Anamanaguchi hack sound chips from Nintendos, Game Boys, and other systems to unleash their arsenal of 8-bit synth leads, dog barks, and white noise snares. Band-mates accompany the modded game systems with live and electronic drums, distorted power chords, and thundering bass to create supercharged soundtracks. Guitar…
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For gamers, video games can instill a sense of purpose. They imbed the idea in their minds that any ordinary boy or girl can become a hero. On their second full-length record Endless Fantasy, Anamanaguchi recreate the quest of becoming something bigger than yourself.
One of the oldest names in US audio, Altec Lansing was building speakers for theaters and recording studios long before the introduction of the microgroove LP in 1948 (which date many see as marking the inception of high fidelity). Started in 1931 under the name All-Technical Services ~Corp., the firm later purchased another audio firm called Lansing Engineering, and merged the names. Altec's Model 604, one of the first true coaxial speakers, was adopted for home use by many early hi-fi buffs and, several permutations later, is still widely used for monitoring in disc-cutting rooms.
The…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Three-way stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: acoustic suspension 10" carbon-fiber-cone woofer, 2" polyimide/titanium-dome midrange unit, and 1" polyimide/titanium-dome tweeter. Crossover frequencies: 550Hz, 3.5kHz. Rated frequency range: 30Hz–22kHz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Rated power: 100W nominal; 200W maximum.
Dimensions: 27" H x 14.25" W x 12" D.
Price: $750/pair (1986); no longer available (2013).
Manufacturer: Altec Lansing Consumer Products Division of Sparkomatic, Milford, PA 18337 (1986); Altec Lansing Technologies, Inc.…
The Boston Acoustics A40 loudspeaker ($150/pair) has become "legendary" (ie, it's stayed around for a while), probably because a pair of them images as well as Rogers LS3/5As. Unfortunately, it is no match for the LS3/5A in terms of smooth midrange response. Of course, at $150/pair, it shouldn't be.
I was originally going to do a review comparing the Spectrum 108A ($200/pair) and the Boston Acoustics A40. On first listen, I was mightily impressed by the A40. But after Stereophile's Larry Archibald schlepped me out a pair of the 108As, I didn't much want to listen to the A40s. In all…
Sidebar: Specification
Description: Two-way, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive units: ¾" (19mm) ferrofluid-cooled, soft-dome tweeter, 6.5" (170mm) long-throw paper-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 3.5kHz. Frequency response: 68Hz–20kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 88.5dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Recommended power: 5–40W.
Dimension: 13.5" (343mm) H x 8.25" (210mm) W x 7.75" (197mm). Weight: 9 lbs each (4.1 kg).
Finish: Wood grain vinyl.
Price: $150/pair (1984); no longer available (2013).
Manufacturer: Boston Acoustics, 7 Constitution Way, Woburn, MA 01801. Tel: (201) 762-…
JA guffawed, “It sounds like you need a tweeter-ectomy.”
“I hope that’s all I need.” After buying a replacement tweeter for one of my Usher S-520s, I asked Stan Tracht, US representative for Usher, a pair of questions.
“Will I need to solder anything?”
“No soldering needed,” Stan advised.
“Do I need to buy a second tweeter to ensure the speakers match?” I’m in the process replacing the tweeters on a pair of busted Polk Audio Monitor 7s I bought in the basement of the Silent Barn for $30. Adam Sohmer, Polk representative, recommended never having unmatched tweeters…
Tony Tueni of Charlotte, North Carolina is the happy winner of our Schiit Bifrost USB and Modi DACs Sweepstakes. Tony's current system includes a Rega Planar 3 turntable, Onix integrated amplifier, Soliloquy 5.3 loudspeakers, Oppo CD player, and Squeezebox Touch. He can now add the Schiit BiFrost and Modi DACs to the list.
When he plugged the Squeezebox into the BiFrost via glass optical cable, he "immediately noticed more clarity and focus with a less sizzly high end," compared to the analog outputs from his Squeezebox Touch. In addition, low frequencies seemed tighter. He loves the…
Silicon Valley–based Velodyne was founded in 1983 to develop a range of subwoofers that used servo-control to reduce non-linear distortion to vanishingly small levels. They succeeded in this goal to the extent that Velodyne is now perhaps the best-known subwoofer company in the US, currently employing 65 people. At the 1994 Winter CES, Velodyne launched the subject of this review: the DF-661 ($1800–$2600/pair), their first full-range loudspeaker (the "DF" stands for "Distortion-Free").
The three-way DF-661 was designed from the ground up to continue the Velodyne tradition of ultra-low…
Fig.1 shows the spectrum of the Velodyne reproducing a 100Hz sinewave at 2.83V, equivalent to just under 1W. The spike reaching 0dB at 100Hz is the fundamental; two additional spikes at 100Hz and 150Hz can also been seen. These are the second and third harmonics: while higher than specified, at a little above –56dB, 0.15%, these are still very low in absolute terms. For comparison, fig.2 shows the spectrum of the B&W Silver Signature reproducing a 100Hz tone at the same 2.83V level. The second harmonic here is more than four times as high as that of the DF-661, reaching the –40dB level…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, stand-mounted, reflex-loaded loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm), ferrofluid-cooled metal-dome tweeter; 6" (152mm) spun-aluminum laminated–cone midrange unit; 6" (152mm) spun-aluminum cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 700Hz, 5.5kHz. Electrical crossover slopes: 3rd-order low-pass to woofer, 18dB/octave; 2nd-order high-pass, 2nd-order low-pass, to midrange unit, 12dB/octave; 4th-order high-pass to tweeter, 24dB/octave. Frequency response: 60Hz–20kHz, +2dB. Sensitivity: 88dB/W/m (2.83V). Nominal impedance: 6 ohms. Distortion: !x0.1% at 1W…