Description: Three-way, floorstanding, reflex-loaded dynamic loudspeaker. Drive-units: horn-loaded 0.3" (8mm) Corona plasma tweeter; 4" (155mm) polypropylene-cone midrange unit; two 8.7" coated, glass-fiber/fabric cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 200Hz, 2.5kHz. Frequency response: 32Hz–150kHz, ±3dB. Impedance: 4 ohms nominal, 3.2 ohms minimum. Sensitivity: 91dB/2.83V/m. Maximum level: 112dB/m. Operating supply voltages: 110–120 or 220–240V AC.
Dimensions: 40.9" (1019mm) H by 10.1" (128mm) W by 19.3" (490mm) D. Weight: 167.5 lbs (76.1kg) net.
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP & DX-5 universal players; Apple G4 Mac mini running OS10.5.8, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.83; Shuttle PC with Lynx AES16 soundcard & dual-core AMD Athlon processor running Windows 7, Foobar 2000, Adobe Audition 3.0; dCS Debussy, Logitech Transporter, Mark Levinson No.30.6 D/A converters; Empirical Audio Off-Ramp4 USB-S/PDIF converter; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 A/D converter for vinyl rips.
Preamplifiers: Classé CP-800, Ayre Acoustics K-5xeMP.
Power Amplifiers: Classé CT-M600, Lamm M1.2 Reference, MBL Reference…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Lansche 5.1's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and spatially averaged room responses. The Lansche is specified as having a voltage sensitivity of 91dB/2.83V/m; my estimate on the tweeter axis was 90.5dB(B), which is both within experimental error of the specification and usefully higher than average.
Fig.1 shows the Lansche 5.1's electrical impedance phase angle, following the modification to the crossover. The impedance is…
One of the real coups of Holger Peterson’s Stony Plain Records which is the subject of my Aural Robert column in the July issue of Stereophile was signing the great Canadian blues guitar player Jeff Healy to a deal late in Healy’s too short life to make both blues and jazz albums. For those who’d like to know more about this really extraordinary player Eagle Rock Entertainment has a new four disc multi-media set The Jeff Healy Band, Full Circle: The Live Anthology (3 CDs and a DVD) which documents the music of the late Jeff Healy, who lost his sight when he was one year old to retinoblastoma…
I had on hand three DACs that, in my and a few others' opinions, represent the best digital audio reproduction in their respective price classes: the Bel Canto Design e.One DAC3.5VB ($5440 as reviewed), the Weiss DAC202 ($7737), and the dCS Debussy ($10,999). Each represents a major advance in the handling of digital conversion, and each is based on a completely different design paradigm in its manufacturer's quest to wrest the best from all those zeros and ones. Unsurprisingly, each also has a completely different sonic signature.
The Goldilocks DAC in this shoot-out was Bel Canto's e.…
For a manufacturer to squeeze money from the stone that is my CD-player budget, his products would have to be both exceptional and affordable. And as long as I'm reporting from Fantasyland, I'll ask that they also be obsolescence-proof.
That last goal, especially, is one most designers try to reach by adopting ever-new technologies: new digital-to-analog converters, new filters, new numbers. But there remain a handful of manufacturers who would win the numbers game by not playing it at all, Audio Note UK among them. Not that the British firm is against progress per se—but as far as their…
Also: During its first days in my system, the CD-4.1x was unkind to those few CDs in my collection on which solo voices and violins had been recorded at excessive levels: Those things sounded "hotter" through the Audio Note than through either my Sony SACD player or my computer-audio rig—although that condition resolved itself over time.
Listening
Given its unusual pedigree, I can be forgiven for wondering if, throughout the many hours I spent listening to the CD-4.1x, I was presented with higher-than-average levels of certain distortions: Audio Note's own product description would…
I had on hand three DACs that, in my and a few others' opinions, represent the best digital audio reproduction in their respective price classes: the Bel Canto Design e.One DAC3.5VB ($5440 as reviewed), the Weiss DAC202 ($7737), and the dCS Debussy ($10,999). Each represents a major advance in the handling of digital conversion, and each is based on a completely different design paradigm in its manufacturer's quest to wrest the best from all those zeros and ones. Unsurprisingly, each also has a completely different sonic signature.
In his review of the dCS Debussy (January 2011), Michael…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Single-box, top-loading, tubed CD player. Tube complement: two 6H23N. Digital output: coax (RCA). (AES/EBU on XLR optional.) Analog output impedance: <2k ohms. Maximum output voltage: ca 3.0V RMS. Channel balance: <0.25dB. Power consumption: 48W.
Dimensions: 17.4" (446mm) W by 5.5" (142mm) H by 16.7" (428mm) D. Weight: 24.2 lbs (11kg).
Finishes: Silver (brushed aluminum), black (acrylic).
Serial number of unit reviewed: CD4-059.
Price: $12,000. Approximate number of dealers: 12.
Manufacturer: Audio Note UK, Ltd., 25…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; EMT 997, Schick tonearms; Ortofon SPU, EMT TSD 15 70th Anniversary & OFD 25 pickup heads.
Digital Sources: Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player; Wavelength Proton USB D/A converter; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v.10.2.2, Decibel v.1.0.2 playback software.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Standard (SPU version), Silvercore One-to-Ten step-up transformers; Shindo Masseto preamplifier.
Power Amplifiers: Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks, Fi 421A.
Loudspeakers: Audio Note AN-…