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Here's a hard truth: A written review of a full-sized speaker—any speaker, really—is, at best, semi-useful. We all listen differently, we have different musical tastes, our system electronics are different, and our listening rooms vary a lot. You will gain a general picture of a speaker's capabilities and foibles from John Atkinson's measurements, and I can tell you how the speakers sound to me, in my room. But that's it. You need to hear them for yourself before making a buying decision. The best I can do is tell you how my music brain felt when the speakers were in my house and making music…
Listening I: Well-known tunes with the reference system
After that break-in period, I started listening critically using my reference system (dCS Bartók streamer/DAC, Benchmark LA-4 preamp, Benchmark AHB2 power amplifier). I had noticed during break-in that these speakers put out a lot of bass energy, more than I expected from 6.5" woofers. So I turned to my trusted Bass Test playlist on Qobuz (footnote 4). My go-to test of fast and deep bass these days is "Flea" by St. Vincent from All Born Screaming. There are deep beats, deep synth sounds, a bassline that goes to the bottom…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive units: 1.1" (28mm) "DAD (Damped Apex Dome) Arrow Point" tweeter with copper shorting ring, 6.5" (165mm) "Camelia" midrange unit mounted in cork internal enclosure, two 6.5" (165mm) pulp-cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 280Hz, 2.5kHz. Frequency response: 35Hz–40kHz, –3dB. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83/m. Power handling: 50–320W.
Dimensions: 42.6" (1081mm) H × 12.1" (308mm) W × 16.3" (530mm) D. Weight: 73.6lb (33.4kg) each.
Finish: walnut or wengè wood, black.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: Technics SL-1200MK7 turntable with Ortofon 2M Blue MM cartridge.
Digital sources: dCS Bartók streaming DAC, Oppo DV-981HD universal disc player.
Line preamplifier: Benchmark LA4.
Power amplifier: Benchmark AHB2.
Receiver-streamer: T+A R 2500 R.
Loudspeakers: B&W 808.
Accessories: Butcherblock Acoustics Rigidrack equipment rack, SME turntable cable.—Tom Fine
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone, and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the Sonus faber Sonetto V G2's quasi-anechoic frequency- and time-domain behavior in the farfield. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 microphone, which has a small (¼" diameter) capsule, for the nearfield responses.
The Sonus faber loudspeaker's voltage sensitivity is specified as 89dB/2.83V/m; my B-weighted estimate was 88.6dB(B),…
Perhaps my biggest discovery at the 2023 Warsaw Audio Video Show was Fezz Audio's reasonably priced line of excellent-sounding electronics. With a lineup that includes the Equinox Prestige tube DAC, designed by Lampizator, and the new Olympia monoblock whose auto-bias feature—controlled by a microprocessor—fine-tunes bias between tracks, Fezz electronics again joined with Pylon Audio loudspeakers and, for analog, Muarah turntables to produce fine, life-enhancing sound with fundamental integrity that speaks volumes.
With a computer as a source, I listened to Doug MacLeod's "Sweet…
Derek Skipworth of Arlington, Texas’s Audio Thesis was on hand to showcase several components at CAF2024. His spartan room featured a T+A Elektroakustik SDV 3100 HV Streaming DAC preamp ($38,900) and a T+A Elektroakustik A 3000 HV power amplifier ($24,275), driving the striking Rosso Fiorentino Siena Series 2 loudspeakers ($40,000/pair).
Audio Thesis’s biggest announcement
Audio Thesis’s biggest announcement was the global launch of Turnbull Audio. Not to be confused with Devon Turnbull of OJAS fame, this Turnbull is a cable company, which outfitted the Audio Thesis room at CAF.…
The buzz was palpable weeks before I hit the show. David Chesky’s son, Lucca, had designed a pair of small bookshelf speakers—the LC1—while still in high school and developed the speakers while interning at Princeton University with Professor Edgar Choueiri, the brains behind Bacch SP.
Sandy Gross, veteran and founder of Polk Audio, helped choose the drivers and contributed to the design, I was told. And they were selling for $498 apiece.
The LC1 cabinet exploits a composite, multi-layer, high-mass, non-resonant material, features a 1” dome tweeter, a 6.5” polypropylene cone…
Herb waits for Godot
It's important for readers to remember that I've spent my adult life as an artist and mechanic. Making things. Working as a tradesperson during the day then at an easel or workbench at night.
When I finished high school, all I wanted to do was work in a fancy, well-equipped shop building drag race engines. Engine building was something I had already shown a talent for, but my parents insisted I go to college. Unfortunately, my high school grade point average was so low I was turned down by every college I applied to. Consequently, my parents forced me to…
Since I reviewed it in Gramophone Dreams #79, the EVO 100 has refused to make my system sound warm, soft, or second-harmonic thickened. It defies all clichéd descriptions of what tube amplification sounds like. Instead, it plays clean and fast and corners like a race car.
When Kevin Deal emailed asking if I was ready for a "free" EVO 100 "upgrade," I asked, "What's wrong with the way it is?"
He responded, "It's a parts upgrade and circuit tweak. We could do the MKII BS to raise the price, but we don't roll that way. Our job is supplying joy, not cashing in. Doing it free…