At $480/pair, the Model 1.3 is midway in NHT's product line. Finished in a gloss-black high-pressure laminate, the 1.3 is elegant, even beautiful, and is distinguished by its unusual angled front baffle.…
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Now Hear This (NHT) was founded to produce low-cost loudspeakers a breed apart from the mass-market variety often found at the lower price points. Co-founder Ken Kantor has a long history in the hi-fi business as a designer at Acoustic Research, NAD, and as a design consultant to some large Japanese manufacturers. NHT's line ranges from the $180/pair Model Zero to the $1200 Model 100.
Sidebar 2: Measurements
I drove the Model 1.3s with a sinewave oscillator with my hand on the cabinet to detect resonances. They exhibited very few resonances, the loudest being at 140Hz and 330Hz. The 140Hz resonance produced a buzz, but was not as severe as the Tannoy E11's 220Hz peak.
The 1.3's impedance (fig.1) was lower than those of the Dana Model 1 or E11, at about 6 ohms through most of the low- to mid-frequency band. The narrow impedance peak at 66Hz reveals the 1.3's sealed-enclosure design. The Model 1.3's impulse response is very clean, with a minimum of ringing (fig.…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Two-way loudspeaker with 6½" woofer and 1" soft-dome tweeter. Bass alignment: sealed-box. Crossover frequency: 3100Hz with second-order slopes. Frequency response: 53Hz–24kHz ±3dB. Power handling: 150W maximum. Impedance: 8 ohms nominal. Sensitivity: 86dB, 2.3V at 1m (as published in owner's manual).
Dimensions: 7" W by 16½" H by 10" D. Weight: 15 lbs each, net.
Finish: high-gloss black laminate.
Price: $480/pair (1990); no longer available (2016). Optional stands, $150/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 110.
Manufacturer: Now Hear…
Sidebar 1: Review context
The NHT loudspeakers were auditioned in my dedicated listening room with the following ancillary equipment: VTL 225W Deluxe monoblock power amplifiers, Esoteric D-10 and D-2 digital processors, a Theta DSPro Basic digital processor, and the Electronic Visionary Systems Stepped Attenuator, a passive control unit. The analog front end was a VPI HW-19 Jr. turntable with an AudioQuest PT-5 tonearm and Sumiko Boron cartridge. A new outboard phono preamp made by Precision Audio allowed me to use the passive control unit for both CD and LP playback.
Speaker…
How many advertisements for hi-fi or head-fi hardware do you see on your morning commute? Two? Three? If you live in Los Angeles, Sydney, or Paris, most likely it'll be zero.
Not so in Tokyo, where commuters, tourists, and shoppers moving through the Shinjuku or Shibuya subway stations will find it almost impossible to ignore Sony's latest advertising campaign, which colorfully announces a new range of affordable portable audio players (né Walkmans). Inside, banners suspended from the cars' ceilings promote Panasonic's latest headphones and shoebox-sized stereo system. Many of the bigger…
Like all men, I learned at an early age to resist the allure of a pretty face.
Okay—I learned that I should try to resist the allure of a pretty face.
Okay, I confess: I have never been able to resist the allure of a pretty face. Which is why, when I first clapped eyes on the Mojo D/A headphone amplifier from English company Chord Electronics, at an event hosted by Manhattan retailer Stereo Exchange (see photo a few paragraphs below), I had to borrow a sample for review.
Yes, at $599, the Mojo—the name is short for Mobile Joy—is a little more expensive than some similar…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: D/A headphone amplifier. Data inputs: USB Micro B 2.0 port, S/PDIF on TosLink optical, coaxial on 3.5mm jack. Charging port: USB Micro B 2.0. Outputs: two 3.5mm headphone jacks. Resolution: 24 bits on TosLink, 32 bits on other inputs. Maximum sample rate: 192kHz on S/PDIF, 768kHz and DSD256 on USB, 384kHz on coaxial. Maximum output power at 1kHz: 35mW into 600 ohms, 720mW into 8 ohms. Output impedance: 0.075 ohm. THD+N: 0.00017% at 3V. Dynamic range: 125dB. Power: internal battery. Charging: 5V, 1A via USB bus. Supplied accessory: charging cable.…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Sources: MacBook Pro laptop computer running Pure Music 2.0 for PCM files, Audirvana 1.5.12 for DSD files; iPad 2 with Apple camera connection kit; Astell&Kern AK100 portable player.
Headphone Amplifiers: Apogee Groove, Aurender Flow.
Headphones: Audeze LCD-X, AudioQuest NightHawk, Sennheiser HD600, Ultimate Ears 18 Pro.—John Atkinson
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measured the Chord Mojo with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 "As We See It"). The Mojo's battery was fully charged at the start of the measurements. The data sources were USB from my 2012 MacBook Pro running on battery power, using Pure Music 2.0 to play the files, and S/PDIF on TosLink from the SYS2722. Macintosh's USB Prober utility reported the Mojo's product string as "Mojo" from "Chord Electronics Ltd," and confirmed that its USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode. Apple's AudioMIDI utility…
I wrote about the new audiophile label Analog Spark a few months ago, on its vinyl reissue of Dave Brubeck's oft-overlooked 1954 Jazz Goes to College. Now its proprietor, Mark Piro, has come out with a few Broadway musical soundtracks, the best of which is West Side Story, with its score by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by a young Stephen Sondheim.
This is not the 1961 movie soundtrack, with which Bernstein had little involvement and that featured Marni Nixon and other uncredited singers overdubbing for Hollywood actors. This is the 1957 theatrical soundtrack, in which Bernstein very much…