"Experience which is not valued is not experienced....Value is at the very front of the empirical procession."—Robert M. Pirsig, Lila
Of my many childhood memories of the Los Angeles Museum of Science and Industry, one particular exhibit sticks in my mind: a rectangular glass case about 4' long with many brightly colored geometric shapes suspended inside. The case is oriented so that the visitor approaches it from the side, wondering about the significance of this apparently random and meaningless jumble of colors and shapes.
Upon closer examination, the visitor sees an eyepiece…
The Type A has served as Snell Acoustics' flagship loudspeaker since 1974. The Type A Reference System reviewed here is the sixth update of the late Peter Snell's original three-way floorstanding design, and is the most radical departure from Snell's original. Gone is the pair of "upright bricks of polished wood and stretched cloth" (footnote 1) that delighted decorators because they functioned best against a wall. Today's Type A Reference $18,999 price tag (footnote 2) purchases two tall midrange-tweeter towers, two huge subwoofers, two short but heavy enclosures housing the outboard passive…
The eight output terminals on the back of the passive network enclosure connect to eight similar terminals on the rear of the Reference Tower via color-coded cable loom made by Kimber Cable. Although it seems that the inclusion of such a cable set with the speaker system might be an optional convenience, it doesn't pay to try and replace them with other types of speaker cable. Snell Acoustics provides this Kimber Kable hookup to standardize the system's performance by specifying the precise length and electrical characteristic of each connection.
The cable set consists of a ribbed black…
Despite this, the SUB 1800s do a much better job of blending powerful bass with the Reference Towers in a way that aftermarket subwoofers have yet to do. This is shown by the Type A Reference's exceptional sense of pace and an ability to involve the listener. Giorgio Moroder's soundtrack score for Cat People (MCAD 1498) is a good example, particularly the first cut, David Bowie's "Putting out Fire." The slowly building kick drum beat drives the music in a way not evident with any other loudspeaker. This sense of pace can be readily heard on Stanley Clarke's East River Drive album (Epic EK…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Seven-component, four-loudspeaker array composed of two Type A Reference Towers, two SUB 1800 reflex-loaded subwoofers, two isolated, outboard, five-way passive filter networks including custom wiring harnesses (two per system) and an outboard electronic crossover for the subwoofers.
Type A Reference Tower: Three-way, acoustic-suspension (sealed) system. Drive-units: four 6.5" mineral-filled polypropylene-cone woofers with 32mm voice-coils, cast-magnesium baskets, and rubber surrounds; two 5" mineral-filled polypropylene-cone midrange units…
Sidebar 2: Room & Associated Equipment
This physically large audiophile system call outs for installation in a large listening room. During a 1988 home renovation, I made the first floor of my house as open as possible, so that the listening room has approximately 5500 cubic feet with an effective room length of 51'. The main listening area is 26' long by 13' wide by 12' high. An 8' high by 4' wide doorway at the back of the room opens into our kitchen, adding an additional 25' by 15' area. The Reference Type A loudspeaker system was set up within 6' of the back wall,$s6 with the…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
My estimate of the Type A's B-weighted sensitivity was a little lower than the specification, 86dB/2.83V/m. Its impedance, however—measured with the Audio Precision System One—was only moderately demanding, and then only in the treble, where the impedance dips below 4 ohms. Fig.1 shows the tower's impedance magnitude and phase with the tone control set to its "flat" position and the rear-firing tweeter switched off. Though the phase angle is moderate through the midrange, the magnitude is high. The peak at 46Hz indicates the sealed-box's tuning; this is high for…
The whole idea that different CD transports have different sonic characteristics when driving the same digital-to-analog converter is a vexing problem. It is easy to prove that even the cheapest CD players recover the data stored on most CDs with bit-for-bit accuracy, thus disproving the widespread and erroneous belief that errors in the digital code are commonplace and affect presentation aspects such as imaging, soundstage depth, textural liquidity, etc (footnote 1). If the datastream driving the digital converter is comprised of the same sequence of ones and zeros, regardless of the…
Instead of incorporating the power transformer inside the chassis, it is mounted on the rear panel. Whether this was done for sonic reasons or space requirements, I don't know. The transformer does, however, increase the P-2's already substantial depth. The rear panel also holds an IEC line-cord jack and the four digital outputs. The two coaxial digital outputs are on gold-plated RCA jacks, while the two additional optical outputs are on standard EIAJ (TOSLINK) jacks.
Three small recessed knobs on the P-2's right side panel allow the user to adjust the front-panel display brightness and…
Every aspect of the presentation changed for the better through the P-2. Although the difference was quite apparent, it was far less than the difference between, say, a good digital processor and the Stax DAC-X1t or VTL D/A. In conversations with audiophiles, I've noticed a belief that the transport has as much, or greater, influence on the reproduced sound than the digital to analog converter. I strongly disagree with this contention. A good transport is essential to realizing the best digital playback, but the overall system performance is much more dependent on the D/A converter. A $1000…
