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This is all the proof one could want that London's big, fat sound is more the result of their recording philosophy than of the halls they record in. One of the first London recordings ever made in the US, this has the now-familiar London sound all down the line: The big, fat low end, the richness, the superb balance, and the razor-sharp detail without zizz or zip. As usual, the result is not terribly real, but it certainly is exciting as well as being musically satisfying…

Description: Stereo vacuum-tube preamplifier. Inputs for magnetic phono, Aux, and Tape. Separate volume and balance controls.
Price: $485 (1984); no longer available (2018).
Manufacturer: Conrad-Johnson Design, McLean, VA 22101 (1984). 2800K Dorr Avenue, Fairfax, VA USA 22031 (2018). Tel: (703) 698-8581. Fax: (703) 560-5360. Web: conradjohnson.com.

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SR's Bolero is a well-made two-way minimonitor using drive-…

The review procedure followed, with minor changes, that established for my previous loudspeaker reviews: Each pair was used with a pair of VTL 100W Compact monoblocks, connected with Monster M1 speaker cable, while the preamplifier was a combination of the Mod Squad Line Drive Deluxe AGT and Vendetta Research SCP2 phono preamp. Source components consisted of a Marantz CD-94 CD player used to drive a Sony DAS-R1 D/A converter, a 1975-vintage Revox A77 to play my own 15ips master tapes, and a Linn Sondek/Ekos/Troika setup sitting on a Sound Organisation table to…

I estimated the voltage sensitivity (using 1/3-octave pink noise centered on 1kHz) and measured the change of impedance with frequency, while the nearfield low-frequency response of each speaker was assessed with a sinewave sweep to get an idea of the true bass extension relative to the level at 100Hz.

The Acustik-Lab Bolero's modulus of impedance with frequency is shown in fig.1. Typical of a 4 ohm design, it stays below 8 ohms most of the time, the only exceptions being in the region of the tweeter resonance and the twin reflex humps in the bass. The…

Whatever this imbalance may say about American audiophiles, it speaks well for the British attitude toward good sound; home construction offers the audiophile a ticket to kilobuck sound quality at a fraction of the cost. Generally, there's a…

Description (Bolero): Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" hard-dome tweeter, 5.25" plastic-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: approximately 3kHz. Frequency response: 50Hz–19kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity: 90dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Amplifier requirements: 10–60W.
Dimensions: 14.125" H by 7.75" W by 9.4" D. Weight: 17 lbs each.
Price: $1580/pair (1989); no longer available (2018).

Description (Forte): Drive-unit: 6.5" doped paper-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: approximately 150Hz. Measured –6dB point: 32Hz.…

Visibly, there is nothing to distinguish Dick Olsher's Dahlia design (see later) from hundreds of other small speakers—except, that is, that it's uglier than most such. Although our samples were superbly finished (Dick Olsher bought them from a professional cabinet maker), the enclosures' dimensions were apparently chosen according to acoustical dictates rather than aesthetic considerations. The resulting shape is rather squat, like a kneeling dwarf.

Since I haven't tried putting one of these together according…