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The test procedure followed, with minor changes, that established for my previous loudspeaker reviews: the Wharfedales were used with both a Krell KSA-50 and a pair of VTL 100W Compact monoblocks, connected with Monster M1 speaker cable. Preamplifier was either a PS Audio 4.6 with its M-500 power supply or a Mod Squad Phono Drive/Deluxe Line Drive combination. Interconnects were initially Monster M1000, later replaced with MIT 330 and MIT CVT.

Source components consisted of a Marantz CD-94 CD player, which was also used to drive the Sony DAS-R1 D/A…

Looking at the way in which the 507.2's impedance changes with frequency (fig.1; measured with spot tones but plotted with the Audio Precision System One software), the port is tuned to 52Hz, which suggests moderate LF extension. This was confirmed by the nearfield measurement which, without taking the output from the port into consideration, indicated a –6dB point at 62Hz. Though typical of an 8 ohm design in the woofer region, the tweeter is undoubtedly a 4 ohm unit. This is presumably to get sufficient sensitivity from a ¾" dome, which has significantly less…

Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 0.75" aluminum-dome, ferrofluid-cooled tweeter, 8" mineral-loaded, polypropylene-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 5kHz. Frequency response: 40Hz–22kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Amplifier requirements: >15W.
Dimensions: 19" H by 9" W by 11" D. Weight: 11.25lb each.
Price: $940/pair (1989); no longer available (2022). Approximate number of dealers: 120.
Manufacturer: Wharfedale Ltd., Leeds, West Yorkshire LS15 8AL, UK (1989); Wharfedale, IAG…

"But I own a cat, George. Low maintenance."

"You still own a live cat, not a stuffed cat. The cat needs to be fed, has to get rabies shots. There is still some maintenance."

I gotta be a glutton for punishment.…

Well, not really.

Here's the story. Jadis made some changes on the Defy 7—using caps to bypass the fuses for the GE 6550 output tubes. Jadis sent this particular Defy 7 to Victor without the caps installed, so Victor could hear the amp without the bypass caps. Before he gave me the amp, Victor decided to have bypass caps installed—but a miscommunication with the factory meant that the…

Kevin Hayes replaced the matched pair of KT88s—no problem. But Kevin did suggest that the Quicksilver amp might have been at fault. No other Golden Dragon KT88s had failed in the field, he said, unless traceable to improper operating conditions.

Not so cool, Kevin—I think this pair did fail in the field: more specifically, in my listening room. Yes…

According to Snell, the Type B is the first loudspeaker to incorporate the most recent research into optimizing the way a loudspeaker interacts with the listening room. In particular, the B…

The Type Bs were primarily driven by the reference VTL 225W tubed monoblocks, and briefly by a Jeff Rowland Model 1 solid-state unit. I have recently replaced the Audio Research SP11 Mk.II preamp with Audio Research's superb LS2 line stage and the latest version of the Vendetta Research phono preamp. The analog front end was a Well-Tempered Turntable and modified Well-Tempered Arm, fitted with an AudioQuest 7000 cartridge (see my "Follow-Up" in this issue). Digital sources included the Theta Data transport, Theta DS Pro Prime D/A, Audio Research…

Though John Atkinson measured the Type Bs when they were delivered to Santa Fe, he refrained from giving me the data until after I'd finished the auditioning.

The B's impedance magnitude and phase angle with the rear tweeter on (which lowers the impedance above 8kHz) are shown in fig.1. The curve with the large peak at 1kHz is with the treble control at maximum, the flatter curve with it set at minimum. The minimum impedance was 2.7 ohms at 2.8kHz (tweeter level maximum) and 4.5 ohms at 250Hz (tweeter level at minimum). The impedance phase angle was fairly…

"It's difficult to make a loudspeaker that's room-proof," said Tom Norton, as we were discussing the Snell Acoustic Corporation's new Type B, four-way, 6-driver, full-range dynamic loudspeaker system introduced at the June 1991 Chicago Consumer Electronic Show. He and I were trying to make sense of conflicting listening reports about the Type B gathered from the magazine's writers over the preceding five months. What could have caused the wide variance in opinion? Might it be the result of the…