search
When Ken Kantor helped to found Now Hear This, Inc. (most commonly referred to by its initials, NHT) in 1986, he brought with him a wealth of design and production experience learned from stints with NAD and Acoustic Research. He also brought a desire to build and market products that a wide range of people could afford. NHT began by producing small, two-way designs distinguished by the angled front baffle which remains the company's trademark. The latter is no gimmick, but was designed to optimize the loudspeakers' radiation pattern, a matter of keen interest to Kantor ever since his…
While the NHT 3.3 certainly does the other stuff well, the bottom end of its range sets it apart. I've never heard bass with this combination of true extension and clean and unmuddled mid- and upper bass from any other one-piece loudspeaker—either in this room or in any other. Only on a very few recordings—like the deepest bass on the synthesizer-enhanced version of Also Sprach Zarathustra (from Time Warp, Telarc CD-80106), or the fundamentals of a raging waterfall as reproduced on the final "Rhinefalls" cut from Staccato 2 (Audio (Germany) 101013)—did a first-rate subwoofer, such as the…
Corey Greenberg wrote about the NHT 3.3 in March 1994 (Vol.17 No.3):
In my 1993 WCES report last April, I reported that the most impressive product I'd heard at the Show was the introduction of NHT's new flagship loudspeaker, the $4000/pair Model 3.3. Even under the iffy conditions of a show demo, the big 3.3s just floored me—I had honestly never heard speakers do what I was hearing these new NHTs do. Although the 3.3s had already been snatched up by Tom Norton for review, I made arrangements to get a pair into my He-Man listening room as soon as my plane touched back down in TX.
…
Sidebar 1: Measurements
John Atkinson performed the measurements on the NHT 3.3, handing me the file only after I had finished my auditioning. Its B-weighted sensitivity measured approximately 87dB/W/m (B-weighted). Its impedance (fig.1) is quite uniform, both in magnitude and phase angle, verifying NHT's specifications and indicating that the 3.3 will be a relatively easy load to drive. The maximum value of just over 10 ohms at 27Hz indicates the low-frequency tuning point of the system—an unusually low value. This is the -6dB point of the woofer's near-field response (see fig.2). The…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Four-way, sealed-enclosure, loudspeaker system. Drive-units: 12" polymer-cone woofer, 6.5" polymer-cone midbass, 4" polymer-cone upper midrange, 1" fluid-damped aluminum-dome tweeter. Crossover frequencies: 100Hz (12dB/octave), 320Hz (12dB/octave), 3.5kHz (18dB/octave). Frequency response: 23Hz-26kHz ±2dB (in-room, 1m). Usable bass response: -6dB at 19Hz, in-room (-3dB at 22Hz, in-room). Sensitivity: 87dB/2.83V/1m. Nominal impedance: 6 ohms (4.3 ohms minimum, 10.5 ohms maximum, no phase angle greater than ±30 degrees). Amplifier requirements: 30-…
Harry Partch (1901-1974), composer and inventor of musical instruments, delighted in generating deep bass. Finding most standard orchestral instruments wanting in that department, he built the huge Marimba Eroica, which he described on his A Glimpse into the World of Harry Partch: 27 Unique Instruments (LP, Columbia MS-20576):
"In the right room acoustically, the Eroica is felt through the feet, against the belly, and, if one sits on the floor, it ripples through his bottom. It is very difficult to put on tape, and especially on records, with any fidelity. Adequate playback equipment is…
This was proven time and again. Track 7 of the Patriot Games soundtrack (CD, RCA 66051-2), "Assault on Ryan's House," is a torture test for subs as it contains an overabundance of unusually thick bottom-end information. But the EMB-1200 was unperturbed and uncovered quite a bit of music down there, which added immeasurably to the realism of the sound. The EMB-1200 played the passage with no sign of distortion or stress. The bass remained clean, deep, and solid, with no spurious noises to indicate that the woofer was in difficulty.
The EMB's speed and agility rendered dynamics with…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Powered bandpass subwoofer in sealed enclosure with signal-sensing auto on/off. Drive-units: 12" long-excursion, cone driver with 3" push-pull voice-coil and 15-lb magnet, 12" brushed-aluminum-cone passive radiator. Frequency response: 20-150Hz, ±3dB. Low-pass filter: 40-150Hz (variable, defeatable), 24dB/octave slope. No high-pass filter. Total harmonic distortion: <0.5%. Amplifier: 1200W RMS, 3600W peak (class-D). Inputs per channel: 2 line-level (RCA), 2 high-level. Speaker terminals: 4 (bare wire, banana plugs, or spade lugs). Outputs: 2 line…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: Linn Sondek-Lingo turntable, Linn Ittok tonearm, Spectral moving-coil cartridge.
Digital sources: Krell KRC-28 CD player, Sony SCD-C555ES multichannel SACD/CD player.
FM tuners: Day-Sequerra Classic, McIntosh MR-78, Sony ST-5000.
Preamplification: Mark Levinson ML-7 preamplifier with L3A moving-coil phono cards, Duntech MX-10 head amplifier, Margulis phono section, Krell KCT preamplifier.
Power amplifiers: Mark Levinson ML-2 monoblocks, Mark Levinson No.334, Krell FPB 600c.
Loudspeakers: Quad ESL-989, Velodyne DD-18 subwoofer…
Sidebar 3: The James EMB-1000 subwoofer
The 10" EMB-1000 ($1595) shares the larger EMB-1200's design and internal amplifier, but it costs $600 less. It's also 1" shorter and thinner, 4" shallower, and weighs 30 lbs less. The EMB-1000 (serial number 1577) performed surprisingly well in my large listening room with most program material. To my surprise, I was able to blend it with the Quad ESL-989s at 45Hz, which made it much less directional than the EMB-1200. Working behind the Quads, it widened and deepened the soundstage even more.
However, demanding program material showed its…