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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…
Sidebar 4: Follow-up from April 2000, Vol.23 No.4
Every now and again, there's an anomaly in Stereophile's "Recommended Components." Take Acarian Systems' Alón Circe. Originally reviewed by Wes Phillips in May 1999 (Vol.22 No.5), the Circe proved controversial, to say the least. As noted in last October's "Recommended Components" Wes praised its "midrange and high-frequency purity," which, in his review, he'd called "nothing short of magical." Wes also liked the bass, finding it deep, well tuned, and a "trifle warm"—perfect if you're a "tube-using music-lover with a yen for '60s jazz…
A Follow-Up appeared in Stereophile October 2001, Vol.24 No.10
When Acarian Systems announced an upgrade for my reference Alón Circe loudspeaker (reviewed by Wes Phillips and Jonathan Scull in the May 1999 and April 2000 issues, respectively), I couldn't wait to have the pair I had purchased updated to the latest spec. The Circe upgrade actually incorporates three distinct modifications:
• A new woofer, which, via an improved voice-coil, is designed to provide lower electrical distortion as well as higher power-handling capabilities. (Designer Carl Marchisotto pointed out to me…
Robert J. Reina wrote about the Circe Mk.III in September 2004 (Vol.27 No.9):
I was very impressed with the Mk.II update of my reference Alón by Acarian Systems Circe loudspeaker (Stereophile, October 2001, Vol.24 No.10). Compared with the original Circe, reviewed by Wes Phillips in Vol.22 No.5 and Jonathan Scull in Vol.23 No.4, the Mk.II ($12,000/pair) featured a more rigid cabinet and a lower-distortion woofer. Although I have not been a fan of all of Carl Marchisotto's designs over the years, the Circe Mk.II gave me everything I was looking for in a reference speaker: overall low…
While walking home from the office the other day I passed a gleaming, perfectly detailed Harley-Davidson, lightly customized, as many are these days. I didn't stop and drool, but I couldn't unsnap my eyes from it. As I drew parallel to that hawg, a Ricky Martin look-alike threw his leg over the saddle and thumbed the starter. No, you don't have to be a tattooed, beer-gutted redneck anymore to rear up and slam down on a kick-starter of one of those beasts. These days, it's all done with the push of a button. Dude.
Whirr...whirr...whirr...ka-BLAM! The bike didn't so much start as explode…
'Round back, just like the McIntosh MC2000 tube amp (which I reviewed last March), multiple "Autoformer" output taps offer 2, 4, and 8 ohm connections on heavy WBT five-way binding posts with multiple neutral taps so you don't have to make your cables say "ahhh." There's not much clearance between the back panel and the binding posts, so getting a grip on the WBTs can be a little stressful for pudgy audiophile fingers and bad Boomer knees. But the big WBTs, just as are found on the rear of the JMlab Utopias, are large, beautifully made connectors with integral locking mechanisms. Their use,…
How low can you go? "Output distortion is so low," claims McIntosh, "it defies measurement, even with the finest distortion analyzers. At mid-frequencies, 8 ohm load, the distortion meter reads the residual distortion of the test oscillator (0.0002%) with or without the MC1201 in the circuit. This means the amplifier distortion is lower than the analyzer is capable of measuring."
The signal is fed to the positive inputs of the balanced differential stages. Feedback from the amplifier outputs is applied to the inputs, and the differential amplifiers drive a balanced Darlington-connected…
Setup
It's funny—sometimes I can drop a component into the system and reach almost immediate sonic harmony. Most of the time, the process is more laborious. I keep three or four preamps around here, several amps and digital front-ends, several families of cables, all of which I've used over the past few years, and the sound of each is a familiar treat. I have a good instinct for what'll work and what won't. In general, I don't feed a high-output-impedance preamplifier (Balanced Audio Technology, Conrad-Johnson) into low-impedance amplifier inputs (Linn, McIntosh). When a component is…
It's funny—sometimes I can drop a component into the system and reach almost immediate sonic harmony. Most of the time, the process is more laborious. I keep three or four preamps around here, several amps and digital front-ends, several families of cables, all of which I've used over the past few years, and the sound of each is a familiar treat. I have a good instinct for what'll work and what won't. In general, I don't feed a high-output-impedance preamplifier (Balanced Audio Technology, Conrad-Johnson) into low-impedance amplifier inputs (Linn, McIntosh). When a component is…
For instant sonic bliss, turn to track 5 of Modern Jazz Quartet (EastWest Japan AMCY1165). That's Jerome Kern's "Yesterdays," followed immediately by "Bags' Groove," another on my all-time hit parade. As Bags beat his vibes, I tapped: "It's thrilling to get this close to the music, to cozy up and feel without effort the 'vision' of the composer or performer playing out before me. That's certainly one of the privileges of being an audiophile, no? I think if more people realized how effectively audiophiles escape by 'levitating into the audiophile zone,' the High End would succeed more widely…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Solid-state monoblock power amplifier with output load impedance terminals for 8, 4, and 2 ohms. Output power: 1200W into 8, 4, or 2 ohms (30.8dBW, 27.8dBW, 24.8dBW, respectively), minimum sinewave continuous average power output rated 20Hz-20kHz. Output RMS voltage: 98V across 8 ohms, 69.3V across 4 ohms, 49V across 2 ohms. THD: 0.005% maximum from 250mW to rated power output. Intermodulation distortion: SMPTE 0.005% maximum if instantaneous peak power output does not exceed twice the output power rating. Dynamic headroom: 2.1dB. Frequency…