Analog Source: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge.
Digital Sources: Aurender N10 music server; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; dCS Rossini CD player & Rossini Clock; PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A converter with Bridge II network adaptor; Meridian UltraDAC; AudioQuest JitterBug, UpTone Audio ReGen USB cleaner-uppers; Mac mini running Pure Music 3, Audirvana, Twonky server; iPad Mini running PlugPlay, Aurender apps; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter.
Phono Preamplifier…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Aerial 5T's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield and in-room responses. The 5T's voltage sensitivity is specified as 87dB/2.83V/m; my estimate was somewhat lower, at 85.2dB(B). The Aerial's nominal impedance is specified as 4 ohms, with a minimum magnitude of 3 ohms. My measurement was significantly different, with a magnitude (fig.1, solid trace) that dipped below 6 ohms in just two regions—between 29 and 54Hz and between 110 and 310Hz—and a…
Thursday, February 23, 4:30–8:30pm, F1 Audio (311 E Dundee Road, Palatine IL 60074) will be hosting an event featuring the new Dynaudio Contour 60 loudspeakers (above), Nordost cables, Octave tube electronics, and music from MoFi. Factory representatives will be on hand performing demonstrations and answering questions.
Guests will be able to register for a chance to win music from MoFi records, and F1 will offer special pricing during the event. Refreshments will be served. Please call (847 772-3140) or email to register for the event.
Saturday February 25, 12–5pm, Audible Images (161 Pineapple Avenue, Melbourne, FL 32935) is presenting Wilson Audio’s Alexx speaker. Guests will include Bill Peugh from Wilson Audio, Bill McKiegan from Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems, and Bob McConnell from Transparent Audio.
Wine & hors d'oeuvres will be served. Michael Fremer's review of the Wilson Alexx is scheduled to be published in the May issue of Stereophile.
I wouldn't normally begin a review of an imported product with generalities about the culture from which it sprang, but this isn't just any imported product. It's a Scandinavian loudspeaker, and Scandinavian speakers are subject to a different and altogether more liberal set of rules.
For one thing, because they tend to be healthy and well educated, and because their governments are at peace and, for the most part, economically and politically sound, Scandinavians can take a joke. For another, Scandinavians are famous for not only having a loudspeaker industry—something that has thus…
I also confirmed the merit of Larsen HiFi's advice to sit a bit farther from the speakers than the distance between them: too close, and the soundfield between the speakers lacked solidity and presence. That said, when I listened for sheer musical rather than aural pleasure—concentrating on pitches and dynamics and tone rather than spatial cues—the Larsen 8s were, in my experience, unique in their ability to be enjoyed from a seat literally anywhere in the room. Wherever I parked myself, sitting or standing, I never heard any colorations or changes in bottom-to-top tonal balance. It was…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-and-a-half-way, ported, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" polymer-dome tweeter, two 1" fabric-dome tweeters, 7" carbon-fiber/pulp-cone midrange unit; 7.75" carbon-fiber/pulp-cone woofer. Crossover frequencies: 300Hz, 2.5kHz, 5kHz (see text). Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 88dB.
Dimensions: 36.1" (916mm) H by 10.9" (278mm) W by 12.9" (328mm) D. Weight: 55.1 lbs (25kg).
Finishes: Cherry, Maple, White or Black Lacquer.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 1505157, 1505158.
Price: $6995/pair. Approximate number of…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: Garrard 301, Linn Sondek LP12, Thorens TD 124 turntables; Audio Origami UniArm, EMT 997, Rega Research RB 300 tonearms; EMT OFD 15 & TSD 15, Shindo Laboratory SPU pickup heads; Denon DL-103 cartridge.
Digital Sources: AudioQuest DragonFly Black & DragonFly Red USB DACs; Apple iMac G5 computer running Audirvana Plus v.1.5.12; Sony SCD-777ES SACD/CD player.
Preamplification: Auditorium 23 Hommage T1 & T2, content/listening-171-bobs-devices-sky-40-transformer">Bob's Devices Sky 40 step-up transformers; Shindo Laboratory…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I was intrigued by the Larsen 8 loudspeaker. More than 40 years ago, I had auditioned a pair of the late Stig Carlsson's unique Sonab speakers and come away with mixed feelings: While Carlsson's original designs, with their arrays of tweeters pointing in all directions, seemed to me innovative attempts to design an omnidirectional mono speaker, I felt they just didn't work when used in pairs for stereo.
But that was a long time ago, so I unpacked from their wooden crates the Larsen 8s that Art Dudley had shipped to me and set to work measuring sample…
Manufacturer's Comment
Editor: We are very grateful to Art Dudley for all his high praise and many accolades of the Larsen 8 speaker in his insightful and positive review. We appreciate all his efforts. As Art rightfully states, the Larsen 8 is a speaker for music lovers who want to forget the gear, sit back, and enjoy their music. When you do that, the Larsen speaker makes you "immensely happy," as Art writes.
Larsen speakers continue the development of the highly acclaimed Carlsson Acoustics OA-52, which Stig Carlsson developed in the 1980s with John Larsen. John Larsen worked…