Sleek, curvaceous, and finished in cool blonde maple, the $…
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Rarely has the debut of a new loudspeaker company and its inaugural model created as big a buzz as did Lumen White and their Whitelight speaker at the 2001 Consumer Electronics Show. Driven by Vaic tube amplifiers in one of the larger corner rooms at the Alexis Park Hotel, the big Whitelights had a look and a sound that attracted continuous crowds. Of the questions among audio cognoscenti that I overheard at the end of each day, two of the most common were "Hey, did you hear those Lumen Whites?" and "What? Can you speak louder?"
Some turntable designs use heavily damped platters and plinths to squelch resonances. Others take the opposite approach, using light, rigid materials to quickly evacuate and dissipate energy rather than control it. Both strategies seem to work, and the latter is clearly the Lumen White approach to speaker design. The company claims that the elimination of damping, a hard and rigid cabinet, and careful attention to airflow and energy evacuation, enhance the retrieval of micro-information, result in pitch-black backgrounds, and improve the overall naturalness of the sound. Are these claims for…
Problems
While the Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300 power amp worked brilliantly with the Rockport Antares and most other speakers I've used with it, the Lumen White/Nu-Vista 300 combo was less satisfactory. The mid/high frequency range was too sharply drawn for my (and, I bet, most listeners') taste, and, as the importer quickly noted, for some reason the powerful Nu-Vista didn't seem capable of driving the 91dB-efficient Whiteflames successfully at low listening levels. The sound went sort of soft and limp. Don't ask me why.
While the Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300 power amp worked brilliantly with the Rockport Antares and most other speakers I've used with it, the Lumen White/Nu-Vista 300 combo was less satisfactory. The mid/high frequency range was too sharply drawn for my (and, I bet, most listeners') taste, and, as the importer quickly noted, for some reason the powerful Nu-Vista didn't seem capable of driving the 91dB-efficient Whiteflames successfully at low listening levels. The sound went sort of soft and limp. Don't ask me why.
On the other hand, at higher, more realistic SPLs with the…
With the Rockport Antareses still fresh in my mind's ear, I gravitated toward some of the recordings used for that review, including Jascha Heifetz's Scottish Fantasy (LP, RCA/Classic LSC-2603), and Beethoven's Symphony 3 with René Leibowitz and the Royal Philharmonic (RCA/Reader's Digest boxed set). Whatever reservations I might have had when listening with the Nu-Vista 300 were quickly dispelled when I listened to these recordings through the Music Reference RM-200. With the tube amp driving the Whiteflames, strings had detail, delicacy, body, and warmth, and orchestral colors were rich…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way floorstanding moving-coil loudspeaker. Drive-units (all concave, inverted ceramic-dome units): 1" tweeter, 3.5" midrange, three 5" woofers. Crossover frequencies: 180Hz, 4kHz. Frequency range (no limits specified): 30Hz-35kHz (30Hz-100kHz with pure diamond tweeter). Nominal impedance: 6 ohms. Sensitivity: 91dB. Power rating: not specified.
Dimensions: 41" (1050mm) H by 10 1/8" (260mm) W by 19 7/8" (510mm) D. Weight: 70 lbs (32kg).
Finish: blonde maple.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 02003a/b.
Price: $24,000/pair; pure…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Simon Yorke turntable; Graham 2.2, Immedia RPM2 tonearms; Lyra Helikon SL, Lyra Helikon mono, Lyra Titan prototype, Transfiguration Temper Supreme phono cartridges.
Digital sources: Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD player, Accuphase DP-85 SACD player.
Preamplification: Hovland HP-100 preamplifier, Connoisseur Definitions 4.0 line & phono stages; Boulder 2008, Manley Steelhead, The Groove, Lamm LP2 phono preamplifiers.
Power amplifiers: Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300, Music Reference RM-200.
Cables: Phono: Hovland Music Groove…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Although my 89dB(B)/2.83V/m estimate of the Lumen White Whiteflame's sensitivity was a couple of dB below the specified figure, this is still higher than average. Its impedance magnitude (fig.1) drops below 4 ohms only in the upper bass and the mid-treble, though the combination of 5 ohms impedance and -45 degrees phase angle at 78Hz might give inadequate amplifiers conniptions. The saddle at around 40Hz in the impedance-magnitude trace gives a clue to the tuning frequency of the vertical slot-shaped port on the speaker's rear, implying only moderate bass…
Could the plateau above 1kHz be associated with MF's dislike of the Whiteflame's "sharply drawn" balance when the speaker was driven by a solid-state amplifier? It sounds plausible, but comparing figs. 4 and 1, it looks as if the higher output impedance of a tube amplifier will actually pull down the level slightly in the octaves above this region. Therefore, I suspect that what MF heard as a welcome improvement in the Lumen White's balance was the tube amp's slight boost of the region between 300Hz and 1kHz, which will reduce the perception that the entire treble region is too high in level…
Every once in a while, some mainstream journalist discovers the audiophile underground.
It happened again this past summer, when Washington Post writer David Segal introduced his readers to some Washington, DC audiophiles and the stores that stoke their mania ("Sound Crazy?"). The theme that unites all such journalistic forays into audioland is an unwavering astonishment that grown adults can lavish such time, attention, and money on the experience of recorded music. The bemusement evokes a favorite bumper sticker: "Pray for me: my husband collects baseball cards."
In "Sound…
No one has ever accused Rockport Technologies' Andy Payor of under-engineering a product, and this set of gleaming black beauties is no exception. The system is available in two configurations: as the two-way Merak II for $19,500/pair, including sturdy custom cradle-stands with integrated crossover; and as the Merak II/Sheritan II, a three-way, two-box floorstander that, to afford them at $29,500, will reduce some to living in the speakers' shipping crates. You could do worse for housing than checking into the Sheritan Rockport: The wooden crates are almost exquisitely finished.
While…