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The frequency response of the Acoustic Energy was measured in the listening window—spatially averaged to minimize room standing-wave problems—using a 1/3-octave warble-tone generator; in addition, the nearfield low-frequency response of each speaker was measured with a sinewave sweep to get an idea of the true bass extension relative to the level at 100Hz. The change of impedance with frequency and the voltage sensitivity (using 1/3-octave pink noise centered on 1kHz) were also measured.

A notable point about the plot of the AE1's impedance against…

When I reviewed Acoustic Energy's tiny AE1 minimonitor nearly four years ago (in Vol.11 No.9), I was mightily impressed. Enough so, in fact, that I concluded that review with the rather sweeping statement that the AE1 "redefines the art of miniature speaker design." Four years is a long time in the loudspeaker art, however, and I was interested in hearing how the AE1 stood up to more recent designs. I was also interested to find whether my tastes had changed. The speaker may or may not have changed, but had I? Were…

Fig.1 shows the AE1's electrical impedance magnitude and phase. The tuning of the twin ports lies at 53Hz, while the overall load will be kind to amplifiers, only dropping momentarily to 8 ohms in the lower midrange and remaining above 10 ohms for nearly all the audio band. This little speaker should be particularly well-suited to classic tube amplifiers, both due to its lack of a need for current and to the significantly smaller modification of its frequency response caused by the interaction between its load and the amplifier's source impedance. The…

Fig.7 Acoustic Energy AE1, on-axis impulse response at 50" (5ms time window, 30kHz bandwidth).

Fig.8 Acoustic Energy AE1, on-axis step response…

Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" magnesium alloy-dome tweeter, 4.5" woofer with a 3.5" anodized-aluminum cone. Crossover frequency: 3kHz (3rd- & 4th-order Butterworth slopes). Frequency response: 80Hz-17kHz -1.5dB, 70Hz-22kHz -3dB, 55Hz-30kHz -4dB. Harmonic Distortion: less than 0.1% 2nd harmonic, less than 0.02% 3rd harmonic, both at 98dB at 0.5m (frequency not specified). Power compression factor: less than 1dB at minimum impedance (200Hz) with an increase of 16dB (1W:40W ratio); frequency response within -0.5dB at 40W ref.…

When we last heard from Rosanne Cash, she was busy sifting through the rubble of her marriage to Rodney Crowell. Her final two albums for Columbia, Interiors (1990) and The Wheel (1993), often called "chick records" by those who lack the sense or the ears to know better, were the yin and the yang of that severe breakup. While the dark, self-produced Interiors was obviously a cathartic exercise for Cash—few records have its magnitude of audible…

The suite for chamber orchestra is Copland's reduction (in orchestral forces) of a condensed version of the ballet score, with all essential features…

St. Francis Auditorium, the venue for these performances, is located within the New Mexico Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe. The structure replicates the New Mexico building at the 1913 Panama California Exposition commemorating the opening of the Panama Canal. Based on the architecture of New Mexico's Spanish missionary churches---such as the Mission Church at Acoma and the San Felipe Church---it is an awe-inspiring adobe structure. The Auditorium resembles a chapel: the ceiling soars some 30' above the pew-style seating and is supported by…

Once the venue has been chosen---in the case of this disc, that was preordained---there is no quality-changing decision in all of recording that is more fundamental than that of what microphones to use. Not only does every microphone have its own sonic signature, but the combination of its pickup pattern and how the engineer chooses to exploit that pattern drastically affects the stereo image and the perceived quality of the hall reverberation.

For Stereophile's previous live recording project---Concert, featuring Canadian pianist…