Alarmed by Gordon's negative reaction to the sound of the Diapason system, before I performed any of the measurements outlined in the sidebar, I set the speakers up in my listening room, taking a quick break from the Vandersteen 3s that I reviewed in March. The associated equipment was Mark Levinson No.20.6 monoblocks, while the preamplifier was the Melos 333 linestage, with a Mod Squad Phono Drive EPS handling LP signals. These were provided by a Linn Sondek/Trampolin/Lingo/Ekos/Arkiv setup sitting on an ArchiDee table. Digital playback was via a Meitner IDAT driven…
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JGH Responds
After Dick Shahinian's apoplexy after reading the preprint of the foregoing had subsided, I was able to discuss with him why he had designed the speakers to measure the way they did.
It was intentional. The preliminary design was by the book, with all the right measurements in place. The final design, which produces the anomalous measurements JA got, was tailored to make the speakers sound more like three-dimensional reality on orchestral music than they did with a flat response.
But before launching into this, a brief recap for those who haven't seen my…
Sidebar 1: Measurements
Figs.1 & 2 show the individual impedance plots for the Diapason satellite and for the Double Eagle subwoofer used on their own; fig.2 shows the impedance magnitude and phase for the complete system. The subwoofer is tuned to a relatively high 48Hz, revealed by the 15.9 ohm peak at that frequency in fig.2. Both satellite and subwoofer have rapidly rising impedances in the crossover region; the net effect can be seen in fig.3, where the combined impedance doesn't drop below 6 ohms below 2kHz. But note the treble region of the satellite in both graphs: The value…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Diapason satellites plus dual Double Eagle subwoofers. Five-way, 16-speaker/channel dynamic loudspeaker system. Frequency range: 23Hz–22kHz. Power capacity: 250W music, 800W peak. Rated impedance: 6 ohms.
Dimensions: 40" H by 23" W by 15" D overall. Weight: 145 lbs.
Serial numbers of units tested: 1326.
Price: $7600/pair in oak or walnut veneer (1993), exotic finishes available on request. Approximate number of dealers: 21 (1993).
Manufacturer: Shahinian Acoustics Ltd., 37 G&H, Cedarhurst Avenue, Medford, NY 11763. Tel: (516) 736-…
The following letters were published in July & November 1993 (Vol.16 Nos.7 & 11):
A bizarre review?
Editor: I must respond to Stereophile's bizarre review of the Shahinian Diapason loudspeaker system (May '93, p.102). I could elaborate on how angry I am after reading the Stereophile review of this remarkable product. I could explain in detail just how little regard I have for your publication. Instead, let me urge any music lover to seek out this speaker, this man, and hear for themselves why Dick Shahinian is one of a handful of living American treasures. Truly, the…
Meeting Englishman Tim de Paravicini for the first time, you start to wonder if your mind has slipped a gear, whether premature brain fade has cut in. The conversation seems not only to be racing by unexpectedly quickly, but also subjects you hadn't even realized were subjects are being examined in knowledgeable depth. It was at the end of the 1970s that I bumped into Tim at a trade show in the UK; having wanted to ask his opinion of tube-amp design, knowing that the gangling, wispy-bearded, Nigeria-born, one-time resident of South Africa and Japan, ex-Lux engineer (footnote 1) had cast a…
TdP: Exactly. The information on an LP extends down to half a molecule of vinyl. It's a good system provided one takes care. That's the bottom line. I mean, why are people still buying turntables? LP is supposed to be dead.
JA: I understand from talking to some manufacturers at this show that American audiophiles, at least, are not buying as many turntables as they used to.
TdP: They're not buying as many, no. But there are still people buying them. There are still manufacturers of turntables in America.
We continued our conversation with a discussion of Tim's…
As an audio journalist "servicing" the High End (ouch!), I surf the Web waves to see what's going on on the various audio newsgroups and bulletin boards. Sometimes the Net resembles the Concorde going down, the crash video'd by a passing French motorist: Ashen faces pressed against car windows driving slowly by to check out the carnage.
But occasionally the Net can be fodder for "Fine Tunes," and the issue of whether or not placing cone footers under an audio component has any audible effect is hotly debated in Tweakdom. Some feel that cones create some sort of diode effect, passing…
Not every interesting audio component gets a full review in Stereophile. Many more products are covered in Sam Tellig's, Art Dudley's, Michael Fremer's, Kal Rubinson's, and John Marks' regular columns than I have the space to publish measurements for. However, I do ask for samples of products that I feel deserve to be measured, particularly when our original coverage raised more questions than it answered.
Such was the case with Dynaudio's Special Twenty-Five loudspeaker, released in 2002 to celebrate the Danish manufacturer's 25th anniversary. A fairly large, stand-mounted, two…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-way, reflex-loaded, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1.1" soft-dome tweeter, 8" plastic-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 2.4kHz, 1st-order slopes. Frequency response: not specified. Nominal Impedance: 4 ohms. Sensitivity: 88dB/2.83V/m.
Dimensions: 8.75" (222mm) W x 16.7" (423mm) H x 13.75" (349mm) D. Weight: 28.6 lbs (13 kg).
Serial numbers of samples reviewed: 095, 096.
Finishes: blonde birch veneer, rosewood.
Price: $5200/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 32.
Manufacturer: Dynaudio A/S Sverigesvej 15, DK-8660…