Fig.3 Mark Levinson No.334, THD+noise (%) vs…
search
Fig.3 plots the small-signal THD+noise percentage against frequency. This result is typical of well-designed solid-state amplifiers. The 1kHz, THD+noise waveform at an output of 40W into 4 ohms is shown in fig.4. (The distortion is largely obscured by noise at the lower power readings we usually use for this measurement.) The second harmonic dominates, but the waveform's slight triangularity indicates the presence of higher-order harmonics. This is more pronounced into a 2 ohm load, less so into 8 ohms. (Neither of the latter is shown.)
The No.334's THD+noise vs output power curves are shown in fig.7, while the discrete clipping levels are shown in Table 1. With the low AC line voltage, the amplifier doesn't quite meet its specified power into the lower impedances, though the shortfall is inconsequential. John Atkinson also measured the No.334's maximum output power using the Miller Audio Research Amplifier Profiler and a low-duty-cycle 1kHz toneburst to avoid loading down the AC line and the amplifier's power supply. The result is graphically shown in fig.8. Though with this signal and one channel driven, the amplifier did…
I've watched from the sidelines with great interest the recent debate in this column over Home Theater (footnote 1) At one extreme is the suggestion that Stereophile begin reviewing video and Home Theater products. The other end of the spectrum was best expressed by John Atkinson at Stereophile's 1993 High-End Hi-Fi Show in San Francisco. Hearing the booming bass overflow of a Home Theater demonstration blasting down a hallway, he said, "They've brought televisions to our hi-fi show!"
In addition to being a music lover and audio purist, I also happen to appreciate film as an art form.…
"Speakers are difficult," says Lars.
That's why he's held on to his ESB speakers for more than five years now. It's not that he thinks the ESBs are perfect, or even necessarily the best speakers he's heard. It's yust that he thinks all other available speakers fall considerably short of perfection, too. And in this I have to agree with him, though I hasten to add that the ESBs are not speakers I would choose to live with.
I go to CES—or to friends'—and hear speakers that retail for $5000/pair, $10,000/pair, or even more. I think they would have been much better off spending their…
The bass is less emphasized than it is on the Vandersteen 2Cis, which are a bit bass-heavy in my opinion. But the bass is there on the Spendor S100s—in ample measure, putting a firm foundation under large-scale orchestral works. Moreover, the bass is tight, taut, tuneful—no one-note boom. It's quite an achievement to get this quality of bass out of a box speaker without murking up the sound overall, and it's probably the main reason I love these speakers. Certainly, the person who purchases a pair of S100s should not be tempted to add a subwoofer.
The midrange is smooth and uncolored—no…
John Atkinson reviewed the S100 in December 1991 (Vol.14 No.12):
When I see the word "monitor" applied to a loudspeaker, I flinch. Years of working as a musician in studios where the balance of the monitor speakers had been optimized both to play loud without strain and to throw detail in the engineer's face so that he could immediately tell what was wrong have left me with a defensive reflex. Whatever the actual model of monitor—I worked with JBLs, Tannoys, Meyers, UREIs, Westlakes, even those ancient grey-and-black Altecs featured in the inside photograph of the Band's second album—…
Using strips of masking tape on the carpet and the low-frequency warble tones on the Stereophile Test CD to keep track of the changes in position and bass balance, respectively, I ended up moving the speakers somewhat nearer the rear wall. (They were now 2' from the LPs lining the rear wall and 5' from the side walls, resulting in woofer-to-boundary distances of 62", 45", and 22".) That, and returning to the solid-state Mark Levinson amplifier, did the trick. The upper bass, while still rich, was now better balanced with the speaker's lower registers. With a subjective in-room response…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker (stands should be 12-18" high—suitable 13" stands are available from Chicago Speaker Stands for $175/pair). Drive-units: 0.75" (19mm) soft-dome tweeter, 6" (125mm) polypropylene homopolymer-cone midrange unit, 13" (330mm) doped Bextrene-cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 600Hz, 4kHz. Frequency response: 38Hz-20kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity: 89.5dB/W/m (2.83V). Nominal impedance: 8 ohms (minimum 5.7 ohms). Amplifier requirements: 15-150W.
Dimensions: 27.5" (698.5mm) H by 14.5" (368.5mm) W by 16.9" (…
Sidebar 2: Review context
Equipment used during the preparation of this review included Mark Levinson No.23.5, Audio Research Classic 60 and Classic 120, and YBA 2 power amplifiers, hooked up to the speakers with 2m lengths of AudioQuest Dragon or YBA Diamond cable. I then tried bi-wiring with custom-made 5' sets of AudioQuest Midnight and Sterling, which was how most of the auditioning was performed. The main preamplifier used was either the French YBA 2 or the Mod Squad Line Drive Deluxe, both feeding the power amplifier via 15' lengths of AudioQuest Lapis unbalanced interconnect.…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I use a mixture of nearfield, in-room, and quasi-anechoic FFT measurement techniques (using primarily DRA Labs' MLSSA system with a B&K 4006 microphone calibrated to be flat when used on-axis up to 30kHz—see "Follow Up," October 1991, Vol.14 No.10—plus an Audio Control Industrial SA-3050A 1/3-octave spectrum analyzer with its own microphone) to investigate factors that might explain the sound heard. The speaker's impedance phase and amplitude were measured using the magazine's Audio Precision System One.
As shown by the impedance plot (fig.1), the…