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Stereophile writers have reviewed three versions of Sonus Faber's stand-mounted, two-way loudspeaker, the Guarneri: Martin Colloms on the original Guarneri Homage, in 1994; Michael Fremer on the Memento edition, in 2007; and Art Dudley on the Evolution, in 2012. The Guarneri has always been an expensive speaker—$9400/pair with matching stands in 1995, $15,000 with stands in 2007, $20,000/pair plus $2000 for the stands in 2012—but its prices have been related to its build quality and appearance, both of which have always been superb. Now we have the Guarneri Tradition, for $15,900/pair,…
The speakers were toed in to my listening chair. On their conical feet, the stands are almost 29" tall, which places the tweeters 39" from the floor—I had to sit more upright than usual to raise my ears to the tweeter axes. With the dual-mono pink-noise track on my Editor's Choice (CD, Stereophile STPH016-2), the sound developed a slightly hollow coloration if I sat high enough to see the tops of the cabinets. Sitting with my ears on the tweeter axes, I could hear a slight emphasis in the low treble, though the balance was otherwise relatively even. The central image of the noise was…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.1" (28mm) damped-apex silk-dome tweeter, 5.9" (150mm) sandwich-cone mid/bass driver. Crossover frequency: 2.5kHz. Frequency range: 40Hz–35kHz. Sensitivity: 87dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Recommended amplification: 30–250Wpc. Long-term maximum input voltage (IEC 268-5): 20V RMS.
Dimensions: 14.85" (377mm) H by 9.4" W (239mm) W by 14.75" (375mm) D. Weight: 35.2 lbs (16kg). Dedicated stand: 29.85" (758mm) H by 12.25" (300mm) W by 15.35" (390mm) D. Weight: 35.2 lbs (16kg).…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Source: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge.
Digital Sources: Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player;MBL Noble Line N31 CD player–DAC; NAD Masters Series M50.2 digital music player; PS Audio PerfectWave DirectStream D/A converter with Bridge II (v.0.2.15) & RedCloud firmware; Mac mini running Roon 1.3, Vinyl Studio; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 USB A/D converter.
Preamplification: NHT Balanced Passive Volume Control; Channel D Seta L phono preamplifier.
Integrated Amplifier: NAD M32.…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the Sonus Faber Guarneri Tradition's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 for the nearfield responses. The Guarneri's sensitivity is specified as 87dB/2.83V/m; my estimate was close to this, at 86.1dB(B)/2.83V/m. How the Sonus Faber's impedance magnitude varies with frequency is shown by the solid trace in fig.1. Although it drops below 4 ohms between 160 and 340Hz, with a minimum value of 3.6 ohms at 125Hz, and there is a combination of 4.5 ohms and –38°…
Devastating in power and impact, Laurie Anderson's sonically all-encompassing, three-dimensional Landfall takes, as its ostensible start, the ravaging impact of Superstorm Sandy. But, given that this evening-long melding of string quartet, text, and electronically-manipulated soundscape, created for and with the Kronos Quartet, is by one of America's most prescient, larger-visioned multi-media performance artists, Landfall ultimately addresses the cataclysmic nature of life in modern times in ways that drive the sense of loss deep into one's being.
It took Kronos founder, violinist David…
In the first two parts of our video coverage of Jana Dagdagan's and my visit to PS Audio in Boulder, Colorado, we toured the factory and I interviewed the company's founder Paul McGowan. In this final video, I listen to three of my own recordings played on the legendary IRS V loudspeaker system, driven by PS Audio's BHK 300 monoblocks. I recorded the sound with Sennheiser's "Ambeo" binaural system, which mounts microphones on the outer surfaces of a pair of earbuds, and if you listen along on headphones, you will hear what I heard!
Hope you enjoy it—I did! And if you play it loud, the…
Chopin: Preludes, Op.28
Carol Rosenberger, piano. DED-15311.
Carol Rosenberger, piano. DED-15311.
Handel: Harpsichord Suites Nos.3 in d & 7 in g; Chaconne No.1 in G
Malcolm Hamilton, harpsichord. DEL-15322.
Scarlatti: sonatas, Vol.1.
Malcolm Hamilton, harpsichord. DEl-15321.
Szymanowski: Masques, Op.34; Etudes, Op.33; Four Etudes, Op.4
Carol Rosenberger, piano. DEL-15312.
Common to all: Amelia S. Haygood, executive producer; John Wright, Katja Andy, producers; Carson C. Taylor, engineer.
It is certainly cause for rejoicing when a new label appears that is dedicated to…
In her wild ride of a memoir, A Woman Like Me (2012), eclectic soul and R&B singer Bettye LaVette spoke of being hung over a 20th-floor balcony of a Manhattan skyscraper by her pimp boyfriend. She revealed that she'd slept with Ben E. King and Otis Redding, and had even spent a minute dabbling in prostitution. She had dropped acid with George Clinton. Finally, she had her moment of satisfaction when she delivered a knockout performance of the Who's "Love, Reign O'er Me" at the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors. In the audience, all agog, were Beyoncé, Barbra Streisand, and Aretha Franklin, all…
O'Donnell told me that LaVette sang in an isolation booth, and that he captured her voice with a pair of microphones, a Neumann U67 and an RCA 44. The entire recording was done digitally, on computers, in 24-bit/96kHz resolution. "I don't compress a lot unnecessarily," O'Donnell said. "The modern thing of squashing things to bits is no good. It takes the dynamics out of it.
The arrangements on Things Have Changed are all very different from the original versions, and it's clear that LaVette, who doesn't write music, has found a unique way to dig in and be emotionally committed to Dylan's…