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Nelson-Reed 1204 subwoofer

I was so impressed by the Nelson-Reed 8-04/B loudspeaker's low-end range that I seriously doubted the add-on subwoofers could add enough of significance to be cost-effective.

I was wrong.

Two of the subwoofers were provided, along with the necessary electronic crossover unit. Each 1204 unit contains four 12" woofers in a very solid sealed enclosure, with two facing to the front and two facing the rear. The electronic crossover has three controls, besides the AC power switch: a hardwire (footnote 1) bypass switch, a stereo/mono switch, and a subwoofer level control. In the stereo…

Nelson-Reed 1204 subwoofer Specifications

Sidebar: Specifications

Description: Floor-standing dynamic subwoofer system. Drivers: four 12" cones. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms, 6 ohms minimum. Frequency response: 16–65Hz ±3dB. Sensitivity: 93dB, 16 to 60Hz. Maximum acoustic output: 120dB.
Dimensions: 39" H by 18" W by 18" D. Weight: 120 lbs.
Price: $1200 each (1988); no longer available (2012).

Model AC-1204 electronic crossover: Crossover frequency: 62Hz. Crossover slopes: 6dB initial, 18dB final. Gain: 1dB.
Dimensions: 19" W by 2" H by 10" D.
Price: $570 (1988); no longer available (2012).

Common to…

Music in the Round #56

Late in May, Dolby Laboratories held a two-day press event, Fidelity Forum 2.0, to announce a new feature added to the production tools included in their flagship codec, TrueHD. While I could not attend, Jason Victor Serinus reported all the details for Stereophile.

Briefly, while TrueHD has always supported 24-bit/96kHz resolution, the great majority of Blu-ray discs carry audio of no higher resolution than 24-bit/48kHz-barely better than what's found on CDs. That these audio tracks typically sound better than CD, may be due to better attention to production efforts, the use of the 24-…

Music in the Round #56 Page 2

Between the Channel 3 group and the right handle are the fuse post, AC switch, and IEC power connection. Between the Channel 1 group and the left handle are 12V loop-through jacks, a switch for selecting the turn-on option, and a control for Turn On Threshold. I chose to use the audio-controlled, automatic on-off option, and it worked flawlessly.

I switched the power cord, XLR interconnects, and speaker cables to the Halo A 31 from the McIntosh MC303 three-channel amp, which fairly loomed over the new arrival. I switched on the A 31 and just lived with it for a week or so, listening…

Music in the Round #56 Contacts

Sidebar: Contacts

Dolby Laboratories, Inc., 100 Potrero Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94103-4813. Tel: (415) 558-0200. Fax: (415) 645-4000. Web: www.dolby.com

MSR Acoustics, Inc., 61 Galli Drive, Suite A, Novato, CA 94949. Tel: (800) 497-2087, (415) 883-8053. Fax: (415) 883-8147. Web: www.msr-inc.com

Parasound Products, Inc., 2250 McKinnon Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94124. Tel: (415) 397-7100. Fax: (415) 397-0144. Web: www.parasound.com

Loudspeaker Pioneer Bill Hecht Passes at 89

A press release issued by MSE Audio September 13 announced that William (Bill) Hecht, a died Tuesday September 11 in New York after a brief illness. He was 89 years old. In 1955 Hecht founded United Speaker Systems, an OEM manufacturer of speakers and related electronics, and also founded Phase Technology Corporation with his son Ken. (See Stereophile's positive review of the Phase Technology PC80 speaker here.) Phase Technology was later acquired by MSE Audio.

Hecht's contributions to the consumer electronics industry were numerous. He invented the true soft-dome tweeter (patented in…

Mark Levinson's Milestone Year

Mark Levinson, born December 11, 1946, celebrates an important anniversary in 2002. Exactly 30 years ago he jogged onto the playing field of high-end audio, so early in the game that fans, then few and far between, could count the players on their fingers.

The high-fidelity industry seems a logical home for a jazz musician like Levinson, who once envisioned a career playing flugelhorn and double bass, but his voyage into audio was a detour that could be said to have begun at age 22, when he took a job working on a film about Joan Baez. "It was a joy to find people willing to pay me to do…

Mark Levinson's Milestone Year Page 2

Lander: The meat and potatoes of the Red Rose line consists of just a couple of systems with a few possible permutations to them. Can you specify the basics for our readers?

Levinson: The Rosebud is a $3000 speaker, the Classic is an $8000 speaker, and the Revelation is a $50,000 speaker. The amplifiers generally associated with the Rosebud are the Rosette, a $2000, 35Wpc unit, and the Passion, a 100Wpc unit for $3000. The Rosette is very compact—it's only 4 ½" wide and can sit on a shelf. It's extremely simple and unobtrusive. The Passion is for somebody who wants to go further. For an…

Siefert Maxim III loudspeaker

While it is not quite accurate to say that $500/pair loudspeakers are a dime a dozen, they are by no means unusual. And since this is a price area where major design compromises are mandatory (footnote 1), the sound of such loudspeakers tends to vary all over the map, from pretty good to godawful—depending on what performance areas the designer chose to compromise and by how much.

I approached this latest half-grander with little enthusiasm, despite Siefert's persuasive literature, I have, after all, been reading such self-congratulatory hype abiout new products for longer than most…

Siefert Maxim III loudspeaker Thomas J. Norton Maxim IID in June 1987

Thomas J. Norton wrote about the Maxim IID in June 1987 (Vol.10 No.4):

Preface: We originally weren't going to publish this review, as we were led to believe that the IIID would be obsolete by the time this issue of Stereophile appeared. However, as we were going to press, we were informed that this would not be the case. In addition, contrary to what we reported in the most recent "Recommended Components" (Vol.10 No.3), the original III will also remain in production. The fact that the IIID was modified to correct its flawed high-frequency balance, however, will be of interest: Siefert…