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Road Trip! The Ford Edge Ltd

Sidebar: The Ford Edge Ltd

When Ford's PR company offered to loan me a fully tricked-out Ford Edge Ltd for our trip to the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, it didn't take me a New York minute to say "Yes please." My regular ride is a 1984 Mercedes-Benz 500SEC coupe, and as much as I love that car and its five-liter V8, automotive technology has made major strides since it left the Stuttgart production line.

The standard Ford Edge starts at $34,220. The Ltd that arrived ($39,995, per Ford's website) was fitted with all the trimmings: a 12-speaker, 390W Sony…

Music Matters

I began writing these words on December 1, 2010, 13 years to the day that the magazine's website, www.stereophile.com, emerged from the digital darkness. That first, 1997 edition of our website was to a large extent the brainchild of one man, webmonkey Jon Iverson, who ever since has overseen its design and growth.

That growth resembled the gradual expansion of a stately home, with rooms, apartments, and outbuildings tacked on as required. The result was that, up till last November, our site was using four different Content Management Systems (CMSes) running on four different servers, as…

Babs, Mick and The Man From Space

The Grammy Awards were once about music. As last night’s extravaganza showed, they are now much more about Las Vegas, about entertaining than playing music; than songwriting, singing and learning to play an instrument. But then again it’s TV folks! Glitter and massive multi–media now reign supreme. Oh yeah, and there was music too. Give the Academy credit though, they saw to it that many famous names from the past were dropped or trotted out on stage (more on that soon).

Much as country radio is on a mission to kill it by playing it every 15 minutes, the now ubiquitous Lady A tune, “Need…

Recording of February 2011: Markus Schwartz & Lakou Brooklyn: <I>Equinox</I>

Markus Schwartz & Lakou Brooklyn: Equinox
Markus Schwartz, Haitian Rada & Petwo drums, miscellaneous percussion, loop sampler, conch, vocals; Jean Caze, trumpet, flugelhorn, conch, vocals; Monvelyno Alexis, electric guitar, percussion, vocals; Paul Beaudry, double bass, percussion
Soundkeeper SR1002 (CD). 2010. Barry Diament, prod., eng. DDD. TT: 43:16
Performance ****
Sonics *****

Think of flat, one-dimensional downloads of soulless, AutoTuned music that sounds more manufactured than played. Then feast on this.

"A live performance, whether in front of an…

Wilson Audio Sophia Series 3 loudspeaker

Two years ago, I was drawn to the Wilson Audio Sophia Series 2—then as now, the company's entry-level floorstander—by its good reputation among lovers of low-power tube amplifiers. "Forget the specs," they said. "Sophia is the one to hear." In fact, with its 89dB sensitivity (slightly lower than most of Wilson's other domestic loudspeakers) and mildly challenging impedance curve (less daunting than those of its stablemates, but not by a lot), the Sophia seemed, on paper, no better than average for use with flea-watt amps. But when I tried a pair at home with my 25W Shindo Corton-Charlemagne…

Wilson Audio Sophia Series 3 loudspeaker Page 2

Installation and setup
Also like every other Wilson Audio speaker I've had in my home, the Sophia Series 3 was delivered in a well-made wooden crate and installed by a Trained Professional—in this case Wilson's sales manager, the well-known recordist Peter McGrath. In fine-tuning the Sophias' exact locations in my 12' by 19' room, McGrath followed to a T Dave Wilson's systematic, listening-based setup approach, with the added benefit of knowing—and I do mean knowing—the recordings he used. (I don't think it's a coincidence that since McGrath joined Wilson Audio at the turn of the new…

Wilson Audio Sophia Series 3 loudspeaker Page 3

All well and good. But, to paraphrase Mickey Dolenz, I can teach a Sophia 2 to do that. I wouldn't expect a Sophia 3 to sound exactly the same, given the technical changes on tap—and indeed it didn't. In particular, the new speaker had a more open sound, especially noticeable through its lowest octaves (though over time I heard improvements of that sort virtually throughout its frequency range), with bass notes also taking on more realistic detail and natural texture, while sounding appreciably cleaner.

The Sophia 3's greater openness and greater resolution of detail proved blessings…

Wilson Audio Sophia Series 3 loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

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…

Wilson Audio Sophia Series 3 loudspeaker Associated Equipment

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…

Wilson Audio Sophia Series 3 loudspeaker Measurements

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…