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PoweredForce Forward Bass is what MartinLogan calls the technology used in the Renaissance, and it differs from the system used in my BalancedForce 212 subwoofers in a couple key ways. First, the ELS 15A's woofers face front and back instead of to each side, as in the BalancedForce. ML claims that using proprietary, horizontally opposed, drivers in this way "reduces the destructive reflected energy from your front wall (the wall behind your speakers), resulting in easy placement for clean, pure, powerful bass response." Second, the Renaissance's cabinet is deeper from front to back, and…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Hybrid electrostatic–dynamic loudspeaker. Drive-units: 46" H by 15" W (radiating area 690 in2) XStat CLS electrostatic panel, two 12" (305mm) aluminum-cone woofers in asymmetrical chamber. Crossover frequency: 300Hz. Frequency response: 22Hz–21kHz, ±3dB. Horizontal dispersion: 30°. Vertical dispersion: 46" line source. Room correction (bass section): ready for Anthem Room Correction (ARC-2 v1.3.4351 software is a free download; the mike kit costs $100). Woofer amplifier: 2x 500W into 4 ohms, 2x 1kW peak, with 24-bit, DSP-based preamplifier.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Apple MacBook Pro computer (2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) running OS 10.11.5, Roon v.1.2 Build 142, JRiver Media Center 19, iTunes 12, Amarra Computer Music Player, VLC, Reaper 5.20.100, XLD; Western Digital 2TB NAS Device; Oppo BDP-103 universal BD player; Meridian Sooloos Digital Media System (Control 15, QNAP TS-669, Pro NAS); Apple iPad Air 2 & iPhone 6. Digital Processors: Ayre Acoustics Codex, Benchmark DAC1 USB & DAC2 HGC, Luxman DA-250, T+A Elektroakustik DAC 8 DSD.
Preamplifier: Marantz AV7005 in Pure…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
As with the Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 90, reviewed elsewhere in this issue, it made more sense for me to measure MartinLogan's Masterpiece Renaissance ESL 15A at the reviewer's home than having them shipped to my Brooklyn lab. (I also wanted to take a listen to the speakers.) Also as with the BeoLab 90, I used a test setup different from my usual MLSSA software/hardware system, which is not readily transportable. (As MLSSA needs to be installed in a 1997-vintage desktop computer running MS-DOS, it isn't something I can take on a plane as carry-on baggage.)
…
On a bright, warm day in September, at the memorial gathering for our colleague Wes Phillips, I overheard John Atkinson, in pre-ceremony conversation, discussing men's fashions: "What's popular these days," he said, with a degree of puzzlement that stopped short of disapproval, "is very long hair on just the top, with nothing on the sides and back." Then he added, this time with disdain, "What I don't understand is this trend where men wear dress shoes without socks—which I have actually seen!" The fact that we were in Park Slope, Brooklyn—the very jaw of the hipster possum—may have triggered…
The second great discovery took longer to unfold, but began before I'd even made it all the way home with the speakers. I paused for lunch at a rest area on the New York State Thruway, where I also opened the Tiguan's hatch, photographed the Flamencos—lying face up, side by side, taking up virtually all of the car's interior, from the rear window to the backs of the front seats—and attached the photo to a text to my wife. Within seconds, she texted back:
"Holy shit—gorgeous "
Naturally, I thought she was being sarcastic. That impression persisted until the end of the day, when…
I took another look at the blog I posted on December 21 ("The Best Jazz Albums of 2016"), a few more thoughts came to mind.
With one exception (#5, Brad Mehldau Trio, Blues and Ballads, on Nonesuch), the big labels (or even labels big by jazz standards) are absent from the list. Mainly that's because they're all but absent from jazz, or at least newly recorded jazz. Verve still has Diana Krall; Sony/Columbia has revived its Okeh' label, mainly for the likes of Bob James, but they've also signed Bill Frisell and The Bad Plus; even Nonesuch, such a thriving creative label that once recorded…
With 2016 almost behind us, there's just enough time to speak of two of the many recordings issued this year to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare. Equally commendable, albeit radically different in the way they honor the Bard, are Shakespeare Songs (Warner Classics) from tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Anthony Pappano (available in 24/96 from HDTracks), and Take All my Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets (Deutsche Grammophon) from Rufus Wainwright and friends (available in 24/44.1 from HDTracks).
As well you might expect, Bostridge and Pappano's is the more…
Aloha, Stereophile Readers! I write to you from my childhood home on the tropical island of Oahu—my birthplace and present vacation spot until the start of CES. As Stereophile's resident Hawaii-native, I felt inspired to make a list of Hawaiian music albums. Here's a quintessential mix of five old and new favorites from the 50th state, in no particular order:
1. Israel Kamakawiwo'ole: Facing Future (1993)
This is a good place to start if you've never checked out Hawaiian music before. (Or if you're looking for something that'll sound great on your electrostatic speakers!) You…
Roughly half the size of a breadbox—remember those?—the Trenner & Friedl Sun ($3450/pair) is arguably the smallest stand-mounted loudspeaker presently available for serious home listening: only 8.5" high by 6.25" wide by 5.5" deep and weighing just 7.5 lbs. The Sun is the entry-level model from this Austrian loudspeaker manufacturer, and its ported, solid-birch cabinet is designed and built to golden-ratio proportions (footnote 1) It has a single, coaxial driver from SEAS and a crossover made by Mundorf. The Sun boasts a frequency response of 55Hz–25kHz, +0/–3dB; friends of mine have…