Since my review of the VMPS Tower II/R (Vol.11 No.5), I have lived with and reviewed a number of small loudspeakers, some of them exceptional. During that time Brian Cheney of VMPS sent along an update to the Towers, which he believed might answer some of my criticisms about the midbass. My follow-up had to wait for the completion of other reviews, but at long last I made the change. It involved substitution of crossover capacitors and can be performed by any dealer or an owner having some skill with a soldering…
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Tom Norton wrote again about the Tower II/R in October 1988 (Vol.11 No.10):
Sidebar 1: System Details
I used the VMPSes with several amplifiers. They were not particularly amplifier-sensitive, but of the three which saw the most service in the system—the Aragon 4004, Motif MS-100, and PS Audio 200C (not the latest version).
Other equipment used in auditioning the VMPS included the Monster Alpha Two cartridge in an Eminent Technology II tonearm on a Luxman PD-300 turntable, Klyne SK-5A preamp, several CD players (predominantly the California Audio Labs Aria and Audio Concepts), and Monster M-1 loudspeaker cable and M-1000 and Interlink Reference A…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Four-way, floor standing loudspeaker. Bass loading: reflex (passive radiator). Drive units: two 12" woofers, 12" passive radiator, 5" midrange, 1" soft-dome tweeter, ribbon (leaf) supertweeter. Crossovers (electrical): 600Hz, 4.5Hz, 15kHz. Frequency response: 22Hz–50kHz ±3dB. Sensitivity: 95dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Recommended amplifier power: 20–300W.
Dimensions: 43" H by 15" W by 15" D. Finish: oiled walnut. Weight: 95 lbs.
Price: $1575/pair (as reviewed—see text) (1988); no longer available (2008). Approximate number of dealers:…
I'm old enough to remember when "Made in Japan" was an insult. As a child, I saw that phrase on only the cheapest or craziest toys—some stamped out of tin and cupped together by a tab with a fiendish edge, some molded from a distinctively smooth, brittle plastic. The latter included a wind-up bunny on wheels that my father brought home one day: my favorite toy, ever. (It came with a double-barreled dart gun that I seldom used, partly because I loved the bunny too much to shoot it, and partly because the suction-cup darts didn't stick to that kind of plastic in the first place.)
Things…
It wasn't until I auditioned, and ultimately bought, the EMT OFD 25 monophonic pickup head ($1500) that I could appreciate Arturo Toscanini's recordings with the NBC Symphony of Respighi's Pines of Rome and Fountains of Rome (RCA Victor LM-1768), an LP that had languished in my collection for years. The Miyabi Mono didn't play it with the same intensity of color as the EMT, but the new cartridge was just as dramatic and tactile, making the piano's entrance particularly striking and believable. Individual notes within the many harp and celeste arpeggios appeared and died away with realistic…
The Gini Systems "LS3/5a" is an unlicensed and inexact replica of the celebrated LS3/5a outside (remote location) broadcast monitoring loudspeaker originally developed by the BBC in the early 1970s. (For a précis of the LS3/5a's history, click here.)
Stereophile reviewed the BBC's 1977 version of the LS3/5a in March of that year. The directory at the bottom of the webpage devoted to that review provides links to coverage of later self-proclaimed LS3/5a incarnations, but not to speakers such as Harbeth's HL-3PES-2, which, although designed as drop-in replacements for BBC-spec LS3…
The first CD I put on was Attention Screen's Live at Merkin Hall (CD, Stereophile STPH018-2). There was quite a contrast to the aggressive sound of the GINI LS3/5as: the Frieds were quite smooth—a bit too smooth for my taste—but at least the hand claps at the end of "Mansour's Gift" sounded sincere rather than hollow, I then put on Anthony Newman and the Graham Ashton Ensemble's Music for Organ, Brass and Timpani (SACD/CD, Sonoma SAC 001), which sounded a bit veiled, and with the tail of the hall acoustic cut off a bit prematurely.
I then put on a new discovery, the John Coltrane…
Sidebar: Contacts
Arcam, Pembroke Avenue, Waterbeach, Cambridge, England CB25 9QR, UK. Web: www.arcam.co.uk. US distributor: American Audio and Video, 153 Willow Drive, Plattsburgh, NY 12903. Web: www.americanaudiovideo.com.
Carat, InoVadis, 314 rue Milliez, 94506 Champigny cedex, France. Tel: (33) 1-55-09-18-30. Fax: (33) 1-55-09-15-31. Web: www.carat-audio.com. US distributor: VMax Services, P.O. Box 570, Chazy, NY 12921. Tel: (800) 771-8279, (514) 932-7786. Fax: (514) 931-8891. Web: www.vmax-services.com.
Cardas Audio, Ltd., 480 11th Street SE, Bandon, OR 97411. Tel: (…
SHIRLEY HORN: You Won't Forget Me
Shirley Horn, voice, piano; Charles Ables, bass; Steve Williams, drums. With: Miles Davis, trumpet; Buck Hill, trumpet; Branford Marsalis, tenor saxophone; Wynton Marsalis, trumpet; Toots Thielemans, harmonica, guitar; Buster Williams, bass; Billy Hart, drums
Verve Digital 847 482-2 (CD only). Richard Seidel, Joel Siegel, prods.; David Baker, eng. DDD. TT: 71:13
Shirley Horn, voice, piano; Charles Ables, bass; Steve Williams, drums. With: Miles Davis, trumpet; Buck Hill, trumpet; Branford Marsalis, tenor saxophone; Wynton Marsalis, trumpet; Toots Thielemans, harmonica, guitar; Buster Williams, bass; Billy Hart, drums
Verve Digital 847 482-2 (CD only). Richard Seidel, Joel Siegel, prods.; David Baker, eng. DDD. TT: 71:13
As I've stolen from John Atkinson and said before, the coolest part of being an audio reviewer is turning people on to great music, so it makes sense that the second coolest part is…
MIKE GARSON: The Oxnard Sessions, Volume One
Mike Garson, piano; Bob Summer, trumpet; Bob Shephard, sax; Rick Zunigar, electric guitar; Brian Bromberg, acoustic bass; Billy Mintz, drums
Reference Recordings RR-37 (LP), RR-37CD (CD*). Keith O. Johnson, eng.; J. Tamblyn Henderson, Jr., Marcia Martin, prods. AAA/DDD. TTs: 49:53, 75:51*
Mike Garson, piano; Bob Summer, trumpet; Bob Shephard, sax; Rick Zunigar, electric guitar; Brian Bromberg, acoustic bass; Billy Mintz, drums
Reference Recordings RR-37 (LP), RR-37CD (CD*). Keith O. Johnson, eng.; J. Tamblyn Henderson, Jr., Marcia Martin, prods. AAA/DDD. TTs: 49:53, 75:51*
Wow! This album is something else. For lovers of modern jazz, Reference Recordings has released the album we've been waiting for.
Multi-talented keyboardist/composer Mike Garson served for several years as David Bowie's music director. Not bad…