On December 8, 12 days before an embargo on the news was lifted, I visited Wilson Audio in Utah. The occasion was the launch of the WAMM Master Chronosonic loudspeaker. Given its limited-edition production run (70 pairs), oversized dimensions (approximately 86" H with spikes x 26" W x 36.5" D), and high price ($685,000/pair), Wilson Audio's ultimate speaker is not slated for dealer and audio show demos. Instead, the only way prospective customers, dealers, and select press can experience Dave Wilson's magnum opus—the culmination of well over…
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Photos: Daryl Wilson except where indicated
Bang & Olufsen's BeoLab 90 is not a loudspeaker to take on lightly. Though its size—49.33" high by 28.9" wide by 29.4" deep—and weight (302 lbs each) meant a major disruption of my listening room, which is also our living room, my wife assented. Its price of $84,990/pair puts it far beyond anything I might consider buying—and the complexity of the BeoLab 90, which has its own dedicated amplifiers and DACs, makes it impossible for a reviewer—or consumer—to directly compare it with any other loudspeaker. So be it.
Ever since I returned from visiting Bang & Olufsen's factory in…
I spent that first evening listening to the BeoLabs before any room equalization, but there's no reason to dwell on that. First, without EQ, the sound was more a product of my room than was intended. Second, there's no good reason to run a DSP-based system such as the BeoLab 90 without EQ. To do so would be equivalent to never using the top gears of a powerful car. EQ has been included in the speaker to provide the best quality of sound from it; you don't need to add an accessory—and you've paid for it!
Setup, Part 2
The next morning, having spent the previous evening listening to…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Remote-controlled, powered, three-way, 18-driver, floorstanding, sealed-box loudspeaker with Beam Width Control, Beam Direction Control, and Active Room Compensation. Drive-units (all ScanSpeak): seven 1.18" (30mm) Illuminator tweeters, seven 3.39" (86mm) Illuminator midrange units, three 8.3" (212mm) Discovery woofers, one 10.25" (260mm) Revelator woofer (front). Crossover frequencies: vary with driver and Beam Width setting. Power amplifiers: 14 B&O ICEpower AM300-X, tweeter & midrange drivers; four Heliox AM100-1, woofers. DSP: 2 Analog…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Oppo Digital BDP-105 universal BD player, Baetis XR3 PC-based music server, exaSound e28 II multichannel D/A processor, QNAP TS569L NAS.
Preamplifiers: Audio Research MP1, Parasound Halo P 7.
Cables: Interconnect (analog): AudioQuest Earth/DBS balanced. Interconnect (digital): Corning Optical USB 3, Shunyata Research E-Tron Anaconda BNC/RCA S/PDIF, Peachtree X1 USB-to-S/PDIF converter, UpTone Audio USB ReGen. AC: AudioQuest NRG-10, JPS Aluminata, Kubala-Sosna Emotion.
Accessories: Environmental Potentials EP-2450 power…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The BeoLab 90 is so massive that, rather than having it shipped to my home, I traveled to Kal Rubinson's place to take some measurements. I used SMUGSoftware's Fuzzmeasure 3 app running on my MacBook Pro, along with an Earthworks QTC-40 microphone and a FireWire-connected Metric Halo ULN-2, which combines a low-noise microphone preamplifier with A/D and D/A converters. (These were set to a sample rate of 96kHz for the measurements and I fed Fuzzmeasure's analog signal to the Master loudspeaker where it was converted at 192kHz.)
First of all, as KR…
Editor's Note: The editorial leader for the seventh issue of what was then called The Stereophile, cover-dated April 1964, was the first to introduce a recurring theme to the magazine's first 20 years of publication: an apology to subscribers for being late.—John Atkinson
Those of you who have a mind for dates may have noticed that this issue of The Stereophile is very, very late. This, the seventh issue, was supposed to have been a Merry Christmas November–December issue, but as things worked out, it doesn't even deserve the title of January–February issue. So, we think a few words of…
It's that time of the year again. Here are my picks for the 10 best new jazz albums of 2016—and the four best historical releases:
New:
Henry Threadgill's Ensemble Double Up, Old Locks and Irregular Verbs (Pi).
Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, Real Enemies (New Amsterdam).
Frank Kimbrough, Solstice (Pirouet).
Fred Hersch Trio, Sunday Night at the Vanguard (Palmetto).
Brad Mehldau Trio, Blues and Ballads (Nonesuch).
Wadada Leo Smith, America's National Parks (Cuneiform, 2 CDs).
Dave Douglas & Frank Woeste, Dada People (Greenleaf).
Krakauer's Ancestral…
Register to win a pair of Bryston Target HR50 Loudspeaker Stands ($339/pr Retail Value) we are giving away.
According to the company:
Target's HR50 20" tall stands are constructed entirely of steel and are ideal for even heavy bookshelf loudspeakers. Two rectangular risers bolt to thick top and bottom plates. The risers are fillable with aquarium rock or other media for even greater mass. Floor spikes, speaker pads and isolation spikes are included. The stands are made in Canada and distributed by Bryston Ltd.
Click here for more info.
To enter the sweepstakes…
I prefer and have owned electrostatic speakers for most of my audiophile life. Depending on your point of view, this makes me either the most qualified or the least appropriate writer to review MartinLogan's new electrostatic loudspeaker, the Masterpiece Renaissance ESL 15A.
Oh, I've flirted with dynamic speakers. I've owned and loved—and ultimately, when I was an audio retailer, sold—models from Revel, Thiel, Vandersteen, and many others, while my long-term choice has been electrostats. And while I've spent plenty of time with electrostatic speakers from Acoustat and Quad, I've ended up…