Mensink: Yes. You need a DSP to do that properly . . . As the tweeter and the midrange driver are on the front baffle, the woofers on the back, this introduces a problem. Normally the tweeter and midrange signals would arrive at your ears…
search
Atkinson: The Stereophile review's measurements showed that the 8c has a time-coincident step response, which again is extremely unusual. While there are passive dynamic speakers that achieve this on the listening axis with sloped-back front baffles and first-order crossover filters, there are very often compromises as you move away from that axis.
John Atkinson wrote about the Innuos Statement in May 2020 (Vol.43 No.5):
When Jason Victor Serinus reviewed the expensive Statement server from Portuguese company Innuos (footnote 1) in the April 2020 issue of Stereophile, he concluded that "Innuos has created a transparent instrument that scores big in soundstage size and depth, dynamics, and bass reach." Comparing the Statement and a sample of the more affordable Roon Nucleus + (footnote 2) (fed by a linear power supply)—both servers feeding his dCS Rossini and EMM DV2 D/A processors via USB—he found that via the Statement "the treble…
The hi-fi world has lost a giant, and we at Stereophile have lost a brother.
Art Dudley passed peacefully this morning around 4am after a short illness. The cause was metastatic cancer.
Art bought his first record—Roger Miller's "King of the Road," the single—at age 8 or 9. He picked up the guitar at 16 and played throughout his life. When he was young, he had a band, The Norm.
Starting in the late '70s, Art worked at Backpacker magazine. In 1985, he joined The Absolute Sound as its managing editor, quitting that gig after precisely a year. After that, he earned his…
AXPONA, the largest high-end audio event in North America, has rescheduled from April to August for 2020, but you can get a sneak peek at the new products audio manufacturers have in store by watching the show's Facebook Live event this Friday, April 17 starting at 10am Central Time—the day AXPONA 2020 was originally scheduled to open at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center in Chicago, IL.
Sponsored by Stereophile and Music Direct, AXPONA Livestream will feature 25 of the leading audio manufacturers who will update music lovers and the global audio community with timely…
Located outside Glasgow, in a geographical area that's also home to Linn Products and Tannoy Ltd.—and also near the storied whisky distilleries of Aberfeldy and Blair Atholl—Fyne Audio got off to a fast start. A mere three years after the company's 2017 founding, Fyne already has distribution deals in 50 countries and offers 24 products in seven series.
How did they do it? There's a clue on the company's homepage, which claims "more than 200 years of experience" among Fyne employees: The founders are a core group of former senior managers from Tannoy Ltd.—including former Tannoy…
Paired with the Cary SLI-80HS integrated amplifier and playing Miles Davis's 1969 stereo release Filles de Kilimanjaro (LP, Columbia CS 9750), the F301s presented the quintet of Miles, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams in vivid miniature. The F301's treble range gave Miles's trumpet spice and heat, while the mids helped outline the top end of Carter's acoustic bass. The Fynes recreated the rumbling lower notes of Carter's bass—except that instrument's very lowest notes—with convincing weight. Tony Williams's ride cymbal was clean and distinct, surrounded by…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, rear-ported, standmount loudspeaker. Drive units: 1" (25mm) polyester-dome tweeter. 6" (150mm) multi-fiber cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 3.2kHz. Crossover type: 2nd-order low-pass, 3rd-order high-pass. Frequency response: (–6dB typical in room) 44Hz–28kHz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m. Recommended amplifier power: 25–100W(RMS). Continuous power handling: 50W (RMS).
Dimensions: 11.8" (300mm) H × 7.5" (190mm) W × 10.7" (271mm) D. Weight: 11.7lb (5.3kg).
Finishes: walnut, black ash, light oak.
Serial…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Kuzma Stabi R turntable & Kuzma 4Point 11" tonearm; Hana ML MC phono cartridge.
Preamplification: Tavish Audio Design Adagio phono preamplifier.
Integrated amplifiers: Schiit Audio Ragnarok 2, Cary Audio SLI-80HS.
Loudspeakers: Quad S2.
Cables: Interconnect: Shindo Laboratory, Triode Wire Labs Spirit II. Speaker: Auditorium 23. AC: Triode Wire Labs Obsession NCF power cord, manufacturers' own.
Accessories: IsoTek EVO3 Aquarius line conditioner, Salamander five-tier rack; IKEA Aptitlig bamboo chopping boards (under…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system to measure the Fyne Audio F301's farfield behavior with a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone. (I left the vestigial grille that covers the woofer in place for the measurements, as it appears to provide the necessary acoustic environment for the tweeter.) For the speaker's nearfield responses, I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike, which has a small (0.25"-diameter) capsule.
Although the Fyne F301's specified sensitivity is a high 89dB/2.83V/m, my estimated sensitivity was slightly lower, at 86.2dB(B)/2.83V/m. The Fyne F301's nominal…
VAC's Statement 452 iQ Musicbloc amplifier ($75,000 for a single amp; $150,000/pair mono, as reviewed) is tall, young, and lovely, but unlike the girl from Ipanema, it isn't tan. Nor, at 280lb in its flight case, is it likely to "go walkin'." Getting the pair moved into my listening room required considerable effort—fortunately not mine.
Sized similarly to many modestly sized floorstanding loudspeakers, a pair of 452s makes for a striking physical presentation. They were first introduced to the public at the Capital Audiofest, November 2019—though at AXPONA earlier last year, VAC demoed…