The three-way, reflex-loaded Beethoven Baby Grand Reference incorporates a patented flat…
search
Room 516 from A La Carte Productions rooms at the Florida Audio Expo both featured speakers from Austria's Vienna Acoustics: the North American debut of the Beethoven Baby Grand Reference ($9498/pair). Said to have been three years in the making, the new model is the younger sibling to the larger and aptly named Beethoven Concert Grand Reference tower; the two models share similar drivers and technologies. A La Carte's second room featured the Spendor 9.2. [This paragraph has been edited. - JA2]
Author's Note: Although I started accompanying Stereophile's loudspeaker reviews with measurements soon after I joined the magazine in 1986, it wasn't until 1989, when we acquired an Audio Precision System One electronics analyzer and the then-new MLSSA speaker measurement system from DRA Labs, that I developed the standardized data presentation that is still featured in our reviews more than three decades later. In this article from October 1991, I summarize the results from the first two years of using MLSSA to test 69 loudspeakers.—John Atkinson
It was the Saturday of Stereophile's…
I have arbitrarily grouped the speaker curves into five classes of flatness. Fig.3 shows those speakers whose weighted deviations are below 2dB; fig.4 features speakers with a weighted deviation ranging from 2dB to 2.5dB; fig.5 those ranging between 2.5dB and 3dB; fig.6 those from 3.0–3.7dB; while fig.7 brings up the back markers possessing a deviation above 3.7dB. The speakers are also listed in the Table, along with their price at the time they were reviewed, what issue their review appeared in Stereophile, and whether they appeared in "Recommended Components" and in what class.
I know…
The Meridian D600 is downgraded by the standard deviation criterion due to its downward-tilted response trend, but actually sounded extremely uncolored. The absence of this digital-input speaker from "Recommended Components" is purely because we have not auditioned the latest version, which uses Bitstream oversampling and D/A conversion rather than the older Philips 16-bit, 4x-oversampling chip set.
Fig.6: Deviation 3.1–3.69: TARA Timekeeper 0.5 Mk.I (black); Fried Q4 (red); Rogers LS3/5a (1978) (green); Vieta Pro-5 (sample 2) (yellow); Snell K/II (blue); Acoustat Spectra…
Table 1: Loudspeaker reviews October 1989–November 1991
table#t01 { border-collapse: collapse; font-size:16px } table#t01 td, table#t01 th { text-align: left; padding: 8px; border: 1px solid #ddd; font-size:16px; line-height:20px;} table#t01 tr:nth-child(odd) { background-color: #f0f0f0; }
Loudspeaker Review F-weighted Deviation (dB) Original Price/pair Stereophile Rating JBL XPL-90 July 1991 0.82 $1300 Meridian D6000 September 1991 1.3 $15,000 A Spendor S100 June 1990 1.39 $2500 B Snell C/IV April 1991 1.42 $2190 B Avalon Eclipse January 1991 1.46 $5800 B…
A sub-brand under the Jolida marque, Black Ice Audio used the Florida Audio Expo to introduce the final production models for some new amplification components. (Prior versions seen and heard at previous shows were late-stage prototypes, I was told.) The Black Ice Fusion F11 and F22 integrated amplifiers were shown in striking glass and carbon-fiber chassis with relatively small footprints, which is particularly desirable for the European and Asian markets.
Available color options are black and gray. (There's also an F35 version housed in a larger chassis, primarily for US…
Zesto Audio presented the third generation of its Leto preamplifier: an Ultra version that offers a slew of new features, from upgraded all-analog circuit topology and a new 12DW7 tube configuration to the addition of three gain options (3dB, 6dB, 9dB) that can be saved for different input sources. Full remote control capabilities have also been added for on-the-fly adjustments of input, volume, gain, mono, and muting.
But perhaps the most intriguing new feature is a Presence control for the upper or upper-mid frequencies. Broadly speaking, it's tone control-like but more…
Testing capacitors at Ben Duncan Research using high-speed production component testers, made in England by Wayne-Kerr (1980s) and Peak (2010s). Parts are numbered and seven performance parameters that can affect sonics like loss at 10kHz, are manually tabulated. Rogue parts can be quickly identified by eye and relieved of musical duties. Photo: Ben Duncan.
Have you ever suspected that the component you bought after diligent research is somehow not "typical"? That its sound seems to bear little resemblance to the descriptions in the reviews you read? Sure, you listened to the unit before…
First, the absolute level (or gain) varies by at least 1dB. This alone vindicates balance controls—even in the unlikely event that the loudspeakers are perfectly level-matched. More importantly, the variation in the population's frequency response around the reference curve in fig.2 is complex. The biggest variation is at least ±0.2dB, and some systems vary by more than ±0.5dB. Although it may be hard to see, there are also one or two "golden" units that have a flatter, therefore more accurate, response than the norm! Joe Smart always buys one of these, especially when the price has been…
Sidebar: References & further reading
[1] Lyall Watson, The Nature of Things: The Secret Life of Inanimate Objects. Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1990.
[2] R. Jeffs & D. Cook, "Generating Production Test Limits Based on Software-Derived Monte Carlo Analysis." AES 11th International Conference, 1992.
[3] Ben Duncan, "Pièce de Resistance, Part 2: Thermal Factors." Hi-Fi News & Record Review, April 1987.
[4] Ben Duncan, "With a Strange Device, Part 6: Temperature, Microphony, Tolerances & Reliability." Hi-Fi News & Record Review, November 1986…