The Metropolitan
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While Clearfield Audio may be a new name to many of you, it represents the marriage of two well-established members of the high-end community: Counterpoint and designer Albert Von Schweikert. Counterpoint had been working to add speakers to its product lineup for some time. The partnership with Von Schweikert, whom Stereophile readers will remember as the designer of the Vortex Screen favorably reviewed by Robert Harley in July 1989, fills out Counterpoint's high-end product line from source—the company showed a CD transport at the June 1993 CES—to speaker.
The sonic changes included different damping in both midrange compartments and both woofer compartments. One of the rear-firing ports on each speaker was eliminated. The length of the other port, 3" in diameter, was significantly shortened, and the crossover was redesigned. The cabinets and drivers themselves were otherwise unchanged. The intent of these changes was to extend the deep-bass response, attenuate the midbass, and smooth out the overall frequency balance. The base plinth was refinished in gloss black, as was the front baffle. The cabinets themselves now have more oil and…
I've saved the best for last. The Mets were both very sensitive and easy to drive. Almost any good amp worked well. Since they could be bi-wired or bi-amped, the sound of the speaker could be tailored in various ways to suit my needs. In virtually any of these configurations, the Mets were very dynamic. They could play softly or loudly, and handled any intermediate gain level without difficulty. Dynamic shadings were effectively conveyed, although I've used other speakers that were better at resolving the subtlest changes in level. Nonetheless, the Mets were equally at home with a string…
Sidebar 1: Measurements
All of my measurements were performed on the final, up-to-spec Metropolitan samples. Where there are differences with our earlier samples, I have indicated this in the text. I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone. The B-weighted sensitivity with the treble control flat appeared to be a little lower than specification at around a calculated 86dB/2.83V/m. (Because of the altitude at Santa Fe, I can't take absolute sensitivity measurements; instead, I compare the B-weighted value against that of a reference speaker which has been measured…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Three-way, floorstanding loudspeaker system. Drivers: 1" aluminum-dome tweeter, two dual–voice-coil, Kevlar-cone, 6" midrange units, two long-throw, polypropylene-cone, 8" woofers. Frequency response: 25Hz–25kHz, –3dB. Crossover points: 125Hz, 2kHz. Crossover type: 3rd-order, 18dB/octave. Bass loading: "critically damped, 4th-order tuned air column with modified Thiele/Small alignment." Impedance: 4 ohms nominal. Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m. Cabinet: "Stressed Monocoque Structure" using 1"-thick MDF panels and compression-loaded shelf braces.
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Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Posthorn Serenade
Prague Chamber Orchestra, Charles Mackerras conducting.
Telarc CD 80108 (CD). Robert Woods, prod., Jack Renner, eng. DDD.
Prague Chamber Orchestra, Charles Mackerras conducting.
Telarc CD 80108 (CD). Robert Woods, prod., Jack Renner, eng. DDD.
Holt's First Law of Recording states: "The better the performance, the worse the recording—and vice versa." It's true; really fine recordings of superb musical performances are so rare that the discovery of one such gem is cause for rejoicing. Well, you can rejoice: this is one of them.
Although Charles Mackerras has recorded a number of major works, including operas, especially by Janácek, he is best-…
The Jazz Journalists’ Association announced its 2014 awards this week. I don’t think I’ve disagreed with so many of its picks. In most cases, I’d simply rank others higher than the JJA balloteers; in some cases, though, I part from their judgment pretty vigorously. Here are some of the JJA winners, followed by my choices:
Record of the Year:
(JJA) Wayne Shorter, Without a Net (Blue Note).
(Me) Darcy James Argue & Secret Society, Brooklyn Babylon (New Amsterdam). (I’m in a minority here, but I think Shorter’s latest is overrated: the band is great, but Shorter noodles too much…
The May 2014 issue of Stereophile is now on newsstands. With High-Resolution Audio poised to go mainstream, the issue features Sony's $2000 HAP-Z1ES file player on its cover. Kalman Rubinson takes the Sony through its paces summing up that the "audiophile quality" Sony "has the potential to become a gateway product for the mass market of portable-player users."
In a related review, John Atkinson spends some serious time with NAD's "Masters Series" combination of M50 Digital Music Player, M51 D/A processor, and M52 RAID array Media Store. Yes, this exquisitely engineered system sounded…
It's been getting closer and closer the past few days. But this morning, Stereophile's Facebook page got its 20,000th "Like."
Woo hoo!!!!
On the mantel sat a stuffed Culo snake from Nuevo Laredo, with a red rubber tongue in freeze-frame flick. Above the bookcase hung the mounted head of a wild poi dog, killed in self-defense in Sri Lanka with only a Phillips-head screwdriver. A table-lamp made from a shellac'd, puffed-up frog wearing a sombrero and playing the contrabassoon bathed the room in a soft cream glow.
But the only living thing in this pack of once-proud beasts was the young man sitting at the kitchen table, slowly pecking at the keys of a rundown Bondwell laptop and blowing soap bubbles out of the antique ivory…