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As with the other Apogees, the Caliper is available in two finishes: grey and taupe. Usefully, both driver/crossover connections are brought out on the rear to separate sets of five-way binding posts. The Caliper can be used with a single set of speaker cables, supplied jumpers paralleling the pairs of sockets; with two sets of cables, one amplifier driving the units individually (biwiring); or with two amplifiers, with each drive-unit connected to its own amplifier (biamping). Setting up proved to be no problem: the speaker panel is supported by a single angle piece at the rear; an…
It's not all cordon bleu catering, though. In addition to the potential for veiling in the lower mids, the low bass appears continually to be on the verge of being overcooked. This is not a problem with most recordings, as there is seldom sufficient subterranean energy to lead the panels astray. Occasionally, however, a recording happens along that is ideally suited for provoking misbehavior. The Reference Recordings Church Windows LP, for example. With the speakers driven by two Audio Research D-250s (see later), Side Two is cruising along in the mid-90s, spl-wise, without sounding too loud…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Full-range, two-way, ribbon loudspeaker. Frequency range: 30Hz to greater than 25kHz. Power requirements: 100W. Maximum spl: 105dB at 4m (C-weighting). Impedance: 3 ohms nominal.
Dimensions: 48" H x 24" W x 2" D. Weight: 70 lbs each.
Price: $1650/pair (1986); no longer available (2003).
Manufacturer: Apogee Acoustics Inc., 35 York Industrial Park, Randolph, MA 02368 (1986); Apogee Technology Inc., 129 Morgan Drive, Norwood, MA 02062. Tel: (781) 551-9450. Fax: (781) 440-9528—no longer manufacturing loudspeakers (2003); Apogee Acoustics, 438…
THELONIOUS MONK QUARTET WITH JOHN COLTRANE: At Carnegie Hall
John Coltrane, tenor sax; Thelonious Monk, piano; Ahmed Abdul-Malik, bass; Shadow Wilson, drums
Thelonious/Blue Note 35173 (CD). 2005. Michael Cuscuna, T.S. Monk, prods.; unknown eng. AAD. TT: 51:36
Performance *****
Sonics ***
John Coltrane, tenor sax; Thelonious Monk, piano; Ahmed Abdul-Malik, bass; Shadow Wilson, drums
Thelonious/Blue Note 35173 (CD). 2005. Michael Cuscuna, T.S. Monk, prods.; unknown eng. AAD. TT: 51:36
Performance *****
Sonics ***
The written history of jazz is founded on iconic recordings, and the oral history is full of legendary gigs. The Five Spot, a smoky little dive at 5 Cooper Square in what is now called the East Village, was, between 1956 and 1962, the site of more than its share of historic engagements.…
Small enough to fit in a shoebox, these little darlings from England almost manage to redefine the state of the art in very compact monitor design (footnote 1). Here's a speaker that isn't as neutral as the BBC LS3/5a compact monitor, but that does manage to equal or exceed that venerable design in most respects.
To cover the entire audio spectrum with only two drivers is a hard task, and most two-way systems end up with a crossover frequency around 2kHz—[at the top of] the critical midrange octaves. The Tablette, on the other hand, manages to reproduce almost the entire middle range…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Two-way, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: ¾" ferrofluid-cooled, Scanspeak soft-dome tweeter and 4" cone woofer in resistively loaded, ported cabinet. Crossover frequency: 5kHz. Frequency reponse: 70Hz–20kHz, ±3dB. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 84dB/2.83V/m. Power capacity: 80W.
Dimensions: 10½" H by 6" W by 9" D. Weight: 10 lbs each.
Price: $550/pair (1984); no longer available (2006).
Manufacturer: ProAc, Highpoint House, Riding Road, Buckingham Road Industrial Estate, Brackley, Northamptonshire NN13 7BE, England. Tel: (44…
The Delevantes: Postcards from Along the Way
Capitol 8 56179 2 (CD). 1997. Gary Tallent, prod.; The Delevantes, Mike Porter, assoc. prods.; Mike Clute, Peter Miskinis, engs. AAD? TT: 43:34
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
Capitol 8 56179 2 (CD). 1997. Gary Tallent, prod.; The Delevantes, Mike Porter, assoc. prods.; Mike Clute, Peter Miskinis, engs. AAD? TT: 43:34
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
If you can play a guitar and you're from New Jersey, you're automatically doomed to a lifetime of answering one question: How much have you been influenced by Bruce Springsteen? How much "Jungleland" do you feel is lodged in your unconscious mind?
The brothers Delevante decided to have their Springsteen but also devour a whole range of other influences…
I had mixed feelings about reviewing the $189/pair Paradigm Atom loudspeaker. Although in the past I've been favorably impressed with Paradigm's speakers—the $600/pair Reference Studio/20 remains one of my favorite affordables—Budget Bob tends to get a bit nervous when a speaker's price drops below $250/pair. In my experience, even when the most talented speaker designers attempt to make a speaker to sell at such a low price, the result is often a very small cabinet with limited bass extension and inferior high-level dynamics.
As a rule, I'm not impressed with $200/pair speakers that…
Photo by Vermeer Photography
Most audio engineers split hairs. Eelco Grimm splits microseconds. His expertise in high-precision audio laid the groundwork for Grimm Audio, the Dutch venture he cofounded in 2004 with fellow electrical engineer Guido Tent. The company's master clocks and DACs, developed for both the pro audio and home hi-fi markets, combat tiny timing errors and jitter that can blight digital audio.
But Grimm Audio's engineering acumen also extends to the analog domain, as evidenced by the LS1c active speaker system that made the cover of Stereophile's April 2025…
The Grimm LS1/SB1 system. Photo by Rogier van Bakel.
van Bakel: I listened to the LS1s with and without the SB1 subs. Even without them, my brain believed it was still hearing the entire bottom octave in bass-heavy music—even though according to the specs, the main speakers bottom out around 35Hz. What was happening?
Grimm: In two-way mode, we use DSP to correct for the absence of the subs, and we can get the LS1 to play as low as 20Hz all by itself. But that does greatly increase cone excursion, so distortion sets in. That distortion has a way of accentuating the very low…