Down With Flat? With Flat What?
Readers who regard reviewers as sources of revealed truth should read no further than as the point of this article is to take issue with J. Gordon Holt's editorial in the last Stereophile ("Down With Flat"), thereby revealing that differences of opinion exist even within such a highly structured cultural monolith as Stereophile. Worse, the gist of my remarks deals with differences literally at the "high end." The following material is strictly for…
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An article in response, written by Anthony H. Cordesman, appeared in the following issue, Vol.8 No.5:
These problems also interact in terms of perception. The listener cannot separate "flat" response in the treble, midrange, and bass. A speaker must. have coherent balance, which is extraordinarily difficult to measure using frequency response tests. For example, most small monitors with flat extended highs and an early rolloff in the bass sound very bright, even though they measure flat within their frequency bandwidth. A classic case is the ProAc Tablette, which I, at least (footnote 2), regard as an excruciatingly bad speaker because the high frequencies dominate over a complete lack of…
Letters in response to both these essays appeared in Vol.8 Nos.7 & 8 and Vol.9 Nos.1 & 2:
Balanced Loudspeakers
Editor: Since you are interested in comments from loudspeaker designers, I thought I would make some brief comments and control my usual compulsion to develop a doctoral dissertation.
In the ages-old literature, you can find the answer to why a small monitor loudspeaker with flat extended highs sounds much too bright. If you were to study the work done in the 1920s and 1930s, it might be disturbing to you to realize that so much has been forgotten and…
Blowing Our Horn
Editor: I enjoy your magazine very much, but your comments and articles sometimes tantalize me. For instance, your subtle allusions to horn loudspeakers.
Editor: I enjoy your magazine very much, but your comments and articles sometimes tantalize me. For instance, your subtle allusions to horn loudspeakers.
I happen to be one of the very rare audiophiles who takes horns seriously. What has happened to horns in the underground (non-Stereo Review) world? When you reviewed the Lensic movie theater system, there seemed to be magic happening despite the lousy frequency response. In the most recent issue, you suggest that frequency response isn't everything, and that perhaps it ought to be dropped as a major significator of…
Truth out of lunacy
Editor: It must surely be the first time in all my reading of Stereophile that I have found myself in unqualified agreement with something you said! I refer to J. Gordon Holt's "Down With Flat!" editorial (Vol.8 No.4).
Editor: It must surely be the first time in all my reading of Stereophile that I have found myself in unqualified agreement with something you said! I refer to J. Gordon Holt's "Down With Flat!" editorial (Vol.8 No.4).
Because of this shining bit of truth in your otherwise lunatic outpourings, I have renewed my subscription.—David Meraner, Schenectady, NY
But not your faith, huh?—JGH
More "Down With Flat"
Editor: In the good old days, which lasted until quite recently, HF response would be fairly flat on-axis, but would fall more and more…
"Hoom! Hoom-hoom! HOOM!"
It was a sunny morning in Tempe, Arizona. (So what else is new?) "HOOOM!" The death cry of tortured air molecules subjected to Thomas Dolby's "Airhead" track at levels hitherto found only at the ground-zero point of an A-bomb explosion could be heard even before we pulled into the parking lot at Arizona State.
When we got out of the car, my impression that God had created only one bass frequency was confirmed.
"HOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!" The sound of ONE HUNDRED HERTZ writ large in the unsullied Arizona air. "Rbrrbrrbrrbrrbrrbrrrrr!" The sound of massive…
"Hoom." We walk closer. "Hoom! Hoom-hooom! HOOOOM!" We step into the auditorium. "HOOOM. BLEETER BLITTER BLATTER BLETTER BLOTTER BLUTTER BLOOTER!" The drummer had more tom-toms than a musical instrument store. "HOOM HOOM HOOM! RBRRBRRBRRBRRBRRBRRRRR! KERBLOOD KERBLOOM!!" It was a good thing that we still had the unused earplugs from the sound-off; I noticed that many other of us refugees from the '60s also had earplugs. The Jeff Beck Band---the amazingly well-preserved Beck with Zappa alumnus Terry Bozzio on drums and Tony Hymas, responsible for some great songs when he played with bassist…
The women in my family and extended circle of friends are generally captivated by good sound, but are often appalled by the brutish, monolithic packaging that passes for "styling" in high-end gear. "Not in my living room," is the refrain, often played in a minor key.
But before any of them had even heard EAR's V20 integrated amplifier, my female friends had already been captivated by its style and elegance. A few even allowed as how they'd be willing to let this design come up and see them sometime. There's something about the V20 that transcends high-end audio and borders on modern…
But words can be double-edged. To describe the bass response of a particular component as "lean" might convey tautness, articulation, and muscularity to one person, but to another thinness and a lack of body. And in characterizing the sound of the V20 as "lush," I need to break it down even further—I certainly don't mean to imply anything "lugubrious," in the senses of syrupy, indistinct, or wildly colored.
No—the V20's midrange was seductively lush but extraordinarily articulate. If the sound of the Mesa Tigris integrated tube amplifier that I reviewed in August is a full-bodied yet…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Class-A, push-pull, enhanced triode, self-biasing vacuum-tube integrated amplifier. Tube complement: thirteen 12AX7 and two 12AU7 per channel. Six line inputs, one tape output. Output power: 24Wpc into 4, 8, and 16 ohms (10.8, 13.8, 16.8dBW, respectively). Frequency range: 12Hz-80kHz. THD: 0.5%. Signal/Noise Ratio: 90dB (A-weighted).
Dimensions: 16½" W by 53/8" H by 173/8" D. Weight: 49 lbs.
Serial number of unit reviewed: 98221001.
Price: $4595. Approximate number of dealers: 30. Warranty: 3 years parts & labor, 90 days for tubes.
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