The majority of the measurements were performed with a DRA Labs MLSSA acoustic analysis system, with a B&K/DPA 4006 ½" microphone. Looking first at the Series 3 WATT's impedance with the Puppy, the tuning of the WATT's reflex port lies at 36Hz; without the Puppy, the WATT 3's impedance peaks at 21.6 ohms at 74Hz (not shown). With the Puppy, this peak disappears, to be replaced by the Puppy's two bass peaks, the minimum between them at 27Hz indicating the Puppy's port tuning frequency. The slight impedance peak centered on 17.5kHz, just above a typical adult's…
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Sidebar 3: Specifications
WATT 3: Two-way, stand-mounted loudspeaker with reflex bass loading (QB3, quasi third-order Butterworth alignment fitted with 1"-diameter, 1.75"-deep port suitable for amplifiers with damping factors (DF) of 100 to 400; alternative port supplied for amplifiers with DF between 20 and 80). Drive-units: 1" inverted-dome tweeter, 6.5" doped-pulp–cone midrange/woofer unit. Estimated crossover frequency: 3.7kHz. Frequency response: 58Hz–18kHz +1, –3dB. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms (measured minimum 1.7 ohms at 2.4kHz). Sensitivity: 91dBA/W/m. Amplifier requirements: 30W…
Nite Jewel’s glittery, slinky sound recalls the pop and R&B of the late 80s and early 90s—stuff that you might have heard on Hot 97 or Z100 when you were 12 years old, searching for an identity, a groove, or simply for something good on the radio.
I can't help it: I like it.
While previous Nite Jewel releases have appeared on Mexican Summer, Italians Do It Better, and Gloriette Records, the band recently signed to the excellent Bloomington label, Secretly Canadian, home to Antony and the Johnsons, Damien Jurado, and The War On Drugs, among other fine acts. Nite Jewel’s…
Several weeks ago, a dear friend reminded me of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs on June 12, 2005, at Stanford University. The entire speech heaves with wisdom, hope, and love, and I tend to come back to it every now and then, just as I do Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass—for comfort, compassion, direction, perspective. I meant to write something about it then, but things got in the way.
Here’s a pertinent excerpt:
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because…
All photos: Kristen Somody Whalen.
On the evening of Tuesday, September 27, KEF dealers, friends, and associates celebrated the British loudspeaker company’s 50th anniversary. The event was held in the impressive penthouse residence of British Consul-General, Danny Lopez, where guests were treated to tall glasses of Pimm’s, delicious hors d’oeuvres, and electric views of Midtown Manhattan and Long Island City.
Of course, there was also music—both live, thanks to Nate Buccieri on piano, and reproduced, thanks to a system comprising Parasound JC 1 monoblock…
Tom Harrell: The Time of the Sun
Tom Harrell, trumpet, flugelhorn; Wayne Escoffery, tenor saxophone; Danny Grissett, piano, Fender Rhodes; Ugonna Okegwo, bass; Johnathan Blake, drums
High Note HCD7222 (CD). 2011. Tom Harrell, Wayne Escoffery, Angela Harrell, prods.; Joe Fields, exec. prod.; Mike Marciano, eng. AAD? TT: 62:12
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
Tom Harrell, trumpet, flugelhorn; Wayne Escoffery, tenor saxophone; Danny Grissett, piano, Fender Rhodes; Ugonna Okegwo, bass; Johnathan Blake, drums
High Note HCD7222 (CD). 2011. Tom Harrell, Wayne Escoffery, Angela Harrell, prods.; Joe Fields, exec. prod.; Mike Marciano, eng. AAD? TT: 62:12
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
Trumpeters use their horns to search for truth. At least that's the folk tale. Somehow, that pure, ringing tone that most strive for at some point in their career—think Louis Armstrong, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis—…
When I was a young music lover, I'd often listen to Simon and Garfunkel's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme LP, specifically the song "Scarborough Fair/Canticle."
Are you goin' to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.
Remember me to one who lives there,
She once was a true love of mine.
That memory came back during the e-mail exchanges I had with John Atkinson and Stephen Mejias about the positives and negatives of the proliferation of regional audio shows. (JA's reflections on these shows were the subject of last month's "As We See It.")
Annual…
I’ve been enjoying “Bambi” and “Red Song,” two new pulsing, angular, seductive tracks from Montreal’s Suuns.
Suuns - Bambi b/w Red Song by DOJAGSC
The band explains:
With a couple weeks off this summer in Montreal, we thought we’d take a crack at a few new songs. Stark and futuristic, these are extended jams that may or may not materialize as condensed versions of themselves on records to come. Open air textures, repetition and exploration were the name of the game for us on this one, and the finished product is a refined mining of the ideas that came out. “…
The 2011 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, which runs October 14–16 at the Denver Marriott Tech Center, promises more exhibits than ever before. With 480 exhibitors spread over 176 hotel rooms and three vendor areas, and advance attendance figures indicating at least 3500 attendees, the show continues to attract even more of the industry and public despite the economic slowdown. While the proportion of East and West Coast attendees remains stable, you'll see more international attendees, including folks from Thailand, India, Japan, Australia, Argentina, Singapore, Brazil, Canada, Finland, New…
On the surface, Sandro Perri’s Impossible Spaces is an ordinary pop album: We hear pleasant guitar, intelligent percussion, and a voice that, while lovely, is easily appreciated, palatable, unchallenging. But there’s a depth and darkness to this music that begs to be uncovered.
It’s the sweetness of the voice and the liquid tone of the guitar that draw me in, but the subtle shifts in key, the clever instrumentation, the aching cello and odd flute, the broken lines and strangely abbreviated melodies that make me listen again, confuse and enchant, charm and intoxicate.
With…