Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Sort By: Post Date Title Publish Date

Museatex Hybrid 6 loudspeaker

Dick Olsher Apr 03, 2018 First Published: Jun 01, 1993 0 comments

I find quite appealing the image invoked by Museatex to describe its Real Time Ripple Effect (RTRE) loudspeaker line: a stone rippling the surface of a "still pond on a warm summer afternoon." Replace the stone with a voice-coil attached to the center of a stretched Mylar diaphragm and you begin to get a glimpse of the RTRE technology's conceptual beauty and promise. The idea of cohesively covering at least the midrange and treble with a single driver, without crossover filters, quickens my audio pulse.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Thiel CS3.6 loudspeaker

Robert Harley May 31, 1995 First Published: May 31, 1993 0 comments

Choosing a loudspeaker can be difficult. Although it is easy to be seduced by a certain model's special qualities, that exceptional performance in one area is often at the expense of other important characteristics. Go with high-quality minimonitors for their spectacular soundstaging, but give up bass, dynamics, and the feeling of power that only a large, full-range system can provide. If you choose an electrostatic for its delicious midrange transparency, you may have to forgo dynamics, impact, and the ability to play loudly. Pick a full-range dynamic system for its bass and dynamics, but lose that edge of palpability and realism heard from ribbon transducers.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews J. Gordon Holt

Shahinian Diapason loudspeaker system

J. Gordon Holt, John Atkinson Oct 09, 2005 First Published: May 09, 1993 0 comments

Richard Shahinian has been offering loudspeakers to music lovers for more than 15 years. I use the word "offering" here in its strictest sense, because Dick has never "sold" his products—by pushing them. Indeed, he is probably one of the worst self-promoters in the business. If we think of "soft sell" in the usual context of laid-back and low-pressure, then Shahinian's approach would have to be called "mushy sell."

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Unity Audio Signature 1 loudspeaker

Robert Deutsch Mar 09, 2017 First Published: May 01, 1993 0 comments

For anyone who wants to be up to date on all the audio products available in North America, Audio's Annual Equipment Directory is an indispensable source of information. (So is the publication you're reading now, of course.) The 1992 Directory (aka Audio's October issue) arrived when I was finishing up the review of the Acarian Alón IV (see February 1993, Vol.16 No.2) and about to start seriously listening to the Unity Audio Signature 1s. As I leafed through the issue, I wondered how fledgling loudspeaker manufacturers feel reading the section on loudspeakers. According to the Directory, there are 329 makers of speakers (17 more than in 1991) producing no fewer than 2286 different models. How can a new loudspeaker manufacturer compete with the established makes and their marketing clout, brandname recognition, and economics of scale? You'd better have a really good productor be a genius at promotion.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Vandersteen Audio 2Ce loudspeaker

Thomas J. Norton Apr 18, 1995 First Published: Apr 18, 1993 0 comments

Eighty thousand pairs. According to Vandersteen Audio, that's the number of Vandersteen 2s of various generations which have been sold since the loudspeaker—and company—first saw the light of day in 1977. The 2 has been continually refined along the way—a new driver here, a new crossover change there, heavy-duty stands—more changes, in fact, than the occasional changes in model designation would indicate. The 2's main calling card has always been a high perceived value for money. If anything, this calling card has only been enhanced over the years as its price remained remarkably stable while the cost of high-end audio in general was perceived—rightly or wrongly—as being on a dizzying upward spiral.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Acarian Alón IV loudspeaker

Robert Deutsch Sep 09, 2006 First Published: Feb 09, 1993 0 comments

My first encounter with the Acarian Alón IV was at the 1992 Las Vegas WCES. I was doing the show report dealing with speakers, and there was already enough advance buzz about the Alón IV that I put it on my "Speakers I Must Listen To" list. And listen I did, at some length, and came away impressed with their open quality and well-defined soundstage. In discussing reviewing assignments with John Atkinson, I told him that the Alón IV was one of the speakers I wouldn't mind spending some time with. (The list also includes the WAMM, the MartinLogan Statement, and the Apogee Grand, but I'm not holding my breath.)

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews Budget Component Reviews

Eminent Technology LFT-VIII loudspeaker

Corey Greenberg Mar 30, 2008 First Published: Feb 02, 1993 0 comments

"And I say panel speakers can't rock'n'roll—"

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

New England Audio Resource NEAR-50M loudspeaker

Dick Olsher Mar 02, 2017 First Published: Dec 01, 1992 0 comments

New England Audio Resource's NEAR-50M is a cyborg: metal innards in a wooden body. It represents NEAR's top statement in the firm's Metal Diaphragm Technology speaker line, which features the "NEAR-Perfect" driver cone. Metalin this case an anodized aluminum alloyis much more rigid than paper or plastic. Hence, a driver with a metal cone acts more nearly as a true piston. When it comes to loudspeaker cones, breaking up is not hard to do. When that happens, the cone flexes in a complex pattern, generating harmonic distortion. A typical plastic or paper 8" woofer may experience its first breakup mode at a frequency as low as 500Hz. The NEAR 8" metal-cone woofer's first breakup mode is said to be well above 2kHz, and their 4" metal-cone midrange does much better than that.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

Mirage M-3si loudspeaker

Guy Lemcoe Mar 03, 2007 First Published: Nov 03, 1992 0 comments

What's 1/16" narrower, over 1/2" shallower, and 3/16" higher than the Mirage">http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/1190mirage">Mirage M-3 loudspeaker? The new Mirage M-3si, that's what. Though the published dimensions for the old and new speakers are the same, my eyes told me there was a difference between them when I had them side-by-side in my listening room in Santa Fe. Being the compulsive type, I got out my trusty tape measure. No, my eyes had not deceived me—the M-3si is skinnier and taller. As I waltzed them into position, I sensed they weighed about the same as their predecessors; close enough that setting them on Arcici Super Spikes is a two-man operation. Though either speaker makes a definite presence in a room, I still find their high-gloss, black finish (the only finish available) unassuming, attractive, and elegant.

Floor Loudspeaker Reviews Audacious Audio

Sound-Lab A-1 electrostatic loudspeaker

Dick Olsher Jul 18, 2013 First Published: Nov 01, 1992 0 comments

Designer Dr. Roger West got his first taste of electrostatic transducers many years ago during a stint with Janszen (remember the Janszen tweeter?). To realize the potential of the full-range electrostatic loudspeaker (ESL), he and Dr. Dale Ream formed a new company dedicated to ESL research and development. West describes this company, Sound-Lab Corp., as "the electrostatic speaker specialists."