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The MB Quart 280 is definitely a 4 ohm design, to judge from the graph of modulus of impedance vs frequency (fig.1), measured with spot frequency tones but plotted with the Audio Precision System One software. Apart from the sealed-box resonant peak around 75Hz (of moderate height), the impedance doesn't rise above 5 ohms until 450Hz. Above the electrical crossover to the tweeter, which appears to be set to 1450Hz, the 280 presents an easy load to the driving amplifier, averaging 8 ohms between 3kHz and 20kHz. Coupled with its low sensitivity (my measurement…

Decription: Two-way, sealed-box, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" titanium-dome tweeter, 8" long-throw, pulp-cone woofer with butyl rubber surround. Crossover frequency: 1.5kHz. Crossover slopes: 12dB/octave. Frequency range: 50Hz–32kHz. Sensitivity: 88dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Amplifier requirements: 20W RMS (minimum) to 80W continuous sinewave.
Dimensions: 17.25" H by 10.5" W by 10.25" D. Weight: 22lb each.
Price: $579/pair (1989); no longer available (2022). Approximate number of dealers: 35–40.
Manufacturer: MB Quart GmbH,…

What would be the specifications necessary for a loudspeaker to sound "real?" First, it should have a bandwidth as wide as possible; with the exception of a slight HF roll-off when you sit in the back row of the stalls at an…

This is a really good album. Only 25, Madison Cunningham is bursting with talent. Cunningham's most striking gift is as a guitarist, wielding her beloved Fender Jazzmaster, but she's an expressive singer and writes complex—and catchy—songs. She's been nominated for Best Album Grammys in both Americana and folk. I'd call her a kickass rocker at heart, though she's capable of…

Carla Bley, now 86, is among the very greatest living jazz composers. But her position is somewhat unusual. None of her songs has quite become a universal jazz standard. There have been fewer Bley tribute albums than you might expect. For decades, Gary Burton's Dreams So Real and…

The Danish String Quartet's "Prism" series pairs a Beethoven quartet with a connected Bach fugue and another, related work: The Beethoven becomes a prism to diffract the others. I couldn't tell you I heard motivic relationships among these three scores, but they constitute a pleasing program.

The firm-bowed, full-bodied rendition of Bach's G minor Fugue sets the tone for the program, marked by the Danish's…

"It was a big year, man," Earle says. "A lot of stuff happened in 1967. My uncle, who was five years older than me, was living with us at the time. It was my dream come true, because he was always my hero. He brought a lot of records into the house, like Cream's Disraeli Gears and the…

Earle: Well, duh, "Mr. Bojangles"! [Laughs.] That was the one I had to just not fuck up! (footnote 4) That song is so important. I played it at the Opry. I looked up halfway through, and every cell phone light in the balcony was lit. By the time I finished it, every light in the house was lit, so I think it went over well.

I talked with Susan (footnote 5) about this. I said, "All I know about this record so far is I have to cut 'Mr. Bojangles,' and I'm not gonna pussy out on it. I'm…

Lately, I've been thinking again about a concept I've thought about off and on for years: first impressions of a component versus lingering, meaningful differences.

We've all had the experience: Replace a familiar component with a new one, let it warm up, then listen. You hear differences, often dramatic ones. (Not always, though: A couple of years ago, I compared two DACs of similar price and design, switching back and forth between them, and could hear no difference at all.)

What's interesting is…

I might have ignored it completely if not for Keith Pray, Stereophile's general manager. Keith lives in Westchester County, not far from the school in question, and has kids in a…