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On music with layers of instruments, the 120s resolved those layers with ease, with good separation—again, within a single, unified soundstage. As Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)" (footnote 3) from Speaking in Tongues bopped along (24/96 FLAC, Qobuz), nothing stuck out as exaggerated. Throughout, the song felt intense, close-up. Byrne's harmonized vocals came across as more impassioned and vivid, more in-your-face. When he pleads, "Love me 'til my heart stops/ Love me 'til I'm dead," you think he means it. I heard a few flourishes and details in this familiar music…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way standmount loudspeaker with "Radialstrahler" radial carbon-fiber omnidirectional tweeter and midrange drivers and two side-firing 6.5" woofers with aluminum-membrane cones in a rear-ported enclosure. Sensitivity: 79dB/2.83V/m into 8 ohms, 80.5dB in-room. Crossover: fourth-order Linkwitz-Riley crossing over at 600Hz and 3.5kHz and with a second-order high-pass filter below the port-tuning frequency. Frequency response: 48Hz– 15.5kHz –6dB in-room. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Recommended amplifier power: 200W into 4 ohms.
Dimensions: 11.8…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Clearaudio Performance DC Wood turntable with Tracer tonearm and Talismann v2 MC cartridge; MoFi Electronics UltraDeck turntable with UltraTracker MM cartridge.
Digital source: MBL N31 CD player/DAC.
Amplification: VAC Sigma 170i iQ integrated amplifier; MBL Noble Line N51 integrated amplifier; Soulution 330 integrated amplifier with phono stage.
Cables: Ansuz Acoustics D2, AudioQuest NRG, and Morrow Audio (some interconnects).
Accessories: AudioQuest Niagara 1000 Low-Z Power Noise-Dissipation System with NRG 10 power cord…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the MBL 120's frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike to measure the nearfield responses. I used Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system to determine the MBL speaker's impedance.
Designer Jürgen Reis wrote in an email that the MBL 120's sensitivity on an axis level with the top of the tweeter magnet—the recommended listening axis—was 79dB/2.83V/m. Though my estimate was slightly higher than this, at 81dB(B)/2.83V/m, this is still significantly lower than average…
Photo: Pixart Images, LLC
As I noted in previous Re-Tales columns, audio dealerships that stick to outmoded models after the world has changed may find themselves in danger of extinction. Such conflict between old and new has been with us since the beginning of time, or at least since the internet became ubiquitous. But the pandemic and its economic stresses and stimuli have accelerated the pace of change. So, how are dealers, um, dealing?
One brand—or, rather, one two-branded company—is rolling out a new hi-fi retail chain, along with another option for dealers.
Single-…
Exactly five years ago as I write these words, I reviewed an elegant-looking and elegant-sounding tower loudspeaker from Canadian manufacturer PSB: the Imagine T3. Priced at $7498/pair before it was discontinued, the T3 combined three woofers, each housed in its own vented subenclosure, with a 5.25" midrange unit mounted above a 1" tweeter.
As I write these words I am listening to a pair of PSB's new Synchrony T600 loudspeakers, which cost $7999/pair and were designed, like the T3, by a team led by PSB founder and chief acoustic designer Paul Barton. Also like the T3, the T600 houses…
Moving back in time from the Brahms, I cued up a performance of Beethoven's Fifth "Emperor" Concerto, with Kristian Bezuidenhout accompanied by the Freiburger Barockorchester conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado (24/96 FLAC, Qobuz/Harmonia Mundi). Again the soundstage lacked depth. However, the percussive, less sustained, rather "clattery" tone of the forte piano featured on this recording, compared with the modern instrument on the Brahms recording, was laid bare by the Synchrony T600s. Piano is revealing of midrange coloration; the PSBs reproduced the character of Vogt's and Bezuidenhout's…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive units: 1" (25.4mm) titanium-dome tweeter; 5.25" (133mm) woven carbon-fiber–cone midrange unit; three 6.5" (165mm) woven carbon-fiber–cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 450Hz (B3), 1.8kHz (LR4). Frequency response: 24Hz–23kHz ±3dB on-axis, 30Hz–20kHz ±1.5dB on-axis, 30Hz–10kHz ±1.5dB 30° off-axis. LF cutoff: 20Hz. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 89dB anechoic, 91dB room. Power handling: 20–300W recommended, 300W program. Supplied accessories: IsoAcoustic…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog source: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B cartridge, Channel D Seta L phono preamplifier.
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ file server with its switching supply or an HDPlex linear power supply; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; MBL N31 CD player/DAC; Ayre Acoustics QB-9 Twenty D/A processor; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 A/D converter.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1+ monoblocks.
Loudspeakers: Canton Reference 7K.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Vodka (Ethernet), AudioQuest Coffee (USB…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the PSB Synchrony T600's frequency response in the farfield. My reference axis for the measurements was level with the center of the midrange unit, which is 38" from the floor, slightly above the height of my ears in my listening chair. I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield and in-room responses and Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system to measure the impedance.
PSB specifies the Synchrony T600's anechoic sensitivity as 89dB, presumably for 2.83V at 1m. My B-weighted…