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A man who had just looked through his very first Stereophile---April's "Recommended Components" issue picked up at a newsstand---recently called to ask my advice on a certain inexpensive CD player made by a large mid-fi company. I told him I hadn't auditioned the player and thus couldn't comment on its worth. The man then proceeded to read me the player's specifications, finally informing me that the player "had the new 1-bit thing"---all in the belief that I could make a recommendation based on what he'd just told me. He apparently had been conditioned to believe that not only was "the 1-bit…
Robert Pirsig expressed these ideas so well in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance when he said, "Care and Quality are internal and external aspects of the same thing." Because the high-end designer cares, his products have more quality---or, in audiophile-speak, are more musical.
What high-end products do that mass-market products mainly do not is to produce a powerful intimacy with the music. The mediocre product never passes the threshold from good sound to creating magic in the listening room. Why not? Because in their development, the designers didn't listen, tweak the design,…
But is musicality intrinsic to some products and not others, or is it something else?
Musicality, which every high-end designer strives for in his product, is more than "something" which some products have and others don't. Musicality is an event---a dynamic, flowing experience---not a static condition that exists in greater "quantity" in some products. Musicality is the relationship between music and listener---how deeply involved the listener becomes in the music, with the playback system serving as the intermediary. It is the abandonment of all thought except the music's meaning (…
Letters in response appeared in Vol.14 No.10, October 1991
Well said, Bob!
Editor:
I have been a subscriber since 1983 and have seen contributors come and go. Arrivals and departures have been welcomed over the years, as have "columns and corners." Of course, there have been regrettable losses as well.
Robert Harley's July "As We See It" is an opinion that provoked me to write. RH has clearly, honestly, and passionately explained what defines "high-end" audio, giving us all a new and better defined tool for argument. Well said! Well done!
In the relatively short…
The last few years at our annual Home Entertainment Show, many readers have come up to me and asked: "How do you select which speakers to review?" In my case, most candidates are either new products that have impressed me when demonstrated at our HE Shows, or new products from manufacturers whose designs have impressed me in the past. Occasionally, editor John Atkinson gets wind of a speaker and asks if I'd like to review it. But once in a while, a manufacturer reads a rave review of a competing product that makes his or her blood boil.
That's what happened with Usher Audio…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way front-ported bookshelf loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" UA25-10 silk-dome tweeter, 5" KSW2-5029B polypropylene-cone mid-woofer. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Frequency response: 55Hz–20kHz, –3dB. Power handling: 50W. Crossover frequency: 2kHz.
Dimensions: 7.1" (180mm) W by 11.8" (300mm) H by 9.8" (250mm) D. Weight: 13.9 lbs (6.3kg).
Finishes: Birch veneer; add $25/pair for Matte Black, Gloss Black, Gloss White.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 039515 & '516.
Price: $375/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 37…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog Sources: VPI TNT IV turntable, Immedia RPM tonearm, Koetsu Urushi cartridge; Rega Planar 3 turntable, Syrinx PU-3 tonearm, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood & Aurum Beta S cartridges.
Digital Sources: California Audio Labs Icon Mk.II Power Boss, Creek CD53 Mk.II CD players; Pioneer DV-333 DVD player.
Preamplification: Vendetta Research SCP-2D phono stage, Audio Valve Eklipse line stage.
Power Amplifier: Audio Research VT100 Mk.II.
Integrated Amplifier: Creek 5350SE.
Loudspeakers: Epos ELS 3, Infinity Primus 150, Wharfedale Diamond 9.1.
…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I estimated the Usher S-520's voltage sensitivity to be 84.5dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is both a little lower than specified and on the low side. Its impedance, however, remains above 6 ohms for almost the entire audioband, with a minimum value of 5.3 ohms at 244Hz (fig.1), meaning that it will be a relatively easy load for an amplifier to drive. The traces in fig.1 have a couple of discontinuities evident between 400Hz and 600Hz. Investigating the cabinet walls' vibrational behavior with an accelerometer revealed a reasonably strong resonant mode at 460Hz on all the…
"Wanted: Linn Axis turntable or similar, 555-1234."
I'd poured my first cup of morning coffee and opened the paper to the classifieds. Though my eyes were hardly open, the word "Linn" set my groggy neurons a-sparkin'.
Here's my chance! I'll pick up an affordable used LP12 and spend the next few weeks comparing it to my aging VPI ET 'table. Maybe I'll upgrade it and become a devoted Linnie. Yes, it's time for a change!
The reverie dissolved with my first sip of coffee. Oh, it's an Axis. The Axis is the discontinued little brother of the LP12. I already had one.
…
Stereophile's "Products of the Year," now in its 13th year, recognizes those rare components that prove capable of giving musical pleasure beyond the formal review period. These are the components that can be recommended with no ifs or buts, that will grace any system in which they are used.
There are six individual categories: Loudspeakers (including subwoofers), Amplification Components (preamplifiers, power amplifiers, etc.), Digital Sources (CD players, transports, processors), Analog Sources (phono cartridges, turntables, tonearms, FM tuners, etc.), Music Surround Components…