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We were in Puerto Rico when people started talking about the “Frankenstorm.” Our immediate concern was that its arrival would keep us from getting back home—which, all things considered, wouldn’t have necessarily been bad. So we watched as the storm grew, saw firsthand its frightening potential as blinding sheets of rain battered the defenseless island, drank our rum punches indoors, and managed to make it home just in time to witness the storm’s true arrival. Now she had a name—a cruel one at that. Superstorm Sandy wasn’t through with us yet.
Register to win an Sonos Bridge and PLAY:3 system (MSRP $348) we are giving away.
According to Sonos:
Experience the Sonos Wireless HiFi System, this holiday season’s Ultimate Gift of Music – to give and to get. Unleash all the music on earth, in every room, wirelessly. Sonos is the only system that combines HiFi sound with high-performance wireless. Plus it’s simple to set-up, control and expand so you can easily fill your home with music.
The giveaway package includes:
PLAY:3 ($299): The smaller, sexier, tuck in the corner and blow out the roof, all-in-one…
The tale's been told many times: Back in the early 1970s, the British Broadcasting Corporation needed a small nearfield monitor for use in remote-broadcast trucks. A team led by T. Sommerville and D.E. Shorter, both of the BBC's Research Department, developed the two-way, sealed-box LS3/5, based on a small monitor they'd designed for experiments in acoustic scaling. The speaker showed much promise, but problems with the drive-units—a woofer with a doped Bextrene 5" cone and a 1" Mylar-dome tweeter—led to a detailed redesign, the LS3/5a, carried out by Dudley Harwood, also of the Research…
Listening to the 1/3-octave warble tones on Editor's Choice, the LS50s reproduced these with full weight down to the 50Hz band. There was very little audible output below 40Hz, but there was no "chuffing" from the port. The low-pitched bass drum in my live recording of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius (extract included on Test CD 2, Stereophile STPH004-2) had enough weight to be believable, as did my low D-flat on the bass guitar at the end of Erick Lichte's arrangement of "Deck the Halls," from Cantus's Comfort and Joy: Volume Two (CD, Cantus CTS-1205). When the synthesizer bass drops an…
Sidebar1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: Uni-Q driver array with 1" (25mm) vented aluminum-dome tweeter, 5.25" (130mm) magnesium/aluminum alloy-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 2.2kHz. Frequency range (–6dB): 47Hz–45kHz. Frequency response: 79Hz–28kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 85dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Minimum impedance: 3.2 ohms. Harmonic distortion (second and third harmonics, 90dB, 1m): <0.4%, 175Hz–20kHz. Amplifier requirements: 25–100W. Maximum output: 106dB.
Dimensions: 11.9" (302mm) H by 7.9" (200mm) W…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B phono cartridge.
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP & DX-5 universal players; Apple 2.7GHz i7 Mac mini running OS10.7, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.86; Shuttle PC with Lynx AES16 soundcard & dual-core AMD Athlon processor running Windows 7, Foobar 2000, Adobe Audition 3.0; Logitech Transporter, dCS Debussy, Mark Levinson No.30.6 D/A converters; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter.
Preamplification: Liberty B2B-1 phono preamplifier; Classé…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the KEF LS50's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and spatially averaged room responses. My estimate of the KEF's voltage sensitivity was 84.5dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is within experimental error of the specified 85dB. This is a little lower than average but 2dB higher than the LS3/5A's.
Somewhat optimistically specified at 8 ohms, the LS50's impedance (fig.1, solid trace) drops to 4 ohms at 200Hz and to 5.4 ohms at the top of the audioband…
Loudspeakers have been commercially available for nearly a century, yet those whose drive-units are mounted to baffles of intentionally limited width didn't appear in significant numbers until the 1980s. That seems a bit strange, given that the technology to transform large boards into smaller boards has existed since the Neolithic era.
Because the audio industry never lacked the ability to make loudspeakers with narrow or chamfered fronts, one must assume that the missing ingredient was the interest in doing so—and that, I believe, came fairly late in the game, and originated in the…
That last recording, which sounds realistically direct through most good systems, provided a perfect example: The DeVores allowed the fiddle, acoustic guitar, mandolin, Dobro, and upright bass to sound tactile and well textured. And the speakers' overall tonal balance was superb: The bass had just the right amount of weight and timbral richness, while Grisman's mandolin—especially in the instrumental "Waiting on Vassar"—had a fine, woody timbre and percussive attack. I've heard all of the musicians on this record in live settings on countless occasions, and the DeVores honored their sounds…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, stand-mounted loudspeaker with reflex port. Drive-units: 1" silk-dome tweeter, 10" paper-cone woofer. Frequency range: 25Hz–28kHz. Sensitivity: 96dB/W/m. Impedance: 10 ohms nominal, 8.75 ohms minimum (at 200Hz).
Dimensions: 28.25" (725mm) H by 18" (460mm) W by 12" (310mm) D. With stands, 35.5" (910mm) H. Weight: 55 lbs (25kg).
Finishes: Veneer-covered ply (front baffle), gloss black (enclosure).
Serial number of units reviewed: O9605033 (both).
Price: $12,000/pair, including stands. Approximate number of dealers: 8.
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