The Internet proved surprisingly useful, though not in the way I'd expected. I had guessed that typing "BMW AND 740il" in the Find box would generate a bunch of magazine reviews and maybe a few car-finding services. In fact, the standard magazine reviews were absent from the Internet, but there were a bunch of newspaper articles (which unfortunately are usually…
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I was surprised by the car I settled on, a BMW 740il. After devoting 16 years (1967-1983) to fixing Mercedes, who'da thunk it? (My first arrival at Stereophile's new offices in the new car generated massive interest. Apostasy!)
Relevant Published Letters from Rocking' Ron, John Rossmann, and Alan Anderson:
Mail-order & added value
Editor:
As a longtime subscriber to Stereophile and eight other audio magazines, I had to write—first time, by the way—in response to John Atkinson's September "As We See It." JA wrote how high-end retailers need to add value to what they sell.
In all honesty, I consider myself a knowledgeable—very knowledgeable—smart, high-performance buyer. I had to laugh at the article: Why should I support my local retailer? He doesn't support me. I pride myself on being the…
With regard to business transactions, it seems that Mr. Bauza sees those transactions as situations where one person wins and the other loses. This view is a commonly held misconception among those who don't like capitalism and free markets. The reality is that, in a noncoerced business transaction, both parties gain. When I subscribe to Stereophile, I gain (or obtain value), and so does Stereophile. I want the magazine more than I want the money it costs me; Stereophile wants my money more than they want my copy of the magazine.
When Mr. Bauza buys a pair of speakers from his local…
Being a metallurgical engineer, I've always been intrigued by audio cables—their construction, the materials they're made of, how they're produced, and, of course, how all of that relates to their sound. Over the years, I've auditioned a wide range of cables, from Nordost's round conductors in a flat cable, to Alpha-Core's flat cables in a round conductor, to MIT's complex termination systems. I've even got a closet full of cables—some quite good—from companies that no longer exist.
But one thing I'd not done in the 25 years since I began both making my own interconnects and…
Another aspect of the Anaconda's big, bold sound was a huge, expansive, open soundstage. On the AC/DC album, the soundstage, artificial though it may be, was noticeably wider than with any of my reference wires. Depth was increased as well, and the music projected farther out into my listening room, contributing to the system's bold, immediate sound.
Individual images were slightly larger with the Anacondas than with my reference cables, and the distances between them seemed larger and more distinctly portrayed as empty space. This big, expansive nature was particularly captivating with…
The conductors and insulators are sized and chosen to best serve a specific function. The bass quad, for example, consists of two 16 AWG negative conductors and two 19 AWG negative ones, while the treble half uses 18 AWG positives and 21 AWG negatives. AQ calls this Spread Spectrum Technology, the idea being that any size and material of conductor has a distinct sonic signature that occurs over a specific frequency range. Mixing the conductors spreads out this signature over a wider range, preventing the effects from piling up to the point of audibility. A final bit of wizardry is the use of…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Interconnect and loudspeaker cables. Anaconda interconnects available with single-ended (RCA) and balanced (XLR) terminations. Gibraltar speaker cables available in single- and biwired configurations, with spade-lug or banana-plug terminations.
Prices: Anaconda: $$1250/m pair, balanced (XLR) or unbalanced (RCA). Gibraltar: $850/10' pair, full-range (single-wire) or biwire configurations; $1700/10' pair, double-biwire configuration, spade-lug or banana-plug termination. Approximate number of dealers: 350. Warranty: lifetime, unconditional.
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After a number of years of equipment reviewing, one gets rather blasé about "compact" loudspeakers. The appearance of yet another one that looks like hundreds of others and embodies no radically new innovations to pique one's curiosity is likely to be greeted with a passionate Ho-Hum.
That, at least, is how we felt about receiving a pair of Advent speakers—their first product since the company was formed. Of course, we were pleased to see a new hi-fi manufacturer taking the plunge and we wished them well, but my God, not another oversized "bookshelf" loudspeaker! Who needs it? And at $112…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Two-way direct-radiator loudspeaker. Crossover frequency: 1kHz. Balance control: Tweeter switch selects flat, +3dB, or –3dB. Impedance: 8 ohms. Power capacity: 100W program.
Dimensions: Not noted.
Price: $116 each in walnut veneer, $102 each unfinished (1971); no longer available (2006).
Manufacturer: Advent Corporation, Cambridge, MA (1971). Company no longer in existence (2006).
Manufacturer's Comment
Editor: We are very grateful that Stereophile has evaluated the Advent loudspeaker on the basis of absolute sound quality rather than restricting comparisons to its price peers.
We are a bit confounded by the statement that the speaker is "noticeably amplifier sensitive," because this does not agree with our experience. The Advent loudspeaker is critically damped, having an almost ideal system Q of slightly less than 1. As a result, it does not change character when used with different amplifiers that differ only in damping factor, so long as each of them…