LG wrote about the 4B-ST in October 1999 (Vol.22 No.10):
When audio products sound great and have staying power on the market, they become classics. Two of the components used in my review of the B&W Nautilus 805 (elsewhere in this issue) have the legs to qualify as classics, but because they've been revised and we haven't heard the new versions, they've fallen off of Stereophile's "Recommended Components" listing. While the Bryston 4B-ST power amplifier and Velodyne HGS-18 powered subwoofer performed admirably when teamed up with the B&W Nautilus 805, are they good enough to…
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Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Solid-state stereo power amplifier. Output power: 250W continuous into 8 ohms (24dBW), 400Wpc rms continuous into 4 ohms (23dBW); 800W continuous into 8 ohms in bridged mode (29dBW). Current delivery: 16A continuous, 48A peak, per channel. Frequency response: 1Hz–100kHz, ±3dB for 1W output. S/N Ratio: hum and noise, 108dB below rated output, 90dB IHF. Input sensitivity: 1.4V for 250Wpc into 8 ohms. Voltage gain: 30dB. THD+noise: 20Hz–20kHz, 0.01%. IM distortion (60Hz+7kHz, 4:1, SMPTE method): less than 0.01% at rated power. Damping factor: greater…
John Atkinson Opens
I've said it before and I'll say it again: a would-be loudspeaker designer shouldn't even start to think about the possibility of maybe designing a full-range, multi-way loudspeaker until he (and they do all appear to be men) has cut his teeth on a small two-way design. There is still as much art as science in designing a successful loudspeaker, even with all the computer-aided this and Thiele-and-Small that, that even a two-way design requires a designer either to be possessed of a monster talent or of the willingness to undergo months, even years, of tedious and…
I've said it before and I'll say it again: a would-be loudspeaker designer shouldn't even start to think about the possibility of maybe designing a full-range, multi-way loudspeaker until he (and they do all appear to be men) has cut his teeth on a small two-way design. There is still as much art as science in designing a successful loudspeaker, even with all the computer-aided this and Thiele-and-Small that, that even a two-way design requires a designer either to be possessed of a monster talent or of the willingness to undergo months, even years, of tedious and…
This palpability, solidity, of imaging applied to every record I could throw at the speakers. The only speakers I have found to even come near the CS5s' accuracy in image placement are the Quad ESL-63s. The Steinway on my own recording of Chopin's Op.31 Scherzo on the Stereophile Test CD was, well, just there, hanging between and behind the CS5s with a feeling of vivid reality that I have not experienced since I listened to the mike feeds over LS3/5as at the sessions. I say the speaker "positions" carefully, for there was nothing within that soundstage that would indicate the presence of…
The other exception I noted to the general euphoria concerns a tendency for upper-range notes in the range of female voice to "pop out," particularly when sung loud. The same characteristic can be heard on orchestral crescendi, particularly if the recording is a bit bright. I'm not complaining, I think, about hearing what's actually on the recording—the CS5s are capable of presenting other recorded aggravations with better evenhandedness. You hear the problem, you note that it's a problem, but this doesn't distract your attention from the music. This upper-midrange, volume-related problem…
Resolution: Jim Thiel's "White Paper" on the CS5 makes much of the importance of phase coherency, and JA's measurements verify that Jim has been unusually successful in satisfying his design criteria in this respect. How important is phase coherency? No one's produced the same speaker in both a coherent package and a non-coherent one—in fact, it would probably turn out to be impossible to produce even the same tonal balance in both coherent and non-coherent forms—and the tonal differences between speakers make it impossible to compare simply the presence or absence of phase coherency between…
Sidebar 1: LA's Associated Equipment
Sources were, on phono, the now-familiar SOTA Star Sapphire with SME IV and AudioQuest 7000 running into the VTL Ultimate preamplifier. CD came from both the CAL Tempest II and the Stax DAC-X1t digital processor driven by a JVC XL-Z1010 player's digital output; this latter setup delivers the most musical sound from CD I've ever heard. It's the first CD source that's made me wish some of my LPs were on CD—though extended listening to even this setup revealed greater intimacy from LP. Still, I was impressed. The CS5s are very evenhanded, showing no…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
Looking at the CS5's impedance (fig.1), it can be seen that the CS5 presents an amplifier with a pretty severe load, dropping under 4 ohms in the lower midrange and below, as well as at 2kHz. In fact, disregarding the slight phase lag in fig.1 in this region, the speaker pretty much approximates a 2 ohm resistor throughout the bass, which means that the amplifier with which it is used must have ample—to say the least—current capability if the sound is not to become anemic. In addition, if the preamp doesn't have some sort of subsonic high-pass filter on its phono…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Floor-standing, five-way, six–drive-unit, "Coherent Source," moving-coil loudspeaker. Drive-units: two 8" Kevlar-cone subwoofers, 8" Kevlar-cone woofer, 5" Kevlar/foam-cone lower-midrange unit, 2" metal-dome upper midrange unit, 1" metal-dome tweeter. Crossover frequencies: 50Hz, 400Hz, 1kHz, 3kHz. Crossover slopes: first-order, 6dB/octave. Frequency response: 23Hz–20kHz ±1dB. Phase response: minimum ±5°. Sensitivity: 87dB/2.83V/1m (equivalent to around 82dB/W/m, given the low impedance). Impedance: 3 ohms (2 ohms minimum). Recommended power: 100–…
Michael Brecker Pilgrimage
Michael Brecker, tenor sax, EWI; Pat Metheny, guitars; Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, keyboards; John Patitucci, bass; Jack DeJohnette, drums
Heads Up International HUCD 3095 (CD). 2007. Michael Brecker, Gil Goldstein, Steve Rodby, Pat Metheny, prods.; Darryl Pitt, exec. prod.; Joe Ferla, eng. DDD. TT: 77:57
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
Michael Brecker, tenor sax, EWI; Pat Metheny, guitars; Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau, keyboards; John Patitucci, bass; Jack DeJohnette, drums
Heads Up International HUCD 3095 (CD). 2007. Michael Brecker, Gil Goldstein, Steve Rodby, Pat Metheny, prods.; Darryl Pitt, exec. prod.; Joe Ferla, eng. DDD. TT: 77:57
Performance ****½
Sonics ****½
When, following the superb Wide Angels (2003), recorded with his 15-piece Quindectet, Michael Brecker decided to end his long-term contract with Impulse!/Verve and hook up with Heads Up International, part of…