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Wes Phillips was unimpressed with the sound of the good-looking, $1495/pair, two-way Coincident Speaker Technology Troubador loudspeaker in January '96 (p.223). He found its tonal balance colored and the integration between its drive-units—a silk-dome tweeter coincidentally mounted within a polypropylene-cone woofer—severely flawed. Subsequent measurements revealed that the woofer and tweeter were connected with opposite acoustic polarities—which, once the phase shift due to the crossover and the time delay between the units was taken into…

Compared with the earlier sample (fig.1), the new Troubador's step response (fig.2) reveals that the tweeter and woofer are now connected with the same positive acoustic polarity. The tweeter output does lead that of the woofer by a fraction of a millisecond, however, meaning that the step response doesn't quite conform with the desired triangle shape that would indicate a true time-aligned design.

Editor: Thank you for your Follow-Up review of the Coincident Speaker Technology Troubador speakers. This follow-up raises some very serious questions which I would now like to address.

It has always been my impression that before a review appears in print in your magazine, that many weeks of auditioning will be undertaken. After all, a reviewer must meticulously set up the new speakers, taking into account all the vagaries of room interaction, component matching, break-in period, etc. This is a time-consuming and onerous task. That, however,…

Following publicaiton of the "Follow-Up" review of the Troubador, I performed a further set of measurements, as well as looking at the crossovers of both examples. Fig.7 shows the circuit diagram of the crossover for the first (rosewood) pair of Troubadors. No values are marked on this diagram as they had all been painted over on the components. Other than a Zobel, series-RC network connected in parallel with the woofer terminals, this appears to be an absolutely conventional parallel second-order design. As is usual with such a topology, the…

Description: Two-way stand-mounted loudspeaker with concentrically mounted drivers and rear-firing port. Drive-units: 1" fabric-coated dome tweeter with neodymium magnet, 6.5" polypropylene-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 3.5kHz. Crossover slopes: unspecified. Frequency response: 45Hz–20kHz, –3dB. Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m (2.83V). Nominal impedance: 8 ohms (5–10 ohms). Amplifier requirements: 7–150W.
Dimensions: 11" W by 16" D by 9¾" H. Shipping weight: 52 lbs.
Finishes: black lacquer standard; wood veneers optional.
Serial numbers of review samples:…

Each December since 1992, Stereophile has named a few special components its "Products of the Year." These are products that not only define the present audio landscape, but that we hope will someday be seen as classics—products you'll want to pass on to future generations of audiophiles and music lovers. Traditionally, we've awarded this distinction to components in five primary categories: "Loudspeakers" (including subwoofers), "Analog Sources" (turntables, tonearms, phono cartridges), "Digital Sources" (transports, processors, music…

Vivid Audio Oval K1 ($24,990/pair; reviewed by John Marks, Vol.35 No.10 Review)

This race was tight. Of the 11 worthy contenders in our "Loudspeakers" category, seven—from the overachieving Joseph Audio Pulsar to the otherworldly MBL Radialstrahler 101E Mk.II—garnered first-place votes. But no loudspeaker impressed our writers more than Vivid Audio's Oval K1, an unusual-looking design with an unusually powerful and compelling sound.

Though it's been a while since I last heard the Oval K1, I'm very well acquainted with its little brother. Vivid's…

Rega Research RP3 turntable ($1095, including RB303 tonearm and Elys 2 moving-magnet phono cartridge; reviewed by Michael Fremer, Vol.34 No.12)

Though six of the eight contenders in our "Analog Sources" category received first-place votes, this race wasn't much of a race at all. Rega's RP3, the latest iteration of the famed Planar 3, ran fast (ha) and far ahead of the competition, receiving three first-place votes and 15 overall votes—more than twice as many as the closest runner-up. The RP3 was almost destined to win: Its predecessor, the P3-…

MSB Diamond DAC IV D/A processor ($43,325, including FemtoSecond Galaxy Clock, $9950; Diamond Stepped Attenuator, $2995; Pro I2S input board, $995; USB2.0 384kHz input, $1395; and Diamond Power Base, $5995; reviewed by Jon Iverson, Vol.35 No.10 Review)

As in our "Analog Sources" category, six of the eight "Digital Sources" contenders won first-place votes; and while more reviewers granted individual votes to the Meridian (Sooloos) music server, it was the MSB Diamond DAC IV that received the most first-place votes and is therefore the decisive…

Audio Research Reference 150 power amplifier ($12,995; reviewed by Erick Lichte, Vol.35 No.7 Review)

Demonstrating the depth and variety of our "Amplification" category, eight different contenders received first-place votes, and four of those received at least two first-place votes. The winner, however, was clear: With three first-place votes and 16 total votes, Audio Research's Reference 150 power amplifier received a total of twice as many votes as our closest runners-up, the versatile Classé CP-800 D/A preamplifier and the drop-dead-…