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PSB Synchrony One loudspeaker

"Something's wrong. It sounds confused."

Cantus producer Erick Lichte and I were working on the preliminary mixes for the choir's forthcoming album of works by contemporary American composers, which we had recorded last June at Goshen College, Indiana. I was sitting at the computer, Erick in my listening chair, and we were using PSB's Synchrony One towers as monitors.

"Ah." I tried not to look sheepish. "I forgot to time-align the outputs from the three pairs of microphones I used."

Now, it's fair to note that the improvement made by time-aligning microphones is…

PSB Synchrony One loudspeaker Page 2

I've been listening a lot of late to Smetana's tone poem Má Vlast, with Sir Colin Davis conducting the London Symphony Orchestra (SACD, LSO Live LSO0516). Recorded in concert in London's Barbican—one of my least favorite halls—the sound is a little on the dry side. However, from the resonant harp intro of the first movement through each string entry, each instrumental choir was delicately delineated in space, and every instrumental tone color was presented without coloration or undue emphasis. This speaker was also a natural for showing off that masterpiece of orchestration, Benjamin Britten…

PSB Synchrony One loudspeaker Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, magnetically shielded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" (25mm) ferrofluid-cooled, titanium-dome tweeter; 4" (102mm) fiberglass/natural-fiber–cone midrange unit; three 6.5" (165mm) fiberglass/natural-fiber–cone woofers. Crossover frequencies: 500Hz, 2.2kHz (Linkwitz-Reilly topology). Frequency response: 33Hz–20kHz, ±1.5dB on axis; 30Hz–23kHz, ±3dB on axis. LF cutoff: –10dB at 24Hz. Sensitivity: 88dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum impedance: 4 ohms. Recommended power: 20–300Wpc. Supplied accessories:…

PSB Synchrony One loudspeaker Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Digital Sources: Ayre C-5xe, Pioneer DV-578A universal players; Mark Levinson No.30.6, Benchmark DAC 1 USB, Bel Canto e.one DAC 3 D/A converters; Prima Luna Prologue Eight CD player; Logitech (Slim Devices) Transporter WiFi music player with Apple Mac mini running OSX for media storage.
Preamplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 2, Ayre K-5xe, Mark Levinson No.380S.
Power Amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1, Musical Fidelity 550k Supercharger, Mark Levinson No.33H monoblocks; Boulder 860.
Loudspeakers: Sonus Faber Cremona Elipsa, KEF Reference 207/2, Magico V3…

PSB Synchrony One loudspeaker Measurements

Sidebar 3: Measurements

My estimate of the PSB Synchrony One's voltage sensitivity was 88.3dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is within experimental error of the specified 88dB. The speaker's impedance magnitude remained below 4 ohms throughout the midrange (fig.1, solid trace), with minimum values of 2.6 ohms at 1160Hz and 2.65 ohms at 73Hz. Though the electrical phase angle is generally low within the audioband (fig.1, dashed trace), the combination of 4.1 ohms and –45° phase angle at 29Hz suggests that the PSB be used with a good amplifier rated at 4 ohms.

The traces in fig.1 are free from…

Ralph—The Real Dog

Ralph died last week (September 11, 1991), his great and faithful heart stopped in the aftermath of an affliction not too uncommon for older, larger dogs—a gastric torsion. He was approximately 12 years old.

I'm finding it very hard to get used to the post-Ralph era. My history with Stereophile was only four months old when my daughter Rachel and I happened across Ralph at the Santa Fe Animal Shelter in June 1982. I was still operating my repair shop for needy Mercedes-Benzes, Porsches, and BMWs, and can well remember the fateful message from the Animal Shelter that "Ralph" (as Rachel and…

Meridian F80 CD Receiver System

When I first learned that Meridian had co-badged, with Ferrari, a $3000 table radio, I was tempted to cynically dismiss it as a marketing gimmick—an attempt by the audio manufacturer to leverage the brand loyalty of the Italian automaker to its own highly developed industrial designs. The problem was, that required that I dismiss everything I knew about Meridian and its singular head designer, Bob Stuart.

Meridian has always stressed its industrial design—in fact, the company's full name, Boothroyd Stuart Meridian, gives top billing to industrial designer Allen Boothroyd—so I…

Meridian F80 CD Receiver System Page 2

Do I buy that argument? Pretty much—but I have to admit that I was slow to accept it. At first, the F80 really was just a radio to me, albeit a very handsome one. First, I came to realize that its AM section sounded uncommonly good, allowing me to enjoy my favorite shows, such as On the Media and Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! at their more convenient WNYC-AM broadcast times. In the beginning, I was just happy that the AM tuner was quiet, but I came to realize that it also sounded more than acceptably fine.

The FM tuner, not surprisingly, is far better, which is a bit of a pity when you…

Meridian F80 CD Receiver System Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Compact home entertainment system with 2.1 speaker system and DVD drive. Drive-units: two 3" alloy-cone full-range units, oval fiber-cone woofer. Amplifier power: 80W. Supported media: CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, WMA-CD, MP3-CD, DVD-A/V, CD, CD-DA, CD-R. Tuner bands: AM, FM, DAB. Inputs: 3.5mm analog, optical digital, dock, RS232, "future." Outputs: composite video, S-video, optical digital, 3.5mm headphone. Antennae: 2x F connector and internal (assignable by band).
Dimensions: 16" (408mm) W by 9" (230mm) H by 7.3" (185mm) D. Weight: 14…

Meridian F80 CD Receiver System Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Analog Source: R601PW Classic Mono FM tabletop radio.
Digital Source: Ayre C-5xe universal player.
Preamplifier: Conrad-Johnson ACT2.2.
Power Amplifier: Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 300.
CD Receiver: Linn Classik.
Loudspeakers: Mirage Incognita HDT-WM1 (in-wall), Hansen Prince V2.—Wes Phillips