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Back in August, I received an email from Editor Jim Austin. Subject line: "Want to do a big review?" He had my attention. Jim wrote that he had visited Bowers & Wilkins parent company Masimo Consumer in Carlsbad, California, for a demo of the brand-new B&W 801 D4 Signature and 805 D4 Signature loudspeakers. (That visit was chronicled by Jim in the September 2023 Industry Update section.) B&W had offered Stereophile the first US review of both products—look for John Atkinson's review of the 805 D4 Signature in the coming months—and Jim thought the big 801s would be "right up my…
Víkingur Ólafsson: From Afar
Víkingur Ólafsson, grand and upright pianos
DG 4861681 (24/192 WAV, available on 2 CD, 2 LP). 2022. Christopher Tarnow, prod. & eng.
Performance *****
Sonics ****
Víkingur Ólafsson, grand and upright pianos
DG 4861681 (24/192 WAV, available on 2 CD, 2 LP). 2022. Christopher Tarnow, prod. & eng.
Performance *****
Sonics ****
From Afar seems on its face like a dream recording for audiophiles and music lovers. The 2-CD, 44-track project spotlights Víkingur Ólafsson, the sensitive, 38-year-old Icelandic pianist, performing a captivating program of short pieces twice on dissimilar pianos with very different sound: a concert grand and an upright. The very different performances are dictated by Ólafsson's…
For years, Audio Advice Live has been an annual event, drawing enthusiastic audiophiles to the dealership's showrooms on Raleigh's Glenwood Avenue, next to Virgin Cigars. This year, Audio Advice Live was different. It was a fully fledged audio show, held like most such events at a conference hotel: the Sheraton Raleigh Hotel in that North Carolina city, with rooms sponsored and presented by a wide range of hi-fi and home-theater manufacturers and distributors.
What differentiated this show from any other is that it was put together by a single dealer (Audio Advice, which also has a store…
I remember, at High End Munich 2019, setting eyes on one of the most attractive loudspeakers I'd ever seen, in the color that, as I now know, Estelon calls Ocean Mystery. I remember it as a passive demo, no music playing, seen through glass; whether that memory is strictly accurate I don't know. Memories are funny things.
That speaker was about as tall as an average-sized woman and weighed twice as much (not that I lifted it, or attempted to). Its cabinet seemed to carve out the least possible space while encompassing all its parts—nothing spare, nothing wasted. With black drivers…
There's an audiophile trope that says that when you've found the best position for a pair of speakers, you know it because everything snaps into place: No other position will do, even if it's just a half-inch away. That has never been my experience, and it wasn't here. To me, it's as though loudspeakers in a room occupy a potential well, like a marble on a hilly surface that rolls around until it settles in a low point—the low point being, in the analogy, the spot where the sound is locally optimal. Typically, that optimal position is approached in steps, and the closer you get, the smaller…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way bass-reflex, floorstanding loudspeaker with marble-base composite cabinet. Drive units: 1" (25mm) Accuton inverted diamond-dome tweeter, 6.25" (158mm) Acuton ceramic-membrane midwoofer, 8.7" (220mm) ceramic-membrane woofer. Crossover frequencies: 80Hz, 2.1kHz. Frequency range: 22Hz–60kHz. Impedance: 6 ohms nominal, 3.1 ohms minimum at 51Hz. Sensitivity: 87dB/2.83V/m. Recommended minimum amplifier power: 30W.
Dimensions: 49.5" (1260mm) H × 16.5" (420mm) W × 23" (590mm) D. Weight: 150lb (69kg) each.
Finishes: White matte, white gloss…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: SME 30/12 turntable with V-12 tonearm and Ortofon Windfeld Ti cartridge.
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus +; Denafrips Avatar CD transport; CH Precision D1.5 transport, D1.2 DAC, T1 Clock, and X1 power supply; Synology DS918+ 4-bay Network Attached Storage device with 16TB; Melco S100 Network Switch.
Preamplification: Pass Labs XP-25 and Sutherland Big Loco prototype phono preamplifiers, Pass Labs XP-32 line preamplifier.
Power amplifiers: Pass Labs XA60.8 monoblocks.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Carbon & Cinnamon &…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Estelon XB Diamond Mk II in Jim Austin's listening room. I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the farfield frequency response and an Earthworks QTC40 microphone for the nearfield and in-room responses. As the Estelon speaker weighs 150lb, I wasn't able to lift it off the floor to raise the measurement axis sufficiently high to move the early reflections back in time. (The tweeter is 36" from the floor.) Instead, I used a small jack that Wilson Audio Specialties had loaned JCA for his December 2021 review of…
During my 30-odd years inhabiting New York City's Greenwich Village, I've seen many things come and go. Today's Village buzzes, blasts, and bellows in every direction, change itself the only constant.
Once the province of printers, factories, piers, and the maritime trade, the Far West Village, from Varick to Greenwich, plays host to a looming Disney megaplex. Concrete office blocks, empty in the 1990s, are choked with condos offering wraparound frontage, their storefronts touting Botox ("Wrinkle Prevention Studio"), cosmetic dentistry ("secretly straighten your teeth"), and bootcamp…
The 91E's 49lb machined-aluminum chassis, 18.9" wide, 15" deep, and 11.1" high, boasts an appealing industrial design that befits its heritage. It is big, bold, and beautiful, and its 6" tall, 1" thick faceplate commands your attention.
On the left side of the faceplate, in a recessed panel, a column of pushbuttons allow source selection: phono, CD, tuner, aux 1, aux 2, and Bluetooth. In the center, a raised 4" × 2.5" glass display, which is easily legible from across the room, shows the selected input, the volume level, and twin VU meters. Near the bottom of the screen, the Western…