So, the lead-in to this issue's "The Fifth Element" is a tip-off to an absolutely enthralling vocal…
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The relationship between many audiophiles and well-sung, well-recorded female vocal tracks is like the relationship between alcoholics and alcohol—or between, apparently, quite a few congresspersons and unworked-for money. The sentence, "Thank you, but I really have had enough already," is seldom heard. In defense of our hobby, buying and setting up stereo equipment so that gorgeous singing can enthrall you does no one any harm, and arguably does much good. "Beauty is truth," and all that.
Assuming the speakers are set up so that their outer sides are parallel, this cabinet shape locks in a predetermined 45° toe-in angle. McCaughan intends that the axes of the drivers cross some distance in front of the listening position, and to this end recommends sitting 9' from both speakers. What the cabinet shape also accomplishes is to minimize parallel surfaces inside the enclosure, which should increase rigidity and lower resonances.
The other different-drummer design approach McCaughan consistently has used in his designs is to place a second, side-firing tweeter in the middle of…
Sidebar 1: 2.5 Cheers For Sealed Boxes!
Most loudspeaker designs today use ported boxes to achieve greater bass extension than a sealed box of the same size. What many loudspeaker purchasers may not understand is that the use of a ported enclosure involves several technical tradeoffs that can adversely affect sound quality, especially when the designer pushes the envelope of bass extension.
Maxing out the port's contribution to a speaker's bass extension characteristically results in skewed frequency and time responses that often merit the tag "one-note bass," that note being the…
Sidebar 2: JA Measures the Concert Grands
Intrigued by John Marks' expressions of satisfaction with the sound he was getting from the Concert Grands, I drove up to Rhode Island just before Christmas to hear the speakers for myself. Killing two birds with one stone, the trip would allow me to pick up the sample of the Plinius SA-REF amplifier to perform the measurements to accompany Paul Bolin's forthcoming review. And to make it three birds, I also took along the sample of the dCS P8i SACD player that I review elsewhere in this issue, so John and I could compare it with the EMM Labs gear…
The official designation for FM is Frequency Modulation, but I think FM stands for Fresh Music. Since before the age of recorded time, FM has been where you go to hear new music, be it the latest Jimi Hendrix album or a recent release from the Kronos Quartet.
FM is my mainline for new music—I'm a total FM junkie—but FM is also responsible for my involvement with high-end audio gear. It started in 1977 with this little Lynn, Massachusetts FM station that I couldn't pick up with my Pioneer receiver, so I purchased an NAD FM tuner. Then I replaced the rest of the receiver with…
Larry Greenhill wrote about the FT-1A in October 2001 (Vol.24 No.10):
It's been more than seven years since Steven Stone reviewed the Fanfare FT-1 FM tuner in the June 1994 Stereophile (Vol.17 No.6). Then priced at $1395, the FT-1 offered transparent sound quality, top RF performance, and great ergonomics, all in a unit with full remote control. With strong-signal stations, the FT-1 was the sonic equal of SS's reference tuner, the Magnum Dynalab Etude.
SS said, "I strongly believe that the Fanfare FT-1 deserves not only Class A status, but the bargain '$$$' as well....with the…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: FM stereo tuner with analog tuning and full-function remote control. Usable sensitivity: 10.5dBf/mono, 11.5dBf/stereo. 50dB quieting sensitivity 15.0dBf mono; 35.0dBf stereo. Capture ratio: 1.5dB. Selectivity: 55dB/wide, 75dB/narrow. Adjacent-channel selectivity: 10dB/wide, 25dB/narrow. Tuning range: 87.5-108.5MHz in 50kHz steps. S/N ratio: 75dB (A-weighted). THD: 0.15% mono, 0.30% stereo. Stereo separation (1kHz): 50dB. AM suppression: -70dB. SCA suppression: -70dB. Power consumption: 25W.
Dimensions: 19" W by 3.5" H by 10.25" D. Weight: 15 lbs.…
At the February 1991 Audio Engineering Society Convention in Paris, Audio Precision's Dr. Richard Cabot (see my interview in January 1991, Vol.14 No.1) proposed a new technique for measuring noise modulation in D/A converters (footnote 1). The method, based on psychoacoustic principles, attempts to predict the audible performance of D/A converters. Now that Stereophile has added digital-domain signal generation and analysis to our Audio Precision System One, we can employ Dr. Cabot's technique and see if there are any correlations with subjective performance.
The technique is…
I have a soft spot in my heart (some say my head) for transmission-line designs. I remember being entranced by the authoritative but effortless bass of John Wright's IMF and TDL Monitors, and I have been inspired to experiment by building my own lines in various sizes. Then, as demonstrated by Bryston's Jim Tanner at the 1997 WCES and at HI-FI '97, PMC's IB-1S loudspeakers threw an enormously deep soundstage. (I have a soft spot for that as well.)
The Professional Monitor Company (PMC) was founded eight years ago by two BBC veterans, Adrian Loader (footnote 1) and Pete Thomas. In view of…
I found the IB-1S's bass response puzzling, and not what I expect from a transmission line. The bass in general was certainly extended, quite full, and balanced with the midrange. On "Hillbillies from Outer Space" there was a satisfying kick to the percussion. Taking on Dead Can Dance's Into the Labyrinth (Virgin 45383-2) for system fuel, the low, droning bass of "Yulunga" was wonderfully resonant and superbly defined, the sense of airy space exhilarating. However, the deeper, more percussive lows failed to make adequately emphatic punctuation.
Similarly with the beefy Previn/LSO…