Description: Two-way floor-standing planar loudspeaker. Drive-units: ribbon tweeter, "Magneplanar" midrange/woofer. Crossover frequency: 1kHz. Frequency response: 35Hz–40kHz ±4dB. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 85dB/W/m.
Dimensions: 71" H by 22" W by 2" D. Weight: 48 lbs.
Price: $1550/pair (1988); no longer available (2016). Approximate number of dealers: 80.
Manufacturer: Magnepan Inc., 1645 Ninth Street, White Bear Lake, MN 55110. Tel: (800) 474-1646. Web: www.magnepan.com.
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Sidebar 4: Specifications
The English loudspeaker manufacturer Rogers [no connection with the contemporary US company Rogers High Fidelity] has had an illustrious history since being founded in 1947 by veteran designer Jim Rogers. Absorbed by the Swisstone company in 1976, it has since gone from strength to strength, the main creative work now being done by the respected English engineer Richard Ross. Noteworthy for keeping the miniature BBC LS3/5a design in continuous production for nearly 15 years, Rogers also makes a range of polypropylene-cone woofers and midrange units which are used in other models in its range…
Sidebar 1: Review Context
The most important consideration with speakers such as these is what stands to use. Often treated as an afterthought, a good pair of stands is fundamental to getting optimum performance from even inexpensive loudspeakers. Paradigm did supply a stand intended for use with their Control Monitor, but in order to keep the effect of the stand a constant during the listening tests, I decided to use the same stands for all three models. These were $300/pair, 18"-tall Celestion SLSi stands, a single-pillar design, with steel top and bottom plates. Their center pillars…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
I use a mixture of nearfield, in-room, and quasi-anechoic FFT techniques to investigate possible objective factors that might explain the sound heard. Readers wanting more detail on this regime should read pp.166–167 in the October 1989 issue (Vol.12 No.10).
The LS7t's response to a 25µs rectangular pulse (with the grille on) is shown in fig.1. The initial downward plunge is the tweeter, with then its overshoot on the other side of the time axis reinforced by the rise of the bass/midrange unit. This is in turn overlaid by ultrasonic ringing from the metal-…
Joan Baez In Concert, Part 2
Joan Baez, vocals, guitar
Vanguard VTC-1679 (tape), VSD-2123 (LP). Maynard Solomon, prod., Reice Hamel, eng. TT: 48:00.
Joan Baez, vocals, guitar
Vanguard VTC-1679 (tape), VSD-2123 (LP). Maynard Solomon, prod., Reice Hamel, eng. TT: 48:00.
Well, we finally got ourselves equipped to review 4-track open-reel tapes, via a slightly modified Ampex F-44. All the tapes we have auditioned had noticeably higher hiss than the average stereo disc, but this was not loud enough to be distracting except when the tapes were reproduced at very high levels. Even then, we found the smooth, even hiss to be less objectionable than the ticks and pops from some discs played at the same level…
The great debate that has long separated audiophiles is tubes vs solid-state. Other topics, CD for example, may temporarily steal the spotlight, but year-in and year-out no other subject is the cause of as much controversy as whether tubed or solid-state circuitry produces the more accurate sound. As is typical with long-standing feuds, the split runs deep, and tempers often flare.
Even if you are among the majority of audiophiles who keep open minds in this matter, making a decision between tube and solid-state electronics is one of the most difficult choices you can face. Each…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Vacuum tube mono power amplifier. Rated power output: 150W (8 and 4 ohms, 21.76dBW and 18.76dBW). Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, +0, –0.5dB. Input sensitivity: 2V balanced, 2V unbalanced for rated output. Input impedance: 220k ohms.
Weight: 27.3kg.
Price: $4400/pair (1986); no longer available (2018).
Manufacturer: Nestorovic Labs, Kirkland, WA 98034 (1986); company no longer in existence (2018).
Saturday, November 17, all day, Alma Music and Audio (7847 Convoy Court, #101, San Diego, CA 92111) is holding an open house to introduce what they call Dan D'Agostino's masterpiece, the Relentless Monoblock, to the Southern California public. The Relentless power amplifiers will be used to power YG Acoustics' Sonja XV loudspeakers, which are also making their debut in Southern California. The Sonja XV is an extreme, four-tower version of the Sonja. It incorporates everything YG knows about speaker design and was created to celebrate YG's 15th anniversary.
The complete system will consist…
On the morning of November 9th, 2018, Stereophile's caffeinated crew of Jim Austin, Sasha Matson, Herb Reichert, and myself arrived at the New York Audio Show with the intention to invade each exhibitor's room as an opinion-bearing, glad-handing tribe. ("Hello—we've come from Stereophile to put fear into your heart and a quick step to your cueing finger. Now play me some Nils Lofgren!")
That lasted all of two minutes after we entered the first room. The bigger problem, if it indeed it can be called a problem, was the abundance of sonic riches available in many of the rooms. We practically…
Late on Friday at the New York Audio Show, I found myself explaining to an audiophile friend, also in attendance, my reaction to the big room sponsored by ESD Acoustic, and to their huge, extravagant, ostentatious five-way horn system—the one my colleagues Sasha Matson and Ken Micallef described in detail, and about which my colleague Herb Reichert contrasted his favorable experience here in New York with his unfavorable experience at the 2018 Munich show. As configured, the system as displayed would cost some $800,000 here in the United States. I smugly explained to my friend that, in taking…