One day a guitarist came into the shop and asked John and Rudolf if they would make him a special instrument. The brothers set aside their differences long enough to work together, and the result was a guitar that looked and sounded like no other. The guitarist was so pleased that…
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Once upon a time there was a violin maker who had two quarrelsome sons, and their names were John and Rudolf. When the boys came of age, their father put them to work in his shop, but John and Rudolf found it difficult to get along with one another, and they quarreled even more bitterly after the old man died.
The aluminum arm mount is similarly polished, and drilled with a series of holes that add to the Quattro's unique appearance while also serving to relieve that structure's own resonant modes. The arm mount pivots at the point where it fastens to the plinth, and although at first I didn't fully appreciate it, that degree of articulation makes cartridge alignment easier than usual. At the other side of the plinth, the outboard motor pod is constructed and finished in a manner that complements the other main elements, although it isn't filled with shot. (And why would you want it to be? The…
Who knows not Circe,
The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup
Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape,
And downward fell into a groveling swine?
—John Milton, Comus
The daughter of the Sun, whose charmed cup
Whoever tasted, lost his upright shape,
And downward fell into a groveling swine?
—John Milton, Comus
Actually, maybe you know not Circe, so here's a refresher: When Odysseus landed on Aeaea, Circe placed an enchantment upon his crew, turning them into swine. Odysseus was unaffected because he was protected by an herb called Moly, a gift of Hermes, and he forced Circe to restore his crew's human forms. Odysseus then hung out with her for a year (fathering Telegonus, among other pastimes) before she dispatched him…
Internal wiring is Siltech. The six pairs of binding posts are substantial solid-copper Cardas Musicposts, which Marchisotto leaves unplated, preferring their sound that way.
If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.
Maybe it was Circe's transformative powers that inspired the speaker's name. As I shuffled amplifiers and wires, the speakers went through some real personality changes. Marchisotto is insistent that the Circes be used only with components of the very highest quality, which, for him, include single-ended triode amplifiers such as the Cary CAD-…
Is this a characteristic of the Circe, or the difference between a well-designed ported enclosure and a sealed-box design? I can't say for sure, but the Circe's bass signature reminded me of the AR-3 and the larger Advent loudspeakers—classic designs from my youth. Not bad company to keep, but representative of a sound that won't appeal to everyone. I have to admit I find it quite attractive, but I'm not sure I'd want to experience it every day.
The midrange and top end certainly do not partake of any classic coloration, however. Time after time, I was drawn into the music through the…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Floorstanding three-way dynamic loudspeaker system with external passive crossover. Driver complement: 1" aluminum-dome tweeter mounted on open baffle, 5.5" pulp/plastic-cone midrange on open baffle, 10" pulp-cone woofer in sealed enclosure. Crossover frequencies: 400Hz, 3500Hz. Frequency range: 20Hz-25kHz. Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal, 4 ohms minimum.
Dimensions: 52.5" H by 12.75" W by 15" D. Weight: 65 lbs each.
Serial number of units reviewed: 101/102.
Finish: Cherry with black cloth.
Price: $12,000/pair.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
LP playback: Linn LP12/Lingo/Cirkus/Ekos/Arkiv.
CD playback: Audio Research CD2/DAC3, Linn Sondek CD12, Sonic Frontiers Transport 3/Processor 3.
DDVD player: Denon DVD-3000.
Preamplification: Audio Research Reference One, Conrad-Johnson ART, Mark Levinson No.380S; Linn Linto phono section.
Power amplifiers: Accuphase M2000, Audio Research VT200, Cary CAD-805C, Mark Levinson No.332.
Cables: AudioQuest Lapis, Madrigal CZ-Gel 1, Siltech SQ-80B G3.
Accessories: API Power Wedge Ultra, Cinemedia PowerPRO 20 AC line balancer, OSAR equipment and…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The big Alón's sensitivity was to specification at an estimated 87dB(B)/2.83V/m. Its impedance plot of magnitude and phase against frequency (fig.1) dropped below 6 ohms only in the upper bass and upper midrange, with a moderate phase angle across most of the band other than in the bass. The Circe will be relatively easy to drive, which presumably explains why listeners have had success using the speaker with SE triode amplifiers. But note the very high impedance peak at 39Hz: 24 ohms. This will exaggerate the midbass with such amplifiers. It also indicates that…
Fig.4 Alón Circe, response at 50" of woofer without crossover (top) and with (bottom), both curves corrected for microphone response.
Fig.5 Alón Circe, response at 50" of midrange unit without crossover (top) and with (bottom), both curves corrected for microphone response.
Fig.6 Alón Circe, response at 50" of tweeter without crossover (top) and with (bottom), both curves corrected for microphone response.
A similar effect can be seen in both the equalized and raw responses of the tweeter (fig.6). Note that the HF unit is still putting out significant…
But the speaker's perceived in-room balance will also be influenced by the way it behaves off-axis. Fig.9 shows the Circe's response plotted from 90 degrees on one side of the tweeter axis to 90 degrees on the other. This graph is hard to interpret, so I have also shown these same curves with the on-axis response subtracted from each (fig.10). Between 300Hz and 1kHz, the speaker's dipole nature can be clearly seen, but from 1kHz to 6kHz the Circe has wide, even dispersion. In effect, the lack of upper-midrange energy seen on-axis fills in to quite an extent to the speaker's sides. The larger…