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It was almost five years ago that I first spent some serious auditioning time with an omnidirectional two-piece speaker from German manufacturer MBL: the four-way MBL 111. When I reviewed the 111 in the April 1998 Stereophile, I had been extremely impressed with the speaker's stereo imaging, which was superbly stable and well-defined, with images that floated completely free of the speaker positions. The tonal balance was also excellent, with a rich midrange, superbly clean highs, and extended lows. "This Radialstrahler is one of the best tweeters I have experienced," I wrote. In fact, the…
Once I'd got the speakers optimally positioned in my room, the most immediately obvious difference between the MBLs and the Wilson Audio Sophias that had preceded them (review in last month's issue) was how insensitive they were. The volume control of my Mark Levinson No.380S preamplifier had to be set around 10dB higher than it had with the Wilsons to get the same listening level. I wouldn't use less than a 100Wpc amplifier with the 111Bs.
Bass was obviously well-extended, but without the spikes, the 111B's low frequencies again lagged a bit behind the music's pulse. On piano, for…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Four-way, omnidirectional, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 24-segment carbon-fiber omnidirectional bending-mode tweeter; 12-segment carbon-fiber omnidirectional bending-mode upper-midrange unit; two 5" (130mm) alloy-cone lower-midrange units; 12" (300mm) metal-cone woofer in separate bandpass enclosure. Crossover frequencies: 105Hz, 600Hz, 3.5kHz. Crossover slopes: fourth-order Linkwitz-Riley. Acoustic center: 43" (1090mm) from floor. Frequency range: 20Hz-40kHz. Sensitivity: 81dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Maximum power handling: 320W…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Mark Levinson No.31.5 CD transport; Mark Levinson No.30.6, Chord DAC64 D/A processors; dCS 972 upsampler; Meridian 800 DVD-Video/CD/CD-R player; Technics DVD-A10 DVD-Audio player; Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 3D CD player; Macintosh 8100/80 fitted with two Sonic Solutions SSP-3 digital audio workstation cards; Dell 866MHz Pentium III fitted with RME Digi96/8 Pro and Digital Audio Labs CardDeluxe soundcards, running Windows Me, WinAmp 2.5, SoundForge 5.0, Acid 2.0, and CoolEdit 2000.
Preamplification: Mark Levinson No.380S preamplifier, Z-…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
Other than impedance, for which I used an Audio Precision System One, all acoustic measurements were made with the DRA Labs MLSSA system and a calibrated B&K 4006 microphone. To minimize reflections from the test setup, the measuring microphone is flush-mounted inside the end of a long tube. Reflections of the speaker sound from the mike stand and its hardware will be sufficiently delayed not to affect the measurement.
Confirming what I'd experienced in my listening room, the 111B was not very sensitive. My estimate for the B-weighted figure was 80.7dB…
In the vertical plane (fig.6), the balance doesn't change significantly as long as the listener's ears are between the bottom of the larger Radialstrahler unit and the top of the smaller one. A suckout at the upper crossover frequency does appear 15 degrees below the optimal axis, but this is an impracticably low listening position for anyone other than a hobbit.
Fig.6 MBL 111B, vertical response family at 50", normalized to response on 43"-high listening axis, from back to front: differences in response 15 degrees-5 degrees above axis, reference response, differences in…
So here I am expounding on the tendency of audio components---especially tubes, capacitors, and resistors---to become microphonic, and you're wondering how you can find out if there's any of that shakin' goin' on in your system. And you want to do it easily and for next to nothing. The first thing you do, then, is listen carefully to Victor Tiscareno of AudoPrism. The following is his big idea, and a damn good one it is.
Get thee hence to the nearest RadioShack. Ask for their $11.99 Mini Audio Amplifier/Speaker (part #277-1008), and don't forget a 9V battery. Then pick up part #42-2421…
"I have an interesting loudspeaker for you to review," said John Atkinson.
Uh-oh. I know what interesting means. I had a barber once who told me that, at barber school, he'd actually taken a course in conversation...
"What the heck do they teach you in a class on conversation?"
"They taught us there was one thing you could say to any statement a customer uttered, no matter how bizarre."
"Which is . . . ?"
"'That's really interesting.'"
So when JA told me that the Canton Vento 809 DC was "interesting," I reckoned he just had nothing else to say…
I ended up cuing up Jumping the Creek, simply because it gives a shout out to producer Joe Harley. Good call. Jumping the Creek is a powerful recording—atmospheric, with a nice sense of space, powerful tenor sax and piano sound, and some of the tightest precision drum sound I've ever heard. And bass—rich, deep, taut, punchy acoustic bass.
The Vento 809 DC delivered it all with lithe grace. This was no heavy-handed speaker. In fact, I characterize it as light, agile, and accurate. When there was bass to deliver, however, the 809 delivered it with lots of slam. At other times, the speaker…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, floorstanding, bass-reflex loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" ADT-25 aluminum-manganese dome tweeter, 7" aluminum-cone midrange unit, two 8" aluminum-cone woofers. Electrical crossover: low-pass, 250Hz (12dB/octave); high-pass, 3kHz (12dB/octave). Frequency response: 36Hz–38kHz, ±6dB; 41Hz–24.4kHz, ±3dB. Sensitivity: 88.5dB. Nominal impedance: 4–8 ohms. Nominal music power handling: 180–340W.
Dimensions: 44.1" (1120mm) H by 9.8" (250mm) W by 13.8" (350mm) D. Weight: 62.9 lbs (28.6kg).
Finishes: Cherry veneer, silver lacquer; black fabric…