Mahul: [laughs] Actually, Jonathan, we do produce, each year, a JMlab wine.
Scull: You see, I can be very intuitive.
Mahul: [laughs] Yes. In fact, here is a bottle of JMlab Sauternes for you and Kathleen.
Scull: Jacques, thank you very much.
Mahul: Last year it was a cognac!
Scull: Well, Jacques, I see I'm going to love this assignment!
Mahul: [laughing] My pleasure, Jon-a-ten.
Jonathan Scull: Jacques, I'd like to learn more about that inverted-dome tweeter...
Jacques Mahul: Yes, it's…
Mahul: The dispersion characteristic of the tweeter is hemispherical and needs to "see" the baffle around it. You can't compare it at all to the baffle requirements of a positive-dome tweeter.
Scull: And where does it cross over?
Mahul: The inverted dome's bandpass performance allows coupling to the midrange from 3kHz. So transient signals are reproduced without any distortion, and minimum directivity.
Scull: You know, Jacques, Freud said everything in life had to do with sex. But I suspect it'…
When really stressed, the Petite gets a tad blurry through a broad midrange band, as…
Description: Two-way, stand-mounted loudspeaker with rear-firing port. Drive-units: 1" aluminum-alloy dual-chamber dome tweeter, 5?" tri-laminate-cone cast-frame woofer. Crossover frequency: 3.5kHz. Crossover slopes: damped second-order. Frequency response: 55Hz-+20kHz, ±dB. Sensitivity: 87dB/W/m (2.83V). Nominal impedance: 8 ohms, 6 ohms minimum. Amplifier requirements: 50W.
Dimensions: 6?" W by 8?" D by 15" H. Shipping weight: 30 lbs.
Serial numbers of review samples: 0113/0114.
Price: $995/pair (walnut or black ash), $1195/pair (rosewood).…
The speakers were reviewed in my relatively small living room: 17" by 10" by 8" high in the primary dimensions, although it's part of an "open plan" living room/dining room/kitchen layout. I placed them along the long wall, which means I listened more or less near-field. They benefited greatly from rigid, nonresonant stands—I used a pair of Cliff Stone's 24" Foundation stands, which are filled with aggregate and were spiked through the carpet to the concrete subfloor. Although the Petites are quite efficient and can be driven by modestly powered amplifiers, I…
As expected from its diminutive proportions, the Petite is not very sensitive, 2.83V raising a calculated 83dB at 1m (B-weighted). However, its impedance traces (fig.1) reveal it as an easy load for an amplifier to drive, dropping below 8 ohms only in the midrange. Though no wrinkles can be seen in the impedance traces, the cabinet was generally lively in the 350-500Hz region. No strong individual resonant modes could be found, however, which suggests an optimally constructed cabinet.
Fig.1 Alón Petite, electrical impedance (solid) and phase (…
Fig.6 Alón Petite, horizontal response family at 57", normalized to response on tweeter axis, from back to front: differences in response 90 degrees-5 degrees off-axis on tweeter side of baffle; reference…
A good audio reviewer must approach his or her duties without bias. Over my 12 years of reviewing experience, I've prided myself on my ability to review a broad range of gear in a totally unbiased fashion. [Now that's just begging for trouble.—Ed.] I've even been able to keep my own tastes out of the picture: although I love tubes, analog, and expensive, I review solid-state, digital, and affordable.
But with this review of the Alón PW-1 passive stereo…