search

Wilson Benesch Square One Series 2 loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

John Marks enthused about this elegantly finished stand-mounted speaker from England, concluding that "the Square One is a standout performer that I think absolutely deserves a very high Class B (Restricted LF) rating in our 'Recommended Components.'"

High praise indeed. I asked John to send me the review samples so I could perform my standard set of measurements. As always, I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the speaker's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40, with its small, ¼"-diameter…

In The Land of Aztec Camera, Teenage Fanclub, and Orange Juice

Call me naïve but I expected to arrive in the UK on a recent expedition to buy vinyl, er. . . I mean to have a relaxing vacation with my wife... and find great stuff that cannot be found in the States, not to mention tons of vintage goodies. In my fevered thirty three and a third delusions, I envisioned plum and orange-label original Led Zeppelin pressings piled high in shops; streets paved with copies of Rubber Soul and Let It Bleed, swarms of cockney street urchins hawking 45s of "Baba O'Riley."

Beautiful Edinburgh, Auld Reekie, in wonderful Scotland was the first stop and VoxBox Music…

London Calling

I swear I did not plan it, and it wasn’t obvious on the Google maps I pored over before we left but the back door of the fabulous Soho Hotel spilled right out onto Wardour Street, which was a block from Berwick Street, famous for its cluster, or more like the best cluster of independent record shops in London. Not to cast aspersions on Rough Trade or Honest Jons, or even Fopp if you must—in the Covent Garden Fopp I snagged a rather nice reissue of Curtis Mayfield’s first solo record for ten quid—but it was heaven to have some great indies within an easy stroll. After devouring as much…

The 2015 Capital Audio Fest Starts Friday

This year's three-day Capital Audio Fest (CAF) opens on August 28 in Rockville, MD, relatively close to the nation's capitol. In a new, unquestionably friendlier and eminently accessible location, the Hilton Rockville, the show promises, at press time, up to 39 active exhibit rooms, probably more than the 118 "officially listed" brands and exhibitors, and a potential 300+ products.

While these numbers may represent a decrease from last year, CAF will certainly offer several interesting product debuts. These include the US debut of the new Avenger turntable from VPI, a venerable brand well…

Arnie Nudell: From Infinity to Genesis

Arnie Nudell is one of a handful of designers who could justifiably be called founding members of the high-end audio industry. With Cary Christie, and John Ulrick, Arnie co-founded Infinity in his garage in 1968 and recently joined forces with Paul McGowan, the co-founder of PS Audio, to create Genesis Technologies, the Colorado-based company formed to build ultra–high-end loudspeaker systems (see my review of their $22,000 Genesis II.5 loudspeaker system elsewhere in this issue.)

I visited the Genesis factory in September 1994 and spent some time with Arnie and Paul (footnote 1)…

Formula 4 tonearm

Not the easiest tonearm to set up (let your dealer do it if you aren't overly skilled at such things), this English-designed and Japanese-made device is the best pivoted tonearm we have tested to date, and at a very reasonable price at that. Polk Audio is importing them and distributing to dealers, most of whom sell them for around $130 to $140, and some buyers have managed to purchase them directly from stores in England for as little as $80. We received two samples of this for testing, one directly from the US distributor, Polk Audio, the other from Natural Sound, a Nebraska dealer and (…

Arnie Nudell: From Infinity to Genesis Page 2

If you take an ideal line source, there are no floor or ceiling bounces. And because of the cardioid pattern, the radiation at the edge of the speaker is essentially zero, so there's no wall bounce at the intersection with the wall. So with a line-source dipole, you have almost an ideal room match. Reducing the room's effect gives you the purest look at what's on the CD or the record. But this isn't true for frequencies below 100 cycles, where you get the same kinds of room interactions.

That's where servo woofers come in. Several woofers that we and other people have shown over the…

Formula 4 tonearm Specifications

Sidebar: Specifications

Description: Viscous-damped unipivot tonearm. Length: 8.8" stylus to base center. Nominal effective mass: 4.5 grams. Base clearance: 4.5" below arm tube.
Price: $140 (1977); no longer available (2015).
Manufacturer: Mayware, England. Company no longer in existence.

Recording of September 2015: <I>The Thompson Fields</I>

Maria Schneider Orchestra: The Thompson Fields
Maria Schneider, composer, arranger, conductor; 18-piece orchestra
ArtistShare AS0137 (CD). 2015. Maria Schneider, Ryan Truesdell, prods.; Brian Montgomery, eng. DDD. TT: 77:25
Performance *****
Sonics ****

The world's leading figure in orchestral jazz has not released a jazz recording in eight years. In her liner notes, Maria Schneider says, "This album was funded by my ArtistShare fan base. Making a recording like this is becoming increasingly difficult and would now be impossible without the generous support of my many…

Why They Scorn Usand Why We Should Care

Are you on Facebook? Twitter? Instagram? Reddit? Social media has done much to bring together people of every interest imaginable to share their fascinations, desires, and, occasionally, delusions. From fans of frogs (FrogStomp) and proponents of clean public toilets (Benjyo Soujer) to a group that challenged an Iranian cleric's statement that women's flimsy attire causes earthquakes (Boobquake), social media is a global town square in which anyone with a keyboard and an attitude has an equal voice.

Like all self-respecting Facebookers, audiophiles also…