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Audio Physic Caldera III loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

Like the Peak Consult Empress reviewed last month, the Audio Physic Caldera was too bulky to lift on to a high stand for the acoustic measurements. The farfield measurements therefore inevitably suffer from a limited midrange resolution.

My estimate of the Caldera's voltage sensitivity was slightly higher than specified, at 90dB(B)/2.83V/m. This is also a useful 3dB higher than the average of the more than 500 speakers I have measured over the past 15 years. The Caldera's impedance (fig.1) varied between 3.5 and 6 ohms between the upper bass and upper…

Audio Physic Caldera III loudspeaker Manufacturer's Comment

Manufacturer's Comment

Editor: We would like to thank Michel Fremer and Stereophile for having the time to audition our Audio Physic Caldera speaker.

We have looked at the measurements and read Michael's review and have compared both with our laboratory tests. From the reports we get from our customers, our experiences at the High End Show in Munich (see show report by Markus Sauer in Stereophile, August 2005), and the very positive reviews in other magazines, the differences are more than obvious. Considering all of this, there is no doubt that Caldera serial number 002 had…

Monarchy Audio Digital Interface Processor 24/96

Sorry to empty your wallet this month, but here's a must-have if you want to get the most from your upsampling MSB Link DAC III: Monarchy Audio's Digital Interface Processor 24/96 (DIP for short).

Remember my writeup of the original DIP, back in June 1997 (Vol.20 No.6)? No? C.C. Poon? Monkey-picked tea? Go read it, if you have the back issue. I fell for the "monkey-picked" business hook, line, and sinker, and then learned from several readers that tea-picking monkeys is a good story. Good tea, though, and I wish I spoke Chinese—I haven't been able to find any more.

What…

The Fifth Element #17

Poetry, painting, and sculpture must lie, but they should lie with grandeur, charm, and splendor.—Napoléon I

Napoléon seems to be saying that lying—or, to use another word, distortion—is necessary for art. Indeed, he might even be saying that the act of telling intentional and crafty lies is, in itself, that which makes art art. I am certain that, had sound recording been invented in his time (footnote 1), Napoléon would have been fascinated by its potential political and social uses, and perhaps even included it in his list of arts that must tell lies.

After all, just as the…

The Fifth Element #17 Page 2

Second, becoming better-educated listeners will help us become more astute equipment buyers. Once we learn to recognize the sound of equalization or dynamic compression being applied to a recording, we have a better chance of recognizing, as examples, that a certain loudspeaker may emphasize certain frequencies in order to enhance imaging, or that it trades off dynamic linearity in its quest for high efficiency.

Here's an example of what I mean by becoming more educated. If one were to ask you to guess the frequency of the violin's highest open string, what would you say? 4kHz? 3kHz?…

The Fifth Element #17 Page 3

One reason I think we tend to play things too loudly (guilty as charged here, at least for Mahler, and Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius) is to make up for the lack of the sense of envelopment we get in a performance space. Another reason is that many home systems can't do justice to bass fundamentals, so we turn up the volume to try to compensate. I've found that with speakers that are full-range or almost full-range, I tend to listen at lower average levels. Really.

Anyway, even in the absence of hard data about SPL levels at the recording session (information I have included in the…

Mirage M-3 loudspeaker

It may surprise some readers to learn that all of the contributors to Stereophile do not get the chance to hear, at our leisure and in familiar circumstances, everything that passes through the magazine's portals. Not that we wouldn't like to, but there just isn't time. Nor are the logistics always right. I was therefore probably as intrigued as the average reader by LA's glowing report on the $5000/pair Mirage M-1 in the June 1989 issue. The M-1s had been on the market long enough for me to have heard them on several occasions, of course, but generally at shows and not under the best of…

Mirage M-3 loudspeaker Page 2

(By the way, you won't find much of this information in Mirage's owner's manual. LA criticized the M-1 manual for its lack of background information and excessive brevity; the M-3 manual is no improvement in this regard—it is, in fact, a generic M-series manual, apparently provided with both the M-1 and the M-3. It does provide useful setup instructions, but nothing of substance about details of the system's design.)

Set-up
Mirage makes a point in their retail sales guide (I managed to obtain a copy)—though not in their sales literature—of the desirability of side- and rear-wall…

Mirage M-3 loudspeaker Page 3

While I didn't notice it immediately, it didn't take long to notice a rather laid-back perspective to the M-3s' sound. They never seem to reach out and take charge in a gutsy, palpable fashion, which can be a liability for some types of music. But neither do they ever seem to reach out and grab you by the throat. Recordings that seem to jump forward and glare at you (more common with CDs) on other reproducers retain their composure. I've commented before on what is, to my mind, an excess of vocal energy in the London original cast recording of Miss Saigon (Geffen 24271-2). While this…

Mirage M-3 loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Three-way vented-box dynamic loudspeaker with 10" mineral-filled polypropylene woofer, two 4.5" mineral-filled polypropylene midranges, and two 0.75" fabric-dome tweeters. Impedance: 7 ohms nominal, 4 ohms minimum. Frequency response: 30Hz–20kHz ±2dB. Crossover frequencies: 400Hz and 2.2kHz. Sensitivity: 85.5dB (anechoic—distance and input power not specified).
Dimensions: 52.5" H by 18.1" W by 8.3" D. Weight: 130 lbs.
Price: $2500/pair (1990); no longer available (2006). Approximate number of dealers: 120.
Manufacturer: Mirage, 3641…