The bass it does reproduce is articulate and well-defined—I have never…
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So how do you describe a chameleon? Fast—staggeringly fast, in fact. This is a dynamic speaker that's as quick as any electrostatic I've heard. It shares with 'stats a phenomenally low level of coloration as well. Tonally neutral, it favors no one frequency range over another. I've heard it described as lean and lacking in low bass, but I didn't find this to be so. Perhaps, with a rated response going down only to 28Hz, it doesn't offer deep bass, but I couldn't have exploited anything lower in the rooms I used it in.
My buddy Ruben, a lutenist who also plays electric geetar (as he would have it) in a noise-rock band, maintains that since the 17th century, instrument makers have increasingly opted for volume over tonality. He points to the baroque guitar, which emphasized warmth and an over-rich (to 20th-century ears, at any rate) harmonic signature and contrasts it to a contemporary concert instrument which is a lot louder and has greater sustain, but at a sacrifice in the seductive body of the tone.
Look at keyboard instruments: far from being a parlor instrument, an unamplified piano these days may…
Track information, Track 5
[5] "Why Hi-Fi Experts Disagree" (DDD) 6:17
J. Gordon Holt reads from Stereophile Vol.1 No.4 (March-April 1963), recorded in mono by Robert Harley with, in order, the following microphones: Shure SM57, AKG D190E, Sennheiser MD441, Electrovoice RE20, Coles 4038, B&K 4006, Crown PZM, Milab LC25, Neumann TLM170, AKG C414B, Neumann U87, Neumann U47FET, Neumann U67, Telefunken U47, Telefunken ELAM251, AKG C12, AKG C12 (modified by Stephen Paul), EAR The Mic. (Index points 2-19 mark the edits between each microphone.) Mikes are mainly courtesy of Audio Rents,…
Track information, Tracks 6-9
[6] E. E. Bagley: The National Emblem (ADD) 1:18
Nether Providence High School Band
Recording Venue: Nether Providence, PA
Recording Date: 1948
Recording Engineer: J. Gordon Holt
Microphone: Brush crystal
Recorder: Brush BK401 Sound Mirror ¼" open-reel recorder (mono)
Transfer to digital: Nakamichi 1000 R-DAT
Digital Transfer Engineer: Robert Harley
[7] Theodore Dubois: Les Sept Paroles du Christ (excerpt) (ADD) 4:32
Philadelphia Oratorio Choir
Recording Venue: First Baptist Church, Philadelphia, PA
Recording Date:…
Track information, Track 10
[10] Frederic Chopin: Scherzo in b-flat, Op.31 (ADD) 9:49
Anna Maria Stanczyk (Hamburg Steinway piano)
Recording Venue: Derngate Centre, Northampton, England
Recording Date: September 22, 1983
Recording Engineer: John Atkinson
Microphone: Calrec Soundfield Mk.III, set to coincident figure-8s at 90 degrees
Recorder: ReVox A77 ¼" open-reel recorder at 15ips (CCIR EQ)
Transfer to digital: Nakamichi 1000 R-DAT
Digital Transfer Engineer: John Atkinson
Original commercial releases: 1984, Ensemble ENS 118 Real-Time cassette (Whitetower…
Track information, Tracks 11-12
[11] Improvisation on Jerome Kern's "I'm Old Fashioned" (DDD) 3:39
Bruce Dunlap (acoustic guitar)
Recording Venue: Tijeras, NM
Recording Date: December 5, 1989
Recording Engineer: Robert Harley
Microphones: two EAR The Mics, set to omnidirectional pattern, spaced by 18"
Microphone preamplifier: EAR 824M
Recorder: Nakamichi 1000 R-DAT
[12] Bruce Dunlap: "Threedledum" (DDD) 4:16
Bruce Dunlap (acoustic guitar), Dan Kolton (double bass)
Recording Venue: Chapel of Loretto, Santa Fe, NM
Recording Date: August 1989
…
Track information, Track 13
[13] George Gershwin: "Summertime" (the "Lesley Test") (DDD) 1:51
(Lyrics by DuBose Heyward & Ira Gershwin)
Lesley Olsher (soprano)
Recording Venue: Stereophile's dedicated listening room, Santa Fe, NM
Recording Date: November 3, 1989
Recording Engineers: Robert Harley, Dick Olsher
Microphones: two EAR The Mics, set to cardioid pattern, in ORTF configuration
Microphone preamplifier: EAR 824M
Recorder: Nakamichi 1000 R-DAT
As regular readers of Stereophile will be aware, the "Lesley Test" is an essential part of Senior…
Track information, Tracks 14-18
[14] Robert Schumann: Romance, Op.94 No.1 (AAD) 3:04
Gary Woodward (flute), Brooks Smith (New York Steinway piano)
[15] Robert Schumann: Romance, Op.94 No.2 (AAD) 3:42
Gary Woodward (flute), Brooks Smith (New York Steinway piano)
[16] Robert Schumann: Romance, Op.94 No.3 (AAD) 4:09
Gary Woodward (flute), Brooks Smith (New York Steinway piano)
[17] Robert Schumann: Romance, Op.94 No.3 (AAD) 4:13
Gary Woodward (flute), Brooks Smith (New York Steinway piano)
[18] Robert Schumann: Romance No.3 (ADC Comparison Test) (…
Track information, Track 19
[19] J.S. Bach: Concerto in d, after Vivaldi, BWV 596, Allegro (AAD with preemphasis) 4:50
James Johnson (Flentrop organ)
Recording Venue: Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Recording Date: 1979
Recording Engineers: Peter W. Mitchell, Brad Meyer
Microphones: four Nakamichi CM-700s, two cardioid capsules in ORTF configuration, two widely spaced omnidirectional capsules
Microphone preamplifier: Mystic Valley Audio custom mixer
Recorder: ReVox A77 ¼" open-reel recorder at 15ips, with dbx noise reduction
Transfer to…
Track information, Tracks 20-31
[20-31] 1/3-octave warble tones at -20dB (DDD). All 0:22 except Track 20, which is 1:01
Center frequencies: 1kHz, 200Hz, 160Hz, 125Hz, 100Hz, 80Hz, 63Hz, 50Hz, 40Hz, 31.5Hz, 25Hz, and 20Hz
These warble-tone tracks were recorded on the Nakamichi 1000 from the output of an Old Colony Sound Lab warble-tone generator, the frequency quoted being the approximate center frequency of each. The generator contains a sinewave oscillator that is frequency-modulated at a rate of 5Hz or so; this is fast enough that the effect of low-frequency room resonances…