The Naim NBL's specified sensitivity is very high at 92dB/W/m, though this will be boosted 3dB by the speaker's 4 ohm nominal impedance. (That "W" in the specification is therefore actually equivalent to 2W). I measured approximately 89.8dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is still high. Fig.1 plots the Naim's impedance magnitude and phase against frequency. The former varies little, staying within 4 and 6 ohms over most of the audioband, with only a moderate phase angle. A good 4 ohm-rated amplifier will have no problems driving this speaker. A couple of small wrinkles can be…
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Fig.4 shows the NBL's response on the tweeter axis, averaged across a 30 degree horizontal window to minimize the effect of position-dependent, and hence irrelevant, interference effects. Though it is very even, the entire treble is shelved-up compared with the lower midrange and bass, which is why PM commented on the speaker's bright, forward balance. As I've said, the NBL's low bass will be boosted by the Allison Effect, but this will leave the region between 300Hz and 600Hz depressed in comparison with the regions above and below. In addition, as PM found in his in-room measurements, the…
Vertically (fig.7), the tweeter's top octave gets hotter both above and below the tweeter axis, which is 34" from the floor, though a significant crossover-region suckout will be audible to standing listeners. But, as always, don't pass judgment on a speaker's balance unless you're sitting down.
Fig.7 Naim NBL, vertical response family at 50", normalized to response on tweeter axis, from back to front: differences in response 15 degrees-5 degrees above axis, reference response, differences in response 5 degrees-10 degrees below axis.
The Naim's step response on the…
February 2000—We are now comfortably past all the millennial hype, which, by New Year's Eve, really had risen to a nauseating fever pitch. But it's hard not to look back to the times, the places, and, most of all, to the faces and personalities that populated the last hundred years.
Johnny Thunders, Chesty Morgan, Bill Wyman, Wilt Chamberlain (tie), Jimmy Stewart, Leroy Neiman, Pol Pot, Jackie O, Winston Churchill, Alf Landon, Spike Jones, Ratso Rizzo, Wendy O. Williams, Ed Norton, Blaze Starr, Fred Garven (male prostitute), the clever and now-rich person who invented the CD opener, and…
Paul L. Althouse
SCHUBERT: String Quintet
Alban Berg Quartet; Heinrich Schiff, cello
EMI 66942 2 (CD). 1983/1998. Gerd Berg, prod.; Johann Nikolaus Matthes, eng. DDD. TT: 47:33 As I look back over the 75 or so new CDs I've heard this year, I see that reissues account for about half—and the more interesting half, at that. When this performance was first issued some 15 years ago, I thought it as fine as any I would ever hear. The balance between drama and lyricism was superbly struck, and the playing was beyond criticism. The performance overall is unrushed and deeply moving,…
SCHUBERT: String Quintet
Alban Berg Quartet; Heinrich Schiff, cello
EMI 66942 2 (CD). 1983/1998. Gerd Berg, prod.; Johann Nikolaus Matthes, eng. DDD. TT: 47:33 As I look back over the 75 or so new CDs I've heard this year, I see that reissues account for about half—and the more interesting half, at that. When this performance was first issued some 15 years ago, I thought it as fine as any I would ever hear. The balance between drama and lyricism was superbly struck, and the playing was beyond criticism. The performance overall is unrushed and deeply moving,…
Les Berkley
FAIRPORT CONVENTION: Babbacombe Lee
A&M SP 4333 (LP), Island ILPS 9176 (LP). 1972/1995. John M. Wood, prod., eng.; Simon Nicol, prod. AAA.
FAIRPORT CONVENTION: Babbacombe Lee
A&M SP 4333 (LP), Island ILPS 9176 (LP). 1972/1995. John M. Wood, prod., eng.; Simon Nicol, prod. AAA.
ANONYMOUS 4: 11,000 Virgins
Harmonia Mundi HMU 907200 (CD). 1997. Robina G. Young, prod.; Brad Michel, eng. DDD. TT: 72:07
Daniel Buckley
DON CHERRY: Brown Rice
Don Cherry, trumpet, electric piano, vocals; Frank Lowe, tenor sax; Ricky Cherry, electric piano; Charlie Haden, Hakim Jamil, acoustic bass; Moki, tamboura; Billy Higgins, drums; Bunchie Fox, electric bongos; Verna Gillis, vocals
A&M/Horizon 0809 (CD). 1976/1988. Corrado Bacchelli, Beppe Muccioli, prods.; Kurt Munkacsi, Michael Mantler, engs. AAD? TT: 39:17 In the wake of the global jazz-fusion experiments Miles Davis released on Big Fun, former Ornette Coleman trumpeter Don Cherry, fresh from world-music encounters at Woodstock's…
DON CHERRY: Brown Rice
Don Cherry, trumpet, electric piano, vocals; Frank Lowe, tenor sax; Ricky Cherry, electric piano; Charlie Haden, Hakim Jamil, acoustic bass; Moki, tamboura; Billy Higgins, drums; Bunchie Fox, electric bongos; Verna Gillis, vocals
A&M/Horizon 0809 (CD). 1976/1988. Corrado Bacchelli, Beppe Muccioli, prods.; Kurt Munkacsi, Michael Mantler, engs. AAD? TT: 39:17 In the wake of the global jazz-fusion experiments Miles Davis released on Big Fun, former Ornette Coleman trumpeter Don Cherry, fresh from world-music encounters at Woodstock's…
Brian Damkroger
LUCINDA WILLIAMS: Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Mercury 314 558 338-2 (CD). 1999. Lucinda Williams, Roy Bittan, The Twangtrust, prods.; Ed Thacker, Steve Churchyard, engs. AAD? TT: 51:50 Lucinda Williams has one of those unique voices that, once heard, can never be expunged from your mind. It sounds kind of like one part Carlene Carter, one part Warren Zevon, and maybe a bit of Chrissie Hynde and Tom Petty thrown in, but most of all it sounds like a direct connection between her soul and her vocal cords. In Car Wheels on a Gravel Road she's crafted a series of…
LUCINDA WILLIAMS: Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Mercury 314 558 338-2 (CD). 1999. Lucinda Williams, Roy Bittan, The Twangtrust, prods.; Ed Thacker, Steve Churchyard, engs. AAD? TT: 51:50 Lucinda Williams has one of those unique voices that, once heard, can never be expunged from your mind. It sounds kind of like one part Carlene Carter, one part Warren Zevon, and maybe a bit of Chrissie Hynde and Tom Petty thrown in, but most of all it sounds like a direct connection between her soul and her vocal cords. In Car Wheels on a Gravel Road she's crafted a series of…
Daniel Durchholz
NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND: Will the Circle Be Unbroken
EMI America CDPB 7 46589 2 (2 CDs). 1972. William E. McEuen, prod.; Rick Horton, Rex Collier, engs. AAD. TT: 119:30 When I was a high school student back in the late '70s, one of my part-time jobs was as a Saturday-night deejay at a country radio station in rural Missouri. Country's Top 40 was utter dreck then, as it pretty much is now, so every week I'd dig into the station's archives for a few things to play that would make it seem worthwhile coming in for another week. I was delighted when I discovered Will the…
NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND: Will the Circle Be Unbroken
EMI America CDPB 7 46589 2 (2 CDs). 1972. William E. McEuen, prod.; Rick Horton, Rex Collier, engs. AAD. TT: 119:30 When I was a high school student back in the late '70s, one of my part-time jobs was as a Saturday-night deejay at a country radio station in rural Missouri. Country's Top 40 was utter dreck then, as it pretty much is now, so every week I'd dig into the station's archives for a few things to play that would make it seem worthwhile coming in for another week. I was delighted when I discovered Will the…
Jon Iverson
JOHN LENNON: Anthology
Capitol C2 8 30614 2 (4 CDs). 1998. Yoko Ono, prod.; Rob Stevens, prod., eng.; Mike Rew, Chris Habeck, Mike Anzelowitz, asst. engs. AAD. TT: 4:27:40 There's no way a music lover can pick only two albums each year for the annual "R2D4," so I thought a four-CD boxed set might be a way of sneaking some extra notes under RB's radar. This monumental set appeared late in '98, but nothing I heard in '99 could dislodge it from the top spot. This is as much a sentimental choice as anything else, and by now most folks know whether they like John Lennon or…
JOHN LENNON: Anthology
Capitol C2 8 30614 2 (4 CDs). 1998. Yoko Ono, prod.; Rob Stevens, prod., eng.; Mike Rew, Chris Habeck, Mike Anzelowitz, asst. engs. AAD. TT: 4:27:40 There's no way a music lover can pick only two albums each year for the annual "R2D4," so I thought a four-CD boxed set might be a way of sneaking some extra notes under RB's radar. This monumental set appeared late in '98, but nothing I heard in '99 could dislodge it from the top spot. This is as much a sentimental choice as anything else, and by now most folks know whether they like John Lennon or…