Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, floor-standing loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.1" soft-dome tweeter, two 8" polypropylene-cone woofers (one rolling off above 100Hz), 12" polypropylene-cone passive radiator. Crossover frequencies: 100Hz, 2kHz. Frequency range: 28Hz-22kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Amplifier requirements: 25–200W.
Dimensions: 44.5" H by 15.5" W by 8.5" D (173/8" with bases attached). Weight: 63 lb each.
Price: $1400/pair (1988); no longer available (2022). Approximate number of dealers: sold factory-direct.…
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Sidebar 1: Specifications
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
The test procedure followed, with minor changes, that established for my previous loudspeaker reviews: each pair was used with a Mark Levinson No.26/No.20 combination—amplification unlikely to be used with any of these speakers but which would undoubtedly get the best from them—a Marantz CD94 CD player used via its optical digital output to feed a Marantz CDA94 outboard DAC unit, and a 1987 Linn Sondek/Ittok/Troika combination sitting on a Sound Organization table.
The Orpheus 808 loudspeakers were carefully positioned for optimum performance, and…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
The frequency response of each speaker was measured in the listening window—spatially averaged to minimize room standing-wave problems—using a 1/3-octave warble-tone generator, which is said to be a little more analytical than the filtered pink-noise signal I have used in the past; 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.
Measured nearfield on the lower woofer, the –6dB point relative to 100Hz lay at a low 36Hz, though there…
Manufacturers' Comment, from August 1988 (Vol.11 No.8)
Editor: Recent examination of the returned speakers indicates that the Orpheus 808s reviewed by John Atkinson in the June 1988 issue were not set up according to manufacturers' instructions—that is, the bases were not attached to the speakers.
I also received from Stereophile the bases for speakers #808112AB, which were stolen from John Atkinson's home. Why weren't these bases taken along with the speakers they were supposed to have been attached to? Inspection of these bases reveals no thread marks on the bottom, and the bag…
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My favorite formulation was laid down by music critic John Swenson in March 2021 in a My Back Pages essay. He called them death-row discs: These are the records that, at the end of your life, you'd want—you'd…
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The Sons Of Champlin: Loosen Up Naturally
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Released as a two-LP set by Capitol in 1969, this is the cornerstone album from the Bay Area psychedelic music revolution that many listeners today are unfamiliar with. The Sons were a large band that included a jazzy horn section. Anchored by his red-hot Hammond B3 organ playing, writer Bill Champlin delivered his lyrics with a soulful voice unequaled by any white boy at the time. Utopian ideals mixed with wry…
Kalman Rubinson
Ferdinand Ries: Chamber Music: Octet Op.128, Sextet Op.142, String Trio Woo 70.2
Franz Ensemble with Jonathan Wegloop, horn; Emily Hoile, harp
MDG Scene MDG 903 2136-6 (SACD). 2019. Werner Dabringhaus, Reimund Grimm, prods.; Werner Dabringhaus, Tonmeister.
Ferdinand Ries was Beethoven's student and the pianist at the premiere of his Third piano concerto (although they later parted ways). Ries's music is skillful, and it clearly shows Beethoven's influence, even if it falls short of his genius. He does however offer a stylish charm,…