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Headphones get pretty short shrift in much of the hi-fi press, which is puzzling—the headphone market is burgeoning. I don't know what the equivalent US figures are, but in recent years the UK headphone market has increased by an annual 15–20% in both units sold and overall revenue. It's easy to dismiss this as a natural byproduct of the Apple iPod phenomenon, but 20% of the market value is now accounted for by headphones costing over $120; a significant subset of consumers would seem to be looking for quality. When you also consider that many people's first exposure to higher-quality audio…
In an important Audio Engineering Society paper of 1984, Floyd Toole—better known today for his work on the interactions of loudspeakers and listening rooms—brought the boom down on the use of this type of artificial ear, certainly for meaningful measurements of headphones intended for high-quality applications. He wrote: "Perhaps for no reason other than they existed, high fidelity headphones have for years been evaluated using couplers and artificial ears intended for use as transfer standards in audiometry. In these devices there is no attempt to simulate anything but the most…
The argument is made clearer by fig.3, which paraphrases the Gestalt perception model proposed by Theile. It shows how, in passing through the outer ear, sound is subject to HRTF spectral modification, H(s). This spectral modification is used by the brain to help determine the sound source's location, and then inverse filtering, H'(s), is applied to prevent the timbre of the sound from being distorted. If H'(s) is not the inverse of H(s), as Theile argued is the case with free-field headphone response because the image is not perceived as being forward of the listener, then cancellation is…
Whoever wrote that must live in a fantasy world. Many of the headphones currently available in the hi-fi market have a medium nominal impedance of 30–60 ohms and typically display a quite wide variation of impedance with frequency. Fig.7 shows overlaid graphs of modulus of impedance vs frequency for the four aforementioned headphones, and fig.8 a simulation of the effect of using them with a source impedance of 120 ohms. The model with the largest impedance variation, the AKG K530 (orange trace), would suffer a total response error of almost 5dB.
Fig.7 Superimposed impedance…
RICHARD THOMPSON: Rumor and Sigh
Capitol CDP 95713-2 (CD only). Dave Leonard, Lance Phillips, Tchad Blake, engs.; Mitchell Froom, prod. ADD. TT: 61:25
Capitol CDP 95713-2 (CD only). Dave Leonard, Lance Phillips, Tchad Blake, engs.; Mitchell Froom, prod. ADD. TT: 61:25
Imagine the consternation at Watsamatta U. if Bill Shakespeare's ghost sauntered into a dissertation defense and told the assembled eggheads in no uncertain terms that Hamlet is not: a) an existential hero; b) a Marxist; c) a mama's boy; d) all of the above. That's how I feel sitting here trying to write this review after Richard Thompson politely dismissed most of my pet theories about his latest album as the residue of coincidence or…
Among British turntables, there is the Rega Planar 3, which sells here for $550 (approximately double the UK price). I've owned a Rega for three years and know it well.
The Rega is a good-sounding turntable and a good value—at the UK price. Someone once said that the Rega, which has no suspension, is a triumph of engineering over the laws of physics. There is little isolation from acoustical feedback—some Rega owners have gone to the extreme of mounting their turntables on flimsy shelves, the flimse serving as isolation of sorts.
That's not all that's wrong with the Rega…
Michael Fremer wrote about the Rega in December 1996 (Vol.19 No.12):
The last thing I did before sitting down to write this column was run an $1895 Lyra Clavis DC phono cartridge on a $650 Rega Planar 3 turntable. I played a British Polydor pressing of Roxy Music's song "Avalon," then played it again on the $9000 TNT Mk.3/Immedia RPM combo using a $3800 Transfiguration Temper cartridge. That's $2545 vs about $13,000.
The last thing I did before sitting down to write this column was run an $1895 Lyra Clavis DC phono cartridge on a $650 Rega Planar 3 turntable. I played a British Polydor pressing of Roxy Music's song "Avalon," then played it again on the $9000 TNT Mk.3/Immedia RPM combo using a $3800 Transfiguration Temper cartridge. That's $2545 vs about $13,000.
Were there differences? Of course. Were they big differences? Not nearly as immense as I thought they'd be. When I started my comparison of four reasonably priced arm/'…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Two-speed belt-drive turntable with AC synchronous motor and glass platter. Wow & flutter: unspecified. Speed accuracy: unspecified. Rumble: unspecified. Spring-actuated downforce, sliding-magnet antiskating system.
Dimensions: 17.5" (450mm) W by 4.5" (115mm) H by 14" (360mm) D (height includes dustcover, feet).
Finish: Black.
Price (with tonearm): $550, 1984; $450, 1985; $895, 1996; no longer available, 2008 (replaced by P3-24). Approximate number of dealers: 125.
Manufacturer: Rega Research Limited, 6 Coopers Way, Temple Farm…
Despite displaying its products at nearly every CES since 1985, Merlin remains essentially unknown in the US. Problems have plagued the company in this country: key suppliers have gone under, marketing efforts have lacked focus, and the principals of the company seemed to have gotten caught up in audio politics.
Overseas, however, it's been a different story. Merlin has apparently achieved success in Germany, Japan, Korea, Austria, Norway, and Indonesia. More than 85% of Merlin's products leave the US—the company sells in more foreign countries than it has US dealers. Merlin products…
Bass definition could have been better, especially from positions other than the primary listening spot. The only reason I heard this effect was because I spent a reasonable amount of time listening off-axis. The speaker was otherwise a fine performer from multiple listening positions. The Excalibur II is not a head-in-a-vise design. I was unsure of the source of the bass shortcomings off-axis because I could not rule out the amps I was using (Jadis Defy-7s), or my room (which remains problematic below 65Hz despite all my efforts to improve things).
During the break-in period, I listened…