Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" soft-dome tweeter, 5.1" paper-cone woofer. Frequency range: 45Hz–25kHz. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms.
Dimensions: 11.8" (300mm) H by 6.7" (170mm) W by 10" (254mm) D. Weight: 9.9 lbs (4.5kg) each.
Finishes: Dark Walnut, Sugar Maple.
Serial number of review samples: 810780.
Price: $320/pair.
Manufacturer: Tannoy Ltd. UK, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire ML5 4TF, Scotland, UK. Tel: (44) (0)1236-420199. Fax: (44) (0)1236-428230. Web: www.tannoy.com.…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: System
I listened to music using my Rega Research P3-24 turntable, NAD C 515BEE and Parasound Zcd CD players, Parasound ZphonoUSB phono preamplifier, NAD C 316BEE integrated amplifier, and Kimber Kable 8VS speaker cables and PBJ interconnects. The Mercury V1s were secured with small globs of Blu-Tack to 24"-tall Target stands, while the electronics rested on my Polycrystal equipment rack. Source components and amplifiers were plugged into a Furutech e-TP60 power conditioner, itself plugged into a Furutech GTX wall receptacle via an AudioQuest NRG-X3 power cord.—Stephen Mejias…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I examined the performance of one of the Mercury V1s (serial no.810780) with DRA Labs' MLSSA system, using a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the speaker's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. I estimated the Mercury V1's voltage sensitivity at 85.1dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is a couple of dB below average and slightly lower than the specified 86dB. The Tannoy's nominal impedance is specified as 8 ohms; this is appropriate, given that its impedance magnitude (fig.1, solid trace) remains between 6 and 12…
I've had Vivid Audio's Oval K1 loudspeaker here for several months. Over many years, the only other speaker brands I've written about as much as I have Vivid have been Wilson Benesch and Shahinian Acoustics, whose speakers I still revere and can recommend without reservation—to the right listener. But Vivid's high-tech sorcery has raised the bar. The Vivids I've had here are among the best loudspeakers I've ever heard, and that's a consensus that seems headed in the direction of critical mass.
Vivid's designer, Laurence Dickie, is an alumnus of another British speaker manufacturer,…
I asked Vivid's US distributor, Philip O'Hanlon, if he had any ideas that might explain my reactions to the K1. He explained that the additional woofers required a somewhat different crossover design, and that the K1's crossover had benefited from "lessons learned" in designing the B1. He also pointed out that the K1's minimum impedance of 4.8 ohms is higher than the B1's 2.8 ohms, making it an easier load to drive. Ah. Those 2 ohms could really make a difference—and I'm not joking.
I heard a clear difference in the two speakers' bass extension and power in my room. (Vivid claims bass…
Sidebar Contacts
Vivid Audio Limited, The Old Barn, Rosier Business Park, Coneyhurst Road, Billinghurst, West Sussex RH14 9DE. Tel: (44) 1403-78-2221. Web: www.vividaudio.com.
Coherent Acoustic Systems cc, PO Box 343, Kloof 3640, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. Tel: (27) (0)31-705-41-68.
US distributor: On a Higher Note LLC, PO Box 698, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92693. Tel: (949) 488-3004. Fax: (949) 488-3284. Web: www.onahighernote.com
It's the first rule of being a stereophile: sound quality is serious business. Simon Gibson, one of the engineers at Abbey Road Studios who worked on EMI's new Signature Collection of hybrid SACD/CDs, knows the drill: remaster and change the sound of a much-loved classical recording from the label's glorious back catalog and you risk becoming a target of blogs and forums. Gibson's aware that the more hallowed the recording, the more quickly knives come out at the mention of remastering.
"We're not in the business of screwing with people's memories or trying to annoy people," Gibson says…
So what are the parameters for making these "improvements"? What are Gibson and his fellow engineers specifically looking to heighten or eliminate?
"We're listening to it with experienced ears and sort of thinking, Does it sound natural? If it's an orchestral recording, does it sound like a good orchestral recording should—does it sound balanced, high frequency, low frequency; are there particular frequencies that are a bit nasty, that are a bit harsh? Sometimes that's the case. It's those sorts of questions that you ask, and then decide to make some changes to the EQ, and that's when,…
The Chitlin' Circuit and the Road to Rock 'n' Roll
by Preston Lauterbach
338 pages. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Hardcover, $26.95; paperback, $16.95.
by Preston Lauterbach
338 pages. New York: W.W. Norton, 2011. Hardcover, $26.95; paperback, $16.95.
In December 1941, just after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and the U.S.'s declaration of war, the state of Indiana unwittingly endorsed a very different conflict by approving the incorporation of a talent agency headed by Denver Ferguson, an Indianapolis-based African-American entrepreneur. The Chitlin' Circuit and the Road to Rock 'n' Roll documents the second of these campaigns, launched by the musical forces Ferguson dispatched…
One drawback of the New York-centric jazz world (and I say this as a New Yorker) is that musicians who live elsewhere too often go ignored. Oral histories are full of tales about some tenor saxophonist in Mississippi, or a guitarist in Nevada, who influenced someone who influenced everyone else. And so you should definitely check out the Denver trumpeter Ron Miles’ riveting new CD, Quiver (on the Enja label).
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