During this review of three inexpensive speakers in this issue—the other were the Tannoy E11 and the…
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The philosophy promoted by many mainstream stereo magazines (and thus often the belief of the general public) is that one should spend a minimum amount of one's hi-fi budget on electronics and front ends, and a maximum amount on loudspeakers. Since all electronics sound alike and it's the loudspeaker that really produces the sound, the highest overall performance is obtained by putting expensive loudspeakers at the end of a chain of inexpensive electronics. Cables? Don't waste your money.
Sidebar 1: Review Context
The Dana loudspeakers were auditioned in my dedicated listening room with the following ancillary equipment: VTL 225W Deluxe monoblock power amplifiers, Esoteric D-10 and D-2 digital processors, a Theta DSPro Basic digital processor, and the Electronic Visionary Systems Stepped Attenuator, a passive control unit. The analog front end was a VPI HW-19 Jr. turntable with an AudioQuest PT-5 tonearm and Sumiko Boron cartridge. A new outboard phono preamp made by Precision Audio allowed me to use the passive control unit for both CD and LP playback.
Speaker…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
I began the measurements with the Listening Environment Diagnostic Recording (LEDR) described by Bob Katz in Vol.12 No.12 and found on the Chesky Jazz Sampler CD. The LEDR test consists of a sampled cabasa (a percussion instrument) that has had its sound manipulated by a computer to give the illusion of the instrument moving in three-dimensional space. Three tests comprise LEDR: in "Up," the sound should appear to move up in a straight line from the loudspeaker; the "Over" test is also called the "rainbow" since the image should follow a rainbow-shaped arc above…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Two-way loudspeaker with 6" woofer and 1" titanium-coated dome tweeter. Bass alignment: sealed-box. Frequency response: 63–20kHz ±3dB. Maximum continuous power: 60W. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m. Crossover frequency: 3150Hz. Crossover slopes: first-order, 6dB/octave. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Terminals: five-way binding posts. Dimensions: 8¾" W by 15" H by 7½" D. Weight: 11 lbs each. Price: $179/pair (1990); no longer available (2016). Approximate number of dealers: factory-direct. Manufacturer: Dana Audio, Austin, TX 78767 (1990); company no longer in…
As I write these words in January 1991, we're right in the midst of an annual media feeding frenzy: the "Best of the Year" follies. This usually takes the form of lists compiled in groups of ten for reasons that must hearken back to some obscure Druidic practice. You know the routine: "Ten Best Books of the Year," "Ten Best Films of the Year," "Ten Top Personalities of the Year," "Ten Best Sports Plays of the Year." Every corner of the media seems eager to get into the act. Special-interest magazines are hardly immune. Car enthusiasts can get their fill of "Cars of the Year." Computer…
The line stage of the Consonance accepts the single-ended output of the attenuator stage (which follows the phono stage), provides the appropriate gain, and also performs the conversion to differential (balanced) mode by means of a differential FET amplifier. No negative feedback is employed in this stage. There are several ways of converting a single-ended signal to balanced operation. Rowland claims that their (proprietary) method of conversion is superior to other implementations, providing increased loading flexibility, reducing time and phase anomalies, and maximizing the Common Mode…
Sidebar 1: A Matter of Volume
While there are 200 available level settings, the readouts are simply 0–200; they do not directly relate to decibels. That's a bit of a handicap for the reviewer and the audiophile who does a lot of comparison listening, but not much. To relate level settings to decibels, I simply fed a 1kHz test signal into the Consonance and measured the output of each channel for each of the 200 steps. While this was a bit tedious, it gave me a chart showing the relative level change from one step to the next. It also indicated very precise channel-to-channel tracking.…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
The frequency response of the Consonance is shown in fig.1, which speaks for itself, as does the THD+noise curve shown in fig.2, except to note that the latter reading was almost entirely noise. The line stage was non-inverting from the "Normal" main and tape outputs with the "Phase" indicator extinguished, though the balanced XLR outputs were wired with pin 3 "hot," conforming to the older US usage rather than the IEC standard, which means that connecting it to an amplifier wired with pin 2 "hot" will invert signal polarity. The phono stage was a mystery: while…
Michael, who might be termed our typical audiophile (if anything in Santa Fe can be termed "typical"), may have found his digital processor, but he's still in a quandary about choosing the right power amp to drive his new loudspeakers. He has listened to a number of them over the past few months, and has been unable to find one which satisfies him in every way. I suspect he has a lot of company. The thorny problems of room acoustics and placement aside, loudspeakers are easier. Their signatures are pronounced and generate strong feelings one way or another; it's usually no problem to narrow…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Decription: Remote-controled preamplifier. Frequency response: 0.08Hz–600kHz, –3dB (line), 0.15Hz–220kHz, –3dB (phono). Input impedances: user-selectable (see text). Output impedance: user selectable (see text). Gain: 16dB (line), 60dB (phono). Input sensitivity (for 500mV output): phono: 0.5mV, line: 78mV. RIAA accuracy: 20Hz–50kHz ±0.20dB. S/N ratio, A-weighted (ref. 500mV): 77dB (phono), 87dB (line). THD (ref. 2.5V rms): ¢0.04% (phono), ¢0.012% (line). Maximum output level: 10V rms (phono), 7.5V rms (line).
Dimensions: 13.75" W by 2.65" H by 15" D. Weight…