I was right. One Saturday morning I walked from my apartment,…
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In the early 1980s, not long after I moved to New York City, I went shopping for a new pair of speakers. I already had a Rega Planar 3 turntable, an NAD 1020 preamp, and an Amber Series 70 amplifier (the second-most-powerful amp I've ever owned); what I now had in mind was to replace my aging EPI 100s with something bigger. Like them though I did, the EPIs were too tight and light for my new apartment, and I was certain I could find something with more bass and better scale—and still stay within my less-than-lavish budget.
And there were differences in bass extension. The vintage Snells were satisfying, even if notes below 55Hz or so weren't given full weight, and played bass lines with excellent clarity of tempo, pitch, and timbre. In the parlance of their day, the Snells played tunes—in utter defiance of the Flat-Earthers who told us that bass-reflex loudspeakers "lack merit" (footnote 3).
I could nitpick other aspects of the Snells' performance, I suppose, including a peculiarly narrow midrange suckout that might have been due to woofer surrounds in need of running-in, and a pervasive graininess in…
Sidebar: List of the Month
The 12 most questionable Grammy Awards of the past quarter-century, from the merely ponderous to the thunderously stupefying:
1) Alan Menken and Tim Rice, Song of the Year, 1993: "A Whole New World"
2) Amy Winehouse, Song of the Year, 2007: "Rehab"
3) Eric Clapton, Record of the Year, 1996: "Change the World"
4) Celine Dion, Record of the Year, 1998: "My Heart Will Go On"
5) Joe Jackson, Best Pop Instrumental Album, 2000: Symphony No.1
6) Alanis Morissette, Best Rock Album, 1995: Jagged Little Pill
7) Julie Gold, Song of the Year…
It is perhaps the most cherished tale from hi-fi's primordial past: In 1951—when music was first being recorded on magnetic tape, when the use of much-improved microphones became a mix of science and art, and when Stereophile's founder, J. Gordon Holt, was still a little nipper, years away from his first martini (though I wouldn't swear to that)—the team of Robert (Bob) and Wilma Cozart Fine began to build a legendary catalog of recordings of classical music. It eventually included the work of conductors Rafael Kubelik, Antal Doráti, and Frederick Fennell; the Chicago and Minneapolis…
I can’t wait for this one to be released on a physical format, preferably orange vinyl (please, Island Def Jam?), but we can stream Frank Ocean’s prog/R&B/soul/funk/quiet storm epic, Channel Orange, right now via his tumblr.
The sprawling, 17-track album features cameos from Earl Sweatshirt (Odd Future), John Mayer, and Andre 3000, and is also available now from iTunes. Official release is next Tuesday, July 17th.
Back at home, I'd recently set up Polk Audio's RTi A3 loudspeakers ($399.95/pair), which, at 14.75" H by 8.58" W x 14" D, are by far the largest bookshelf models I've had in my listening room. Right out of the box, the RTi A3 impressed me with its fit and finish. In Polk's Damped Asymmetrical Hex Laminate Isolation (DAHLI) cabinet design, five layers of MDF are glued together to form a damping system, then topped by a real-wood veneer of black ash or, in the case of my review samples, an impeccable cherry. The gracefully curved cabinet narrows in width from 8.58" at the front to about 5" at…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" silk-dome tweeter, 6.5" polymer-composite-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 2.8khz. Crossover soples: 12dB/ocatve. Frequency reange: 40Hz–27kHz. Frequency response: 50Hz–26kHz –3dB. Voltage sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Recommended amplifier power: 20–150Wpc.
Dimensions: 14.75" (375mm) H by 8.58" (214mm) W x 14" (356mm) D. Weight: 16 lbs (7.26kg).
Price: $399.95/pair.
Manufacturer: Polk Audio, 5601 Metro Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215. Tel: (800) 377-7665, (410) 358-…
Sidebar 2: Review System
Initially, I connected the RTi A3s to my NAD C316 BEE integrated amplifier ($380) using the Kimber 8VS speaker cable. Source components were my Rega P3-24 turntable ($1295, discontinued) and my NAD C515 BEE CD player ($300). When playing vinyl, I used the outstanding Parasound ZphonoUSB phono preamplifier ($349). All interconnects were Kimber's PBJ.
I spent some time experimenting with speaker placement, but found that the Polks performed best when placed exactly where the PSBs had been: about 8' from my listening position, 30" from the sidewalls, and 42…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I subjected the RTi A3 to my usual test regime. 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 for the nearfield responses. I estimated the Polk's voltage sensitivity at 89.3dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is both high and a little higher than the specified 89dB. This speaker will play loudly with relatively low-powered amplifiers. Fig.1 shows the RTi A3's electrical impedance and phase, plotted against frequency. The impedance drops just below 4 ohms in the lower…
In my review of Bryston Ltd.'s SP-3 preamplifier-processor ($9500) in my May 2012 column, I found that it sounded outstandingly open and dynamic when used as an analog stereo or multichannel preamp. This was evident regardless of the rest of the system, which began with a McIntosh Labs MC303 three-channel power amplifier driving B&W 800 Diamond speakers, but eventually included Bel Canto REF1000M and Anthem Statement M-1 amps, as well as Adam Audio's Classic Column Mk.3 speakers. Didn't matter. The Bryston's transparency allowed each component to perform as well as I'd ever heard it.…