Forum member, “tmsorosk,” asks: “Do audiophiles like music?”
It seems a strange question with an obvious answer until you stop and think about it. So many conversations between audiophiles focus on gear and sound, but leave music—that thing which should fuel our passion—lost in the jet-black background.
Ever notice when you and your audiophile buddies get together the conversation is usually 90% equipment and sound, and 10% music? We have been building, tuning, and voicing these systems for decades. Shouldn't the talk be more about music now?
Do you…
On March 17, 2011, Norway’s Hegel Music Systems announced the release of the HD2 and HD20 DACs. The HD2 and HD20 feature what the company claims "may be the world’s most advanced jitter reduction circuitry.”
Ben Holter, founder and chief designer at Hegel, elaborates, “Jitter is what matters. A DAC chip can only work with what it’s given. If the data-stream is not properly synchronized between the sender and the receiver, even the most expensive DAC chip will fail to produce music.”
Holter goes on to say that the improper implementation of asynchronous mode in DACs can actually…
Last night, Yo La Tengo performed at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, New Jersey. All proceeds from ticket and merchandise sales went directly to Peace Winds Japan. In addition, the band matched all merch sales, except for that money spent on their friend Amy’s delicious cookies, joked lead guitarist Ira Kaplan. “We’re not crazy.”
Guitarist/keyboardist/all-around freakout-machine, Ira Kaplan. I don’t remember what song the band was playing at this point, but I like to think that it was “Sugarcube” from their excellent 1997 album, I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One.
On this night,…
It’s amazing how little exaggeration is needed to make a statement like, “When you get out of a cab in Williamsburg, Brooklyn they damned near hand you a guitar.” That former warehouse district is teeming, I mean teeming like insects hatching, with musicians. There have to be at least 200 musical acts—solos, duos, quartets and the rest—now residing in Billyburg. Of course this influx of beautiful artisans—I call the J train, the only subway line from Manhattan to Williamsburg, “The Fashion Train,” because all the riders are shrewishly examining each other’s purses, shoes, etc. etc. etc.—…
Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking: "Polk? You're reviewing a $300 speaker from Polk? Get ready for the flames!"
The genesis of this review lies in a casual comment Larry Archibald made last summer. Larry travels a lot, and everywhere he goes, like the archetypical (archibaldical?) audiophile he is, he listens voraciously. After a trip to the east coast, he dropped by my office and laid a bomb on me.
"I heard a pair of inexpensive bookshelf speakers from Polk that really impressed me."
"Um-hum," I replied dubiously, waiting for the punchline.
Larry's no fool…
No such cynicism is apparent in the RT5's design. It's built out of ¾" MDF, with a 1" front baffle. Rapping the cabinet produced a solid if somewhat resonant thunk—I've heard deader, but it's very solidly constructed. The rear panel sports a wall-mounting bracket and an input plate supporting a pair of plastic nutted binding posts on the exterior and the crossover on the inside.
That crossover is simple, consisting of a first-order low-pass filter for the woofer—essentially just a series ferrite-core coil. The tweeter's high-pass filter is second-order, using a electrolytic cap bypassed…
Of course, like any reasonably high-resolution component, the RT5 must be used correctly. Despite the convenience of its wall-mounting bracket, it didn't sound good against the wall, but sounded congested and woofy. In fact, I found it benefited from coming well out into the room—as much as 40" from the wall behind it in my room. I was able to space the RT5s about 6' apart before the soundstage began to have a hole in the middle—this was good, but far from the best performance I've obtained from small monitors in my listening space. (The $2100/pair ProAc Response One SCs, for example, gave…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, stand-mounted, magnetically shielded, reflex-loaded loudspeaker. Drive-units: one 6.5" mineral-loaded polymer-cone woofer, one 1" polymer-dome tweeter. Frequency response: 54Hz–23kHz, ±3dB. Nominal impedance: "compatible with 8 ohm outputs." Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m. Amplifier requirements: 20–125W.
Dimensions: 14.5" (368mm) H by 8.5" (216mm) W by 9.75" (248mm) D. Weight: 20 lbs (9.1kg) each.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 34383 & 34384.
Price: $330/pair (1998); no longer available (2011). Warranty: 2 years, with 3-year…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
LP Playback: Linn LP12 with Naim Armageddon power supply, Naim ARO tonearm, van den Hul Frog phono cartridge, and Linn Linto phono preamplifier.
CD Playback: Mark Levinson No.39, Meridian 508-24.
Preamplifier: Conrad-Johnson ART.
Power Amplifiers: Cary CAD 300SEI, Krell FPB 600 and KAV-300i, Myryad MI-120.
Loudspeakers: ProAc Response One SC, B&W Silver Signature, B&W DM302.
Cables: Kimber KCAG and WireWorld GEI interconnects, Kimber Black Pearl and WireWorld GEI speaker cables.
Accessories: Audio Power Industries Power…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The little Polk was surprisingly sensitive, my measurements giving an estimated B-weighted figure of 91dB/2.83V/m. However, its impedance plot (fig.1) revealed that the speaker lingered around the 4 ohm mark in the midrange and high treble. The small "blip" just above 200Hz in the solid magnitude curve indicates the presence of some sort of resonance at that frequency, while the "saddle" in the same trace at 47Hz reveals the tuning of the twin reflex ports. Its high sensitivity and the overall even nature of its impedance curve will make the Polk a good candidate…
