And then there are lost performers. Singer and guitarist Kenny Rankin kind of falls into that category. The records he made in the Seventies, which Johnny Carson of all people so loved, are now nearly forgotten. When I asked a musically literate friend about him…
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If the cover of the latest issue of Uncut is any indication, “lost” albums never lose their appeal for the musically–inclined or obsessed. Music fans always want what they don’t have or haven’t heard or hear is hard to get. It’s the allure of the forbidden record. And it’s a chief symptom of the record collecting psychoses.
John Atkinson runs a set of measurements on the Vivid Audio G1Giya. Here, we see the Giya turning at five degree intervals, while a pseudo-random series of pulses is used to calculate impulse response.
For images of the fun, visit our Gallery. For much more info on how and why John Atkinson measures loudspeakers, go here, here, and here.
JA uses a different mic, set at a much closer proximity to the drive-unit, to capture the side-firing woofer’s nearfield response. For a larger view, visit our Gallery.
JA positions his microphone in such a way that any room reflections become insignificant. For a larger view, visit our Gallery.
JA uses a little camera to monitor the rotation of the speaker on the platter. The platter turns at five degree intervals while JA measures impulse response. For a larger view, visit our Gallery.
After we lifted the big Vivid Giya onto a rotating platter, JA got under the hood and connected the speaker cables to his test amp. JA loves it when speaker terminals are hidden beneath a speaker. For a larger view, visit our Gallery.
John Atkinson measures the distance from his microphone to the Giya’s midrange drive-unit. For a larger view, visit our Gallery.
After several failed attempts, some sweating, and a bit of cursing, we were able to lock the replacement drive-unit into the Giya cabinet. Success! And then we realized we’d forgotten an O-ring…
Larger view.
See that itsy-bitsy little hole way at the back of the speaker? Properly installing the replacement drive-unit meant lining up that itsy-bitsy little hole with the tapered end of the transmission line and locking it in place with a hex screw. So easy, a caveman could do it.
Larger view.
With the Vivid G1Giya’s midrange unit removed, we can see a bit of the speaker cabinet’s internal structure.
Larger view.