Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" inverted titanium-dome tweeter, 7"-cone pulp/composite midrange unit, 10" aluminum-cone woofer. Woofer loading: 3"-diameter round reflex port, 8" L. Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 3.1 ohms minimum.
Dimensions: 41" (1045mm) H by 13.5" (346mm) W by 18.8" (481mm) D. Weight: 165 lbs (74.8kg).
Finishes: Black, Mercedes Silver, Desert Silver, Dark Titanium; custom finishes, including paint-matching, available at extra cost.
Serial Numbers Of Units Reviewed…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 & TD 124 Mk.II turntables; EMT 997, Schick tonearms; Shindo SPU, EMT OFD 25 & OFD 65, Ortofon 90th Anniversary SPU & Classic A SPU cartridges.
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics QB-9, Wavelength Cosecant, HRT Music Streamer II & Music Streamer II+, Peachtree iDecco (digital input to line output only) USB D/A converters; Stello U2 USB transceiver; iMac G5 (with Apple iTunes) computer; Sony SCD-777 SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Hommage T1, Silvercore Professional step-up…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Wilson Sophia Series 3's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and in-room responses. My estimate of the Sophia's sensitivity was 88.3dB(B)/2.83V/m—the same as the original Sophia, which I reviewed in July 2002. (See that speaker's measurements.) Though a little higher than the specified 87dB/W/m, this can be explained by the fact that the Sophia 3's impedance (fig.1) remains below 7 ohms for the entire midrange and much of the bass. It…
While I refuse to admit publicly how long I have been sitting on these loudspeakers before doing the report on them, I must say that it is probably a good thing I wasn't in all that of a hurry to get around to it. They did not sound very good in the room where I had initially installed them, and had I written the report on that basis, it would have been lukewarm, to say the least.
I have now had the opportunity to live with the Acoustat 2+2s in my usual listening room, which is more like a typical listening environment (19' by 24' by 9' and moderately padded), and I am more than a little…
The user can, however, exercise some control over this problem by judicious orientation of the speakers. The suckout is minimized by toeing-in the speakers so their axes converge right at the listening seat, but this may add a slightly hard, steely edge to the sound. Somewhere between this toed-in position and that with the speakers parallel to the back wall, you'll find the optimal combination on tonal correctness and imaging specificity.
The only real caveat about this speaker is one that applies to all systems with an electrostatic high end: it is shamelessly revealing of its source…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Full-range electrostatic loudspeaker. Frequency response: 28Hz–20kHz ±2dB. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Power capability: 500W. Maximum output: 115dB at 20' in a 16'x24' room. Minimum power requirement: 50Wpc. AC power consumption: 5W.
Dimensions: 94" H by 20"W by 3.5" D.
Price: $2100/pair (1984); no longer available (2012).
Manufacturer: Acoustat Corp., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315 (1984); Rockford Fosgate, 600 South Rockford Drive, Tempe, AZ 85281 (1990s); company no longer in existence (2012) but see www.audiocircuit.com/Home-Audio/Acoustat…
A few weeks ago, I finally got around to the Vijay Iyer trio's new CD, Accelerando (on the ACT label), and I've listened to at least a few tracks of it almost every day since. This is a stunningly good album: monastically intricate, but also a rousing head-shaker, it's even danceable, I give it a 96.
I must confess that I hadn't warmed much to Iyer until this album. His music has struck me as overly schematic, perhaps the result of his training in theoretical physics and math: the concepts are intriguing; the delivery, a bit stiff.
But this one is very different. His ideas boil…
In recent conversations with myself and with others, I’ve been trying to explain my addiction—and I truly do believe it’s an addiction—to music, new and old. A lot of times, when I’ve got an unfamiliar album in my hand, I feel like I just need to hear it. I just need to know what it sounds like. Why? I think I’m searching for connections between different times, places, and musical styles and artists. Why? I don’t know, exactly. I imagine there’s some magnificent story to be told through music, that all recorded music is somehow connected, and, if I can just trace those…
Tord Gustavsen Quartet: The Well
Tord Gustavsen, piano; Tore Brunborg, tenor saxophone; Mats Eilertsen, bass; Jarle Vespestad, drums
ECM 2237 (CD). 2012. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Jan Erik Kongshaug, eng. DDD. TT: 53:19
Performance *****
Sonics *****
Tord Gustavsen, piano; Tore Brunborg, tenor saxophone; Mats Eilertsen, bass; Jarle Vespestad, drums
ECM 2237 (CD). 2012. Manfred Eicher, prod.; Jan Erik Kongshaug, eng. DDD. TT: 53:19
Performance *****
Sonics *****
The first time I heard J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Klavier, I heard an endless sameness, lovely but undifferentiated. Only over many hearings did each pairing of prelude and fugue begin to emerge from the background, as what Bach did in each iteration of the same received form began to be revealed as an inexhaustible richness of…
Every time I stepped from the slow elevator onto the casino floor at Harrah's, where Stereophile's editors spent their sleepless nights, my hatred for Las Vegas was revitalized. It felt like some kind of bad joke: Oh god, I'm still here. I would turn right and see the same flashing lights, the same low ceilings, the same people—still sitting, still smoking, still hoping, still staring blank-faced into spinning screens of cherries, spades, and jokers—and I would wonder why.
And later, after navigating the long lines and crowded elevators at the Venetian, which housed most of the annual…