Gear List
Recording equipment: two Shure SM-81 ½" cardioid microphones (vibraphone); two Brüel & Kjaer 4006 ½" omnidirectional microphones (sax/trombone); two Brüel & Kjaer 4011 ½" cardioid microphones (main drum pickup); Shure Beta 57A dynamic cardioid microphone (snare drum); AKG D112 dynamic hypercardioid microphone (kick drum); AKG D190E dynamic cardioid (bass guitar cabinet); Cardas 300B, Canare, Beyerdynamic, and AudioQuest Lapis balanced microphone cables; Millennia Media HV-3B microphone preamplifiers (drums & vibes); Bryston BMP-2 microphone preamplifier (snare…
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I first met NHT co-founder Ken Kantor in 1975 when we were both undergraduates at MIT. Kantor was sponsoring an extracurricular class entitled "Musical Ideas." The concept was to stick a dozen or so musicians in a classroom for free improvisation and hope to create music à la Miles Davis' Bitches Brew. The result was a mess; although talented guitarist Kantor meant well, there was no common vision or consistency of musical talent. Nevertheless, I had a blast trying to simulate a tamboura drone with a Hohner Clavinet, phase shifter, and volume pedal.
I ran into Kantor at a Consumer…
The SB-3's midrange and high-frequency strengths combined to make it an excellent reproducer of solo piano. On Two Hours with Thelonious Monk (Riverside 460/461), recorded live in Europe in the early '60s, Monk leaves his trio for one tune to do a touching, breathtaking solo rendition of "Body and Soul." Through the SB-3, Monk's upper-register right-hand figures were pristine, detailed, and dynamic, but without any unnatural edge.
Bass reproduction was remarkable on several fronts. Midbass reproduction was a touch warm and ripe but did not sound colored; this character was uniform…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, sealed-box stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" metal-dome, neodymium-magnet tweeter; 6.5" polypropylene-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 2.4kHz. Frequency response: 39Hz-22kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Recommended amplification: 15-175W.
Dimensions: 13" H by 8" W by 10" D. Weight: 16 lbs.
Finish: gloss black.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 004197 & 8.
Price: $600/pair. Last Stand speaker stands, $200/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 500.
Manufacturer: NHT, 527 Stone Road,…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: VPI TNT IV turntable, Immedia tonearm, Koetsu Urushi cartridge; Rega Planar 3 turntable, Syrinx PU-3 tonearm, Clearaudio Aurum Beta S cartridge.
Digital sources: California Audio Labs Icon Mk.II Power Boss, Creek CD53 Mk.II CD players.
Preamplification: Vendetta Research SCP-2D phono stage, Audible Illusions Modulus L1 line stage.
Power amplifier: Audio Research VT100 Mk.II.
Integrated amplifiers: Creek 5350SE, JoLida JD-101A.
Loudspeakers: Paradigm Atom, Polk RT25i, JMlab Chorus 706, Alán Petite.
Cables: Interconnect: MIT…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I didn't find the NHT SB-3 to be as sensitive as the specification claims: my estimate of its B-weighted sensitivity was around the same as the similarly sized LS3/5A, at 82.5dB/2.83V/m. Fig.1 reveals that the speaker is easy to drive in the upper midrange and above, where its impedance remains above 8 ohms. However, in the lower midrange the impedance drops to 4 ohms, with a somewhat demanding combination of 42 degrees capacitive phase angle and 5.7 ohms magnitude evident at 81Hz.
Fig.1 NHT SB-3, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (dashed). (…
Revel. Interesting name for a new speaker company. The most apt definition of the word from my old dictionary is "to take much pleasure; delight." Or perhaps those who chose the name were intrigued by the wordplay they could make with "revel-ation."
No matter; it's a name that sticks in the mind. And with the management skill of Sandy Berlin (formerly head honcho at Madrigal Audio Labs), the design experience and talent of Kevin Voecks (formerly with Snell Acoustics), and the financial backing and facilities of Harman International Industries (a conglomerate consisting of JBL, Infinity,…
Our review samples sported a classy gloss-black finish with dark rosewood side panels. The gloss-black finish caused no light-reflection problems, but it costs an extra $3100 for the three front speakers and a single subwoofer. The curved grille on the Gems (and the other models) is held in place by the wood end panels, and it is not easily removable; you have to take the panels off to do so. I left the grilles in place on all the Revel speakers throughout my listening tests. I was a little concerned that the front corners of the side panels, which extend past the plane of the front baffle,…
The Revel Embrace surround speaker uses five drivers. A single 8" woofer is mounted on the front, with a 4" midrange and a 1" tweeter on each of the enclosure's angled sides. The 4" midranges and 8" woofer are the same drivers used in the Ultima Voice center-channel. However, the 1" tweeters are not the same Scan-Speak design used in the Voice and Gems.
The Embrace can be configured for bipole, dipole, or Dual Drive operation. (Dual Drive is an arrangement available in a few surround processors—notably from Citation—that lets the user separately drive the front and rear drivers and…
Setup
The Revel speakers were installed in my approximately 7000-cubic-foot home-theater room. Two Gems flanked the projection screen and were toed-in, the Voice center-channel was placed below the screen and aimed up toward the listening position, and the Embrace surrounds were mounted high on the side walls. During this review, I tried the system with one and two SUB-15s placed in a front corner and driven from a single LE-1.
The Revel speakers were installed in my approximately 7000-cubic-foot home-theater room. Two Gems flanked the projection screen and were toed-in, the Voice center-channel was placed below the screen and aimed up toward the listening position, and the Embrace surrounds were mounted high on the side walls. During this review, I tried the system with one and two SUB-15s placed in a front corner and driven from a single LE-1.
The subwoofer(s) can be connected in several ways. The recommended hookup uses the LE-1 amplifier's built-in highpass and lowpass filters instead of the…