installation and adjustment of their pointed feet (four per speaker). The feet, which are somewhat larger than one usually finds on a speaker of this size, can also be used to increase the S5e's effective height by a little more than an inch—a useful thing for tall listeners. Removable grilles of the usual sort are provided, although I preferred listening to the Spendors without them. Construction quality is evidently very good. The cabinets were cleanly made…

Spendor S5e loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: "2½-way," reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" fabric-dome tweeter, 5" polymer-cone midbass unit, 5" homopolymer-cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 700Hz, 4.5kHz. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 4.4 ohms minimum. Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m. Frequency response: 52Hz-20kHz, ±3dB; -6dB at 40Hz.
Dimensions: 30" H by 6.5" W by 10" D. Weight: 35 lbs.
Finishes: Cherry, maple, rosenut, black ash.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 303A00339, 303A00340.
Price: $1649/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 45.
Manufacturer: Spendor…

Spendor S5e loudspeaker Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog sources: Linn LP12 turntable, Naim Armageddon power supply, Naim Aro tonearm; Lyra Helikon Mono, Miyabi 47, Linn Akiva cartridges.
Digital sources: Sony SCD-777ES SACD player.
Preamplification: Audio Note AN-S2, Tamura TKS-83 step-up transformers; Fi, Naim NAC32-5 preamplifiers.
Power amplifiers: EAR 890, Naim NAP110.
Loudspeakers: Quad ESL-989.
Cables: Interconnect: Audio Note AN-Vx, Nordost Valhalla, Naim, homemades. Speaker: Audio Note AN-SPx, Nordost Valhalla, Naim NACA5, homemades. AC: JPS Labs Digital (Sony CD player), all…

Spendor S5e loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

With its small drive-units, the Spendor S5e exhibited the expected low sensitivity. I estimated a value of 82.5dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is significantly less than specified. Its impedance plot (fig.1) was unusual in that it had a much higher magnitude in the treble than in the midrange. While the latter ranged between 3.9 and 9 ohms, the impedance above 1kHz didn't drop below 10 ohms, and for much of the time remained above 20 ohms. As a result, if a tube amplifier with a typically high source impedance is used with the Spendor, the speaker's frequency balance will…

The Listeners' Manifesto

Editor's Note: This article is now only available as an Audio Engineering Society preprint, under the title "The Role of Critical Listening in Evaluating Audio Equipment Quality," preprint number 3176. The price is $4.00 for AES members, and $5.00 for non-members; it can be ordered (currently on paper only, not as a downloadable pdf) by entering the number in the appropriate field on the preprint search page at the AES website.

Recording of February 2002: <I>Love, Shelby</I>

SHELBY LYNNE: Love, Shelby
Island ISLF 15426-2 (CD). 2001. Glen Ballard, prod.; Scott Campbell, eng.; Bob Clearmountain, mix. ADD? TT: 42:19
Performance ****?
Sonics ****

After memorable songs, genuine talent, and a clearheaded vision of what its future will be like without copyright protection, what the music business ca 2002 most lacks is characters. You know, larger-than-life pirates like the "My Way" Frank Sinatra, the "Light My Fire" Jim Morrison, with talent bright enough to let them get away with, if not exactly murder, then any other felony you can name.

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