Panel speakers are back in fashion. After years of determined effort on the part of a few established manufacturers, the number of these designs has seen a marked increase, and many new exotic models have appeared. Stereophile has recently reviewed two leading examples of the genre, the $2780/pair Apogee Duetta and the $2490/pair Martin-Logan CLS, (both reviewed in Vol.9 No.7). To judge by the tone of letters arriving at the magazine's offices, those reviews generated heated controversy. John Atkinson asked me,…
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Martin Colloms wrote about the MGIIIa in January 1987 (Vol.10 No.1):
Sidebar 1: Measurements
Fig.1 is a "snapshot" of the forward axial response, showing some lift up to 16kHz. The mid-treble is linear and well integrated, while the bass is more or less level to 40Hz, in good proportion with the rest.
Fig.1 Magnepan MGIIIa, response on listening axis.
The response in the listening room (fig.2) was remarkable at first sight, although the upper treble was just too good to be true. In addition, the moderate prominence at 60-80Hz could ideally have been avoided. This curve confirms both the inherent neutrality of the IIIa, and its new…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Three-way planar-magnetic bass and midrange system, with ribbon tweeter. Bass driver: 620 square-inch planar magnetic. Midrange: 170 square-inch planar magnetic. Tweeter: ¼" W by 57" L by 0.0001" thick ribbon. Crossover: 18dB/octave low-pass Butterworth at 300Hz, 6dB/octave high-pass at 800Hz, and at 3kHz between midrange and treble. Frequency response: 37Hz-40kHz ±4dB. Power recommendation: 50W minimum, 200W maximum. Impedance: 4 ohms in the bass, 3 ohms in the treble, pure resistive. Sensitivity: 83-85 dB/W/m.
Dimensions: 23" W by 72" H by 2" D…
During the late 1950s, when high fidelity exploded into a multimillion-dollar industry, product advertisements bragged about bringing the orchestra into your living room. Apparently, no one realized what an absurd concept it was, but there are still many people today who believe that's what audio is all about. It isn't. There is no way a real orchestra could fit into the average living room, and if it could, we would not want to be around when it played. Sound levels of 115dB are just too loud for most sane people, and that's what a full orchestral fortissimo can produce in a small room.
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So-called Dolby Surround was first used in A Star Is Born (1976), and has been featured in practically every subsequent Hollywood blockbuster. When stereo came to home videotape, and consumers learned that all those fabulous surround-sound effects were encoded into their videotapes of those same films, they started demanding decoders to separate the surround from the stereo. Today, there are more than 60 different models of Dolby-Surround decoders on the market, and they're selling like rack systems in Racine. But few Dolby Surround users realize that it can be used for other program sources…
Sony describes the $700 TA-P9000ES as "a pure audio multichannel preamplifier equipped with two inputs for 5.1 analog multichannel audio sources, enabling selection, volume control, and amplification." A relay with twin gold-plated crossbars switches the two six-channel sources. Then follows a class-A solid-state push-pull amplifier in discrete configuration. Separate transistors, resistors, and capacitors populate the printed circuit boards. An oxygen-free copper shield surrounds each channel to prevent crosstalk between the channels. In addition, there is a relay-controlled gain stage…
Kalman Rubinson wrote about the Sony TA-P9000ES in July 2002 (Vol.25 No.7)
As evinced by postings I've seen on the Internet, my TA-P9000ES is neither unique nor the worst offender when it comes to noise pickup. In fact, I've corresponded with one reader who complains of severe noise problems with three different samples of that model. With a little sharp elbowing, I got an official response from Sony that addressed the problem:
"Although the TA-P9000ES is compatible with most amplifiers, it may occasionally exhibit oscillation noise when used with certain products. If this occurs…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Six-channel solid-state line preamplifier. Harmonic distortion at 1V: 0.003%, 20Hz-20kHz, A-weighted. Frequency response: 10Hz-100kHz, +0/-1.0dB. S/N Ratio: 115dB (20kHz LPF, A-weighted ref. 1.3V input level). Input sensitivity: 150mV. Input impedance: 20k ohms.
Price: $700. Approximate number of dealers: 500. Warranty: 5 years for original purchaser, non-transferable.
Manufacturer: Sony Electronics, 1 Sony Drive, Park Ridge, NJ 07656. Tel: (800) 222-7669. Fax: (201) 930-1000. Web: www.sel.sony.com.
"When you read...that an electronic recording has 'excellent' sound it does not mean you can use that record as a system evaluation tool," wrote J. Gordon Holt in October's "As We See It." Yet, if you are a regular reader of Stereophile, you will be aware that the magazine's equipment reviewers do make use of a considerable number and variety of recordings, including many which would appear to be totally electronic, to reach value judgments about hi-fi components.
"The pursuit of realism," Gordon continued last month, "requires that the pursuer make certain value judgments about the…
To thus allow the listener to tamper with a recording's virginity is anathema to the audiophile creed. As Keith Yates says in this issue when promoting the Gould-like vistas opened by the advent of digital signal processing, "Playback hardware is currently properly judged by how little it does to the signal rather than how much; that nothing you can do to 'enhance' a signal will be as musically compelling as just getting out of its way and letting it unfurl itself, unhindered by 'enhancers' and unsmudged by the latest 'miracle processor'."
When it comes to the music, however, George…