Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

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Mirage OM-7 loudspeaker

Lonnie Brownell Oct 27, 2003 First Published: Nov 01, 2001 0 comments

Mirage is a good name for a speaker manufacturer; it suggests that their products produce realistic illusions. A 1934 dictionary I've got supplies a definition for "mirage" that might also be apt: "An optical atmospheric illusion by which the image of a distant object is seen as if inverted." I don't mean that the Mirage OM stands Harry Belafonte on his head, or make him sing "O-Day"—instead, certain tenets of cones-in-a-box loudspeaker design and usage are turned turvy-topsy by Mirage's Omnipolar concept.

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Joseph Audio RM33si Signature loudspeaker

Chip Stern Oct 23, 2001 First Published: Oct 23, 2001 0 comments

People come to high-end audio with different needs and expectations—some fairly reasoned, some slightly more highfalutin. Some listeners want to get as close as possible to an immersion experience, be it of a live performance or of some more idealized studio ecstasy. Others are enraptured by the status and sex appeal of big, hot-rod components, and simply dig gear—much as they might dig the visceral rush of a high-performance car. Still others compulsively upgrade their equipment in search of some unattainable perfection. But no matter the initial motivation, all roads eventually lead back to a love of music.

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Monsoon Audio FPF-1000 loudspeaker

Kalman Rubinson May 01, 2005 First Published: Oct 01, 2001 0 comments

I used to be an audio cheapskate even worse than Sam Tellig. Anytime I saw an interesting device for sale, I immediately began to figure out how I might build it for myself for a fraction of the cost.

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Merlin Music Systems VSM Millennium loudspeaker system

Michael Fremer Sep 28, 2001 First Published: Sep 28, 2001 0 comments

"Viagra couldn't cure our voltage droop!"

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Krell LAT-1 loudspeaker

Larry Greenhill Aug 29, 2001 First Published: Aug 29, 2001 0 comments

I'll never forget my first encounter with the Krell LAT-1 loudspeaker. Late one Friday night last fall, on City Island in the Bronx, it was time for the monthly meeting of the Westchester Audiophile Society and I was late. I rushed through the door past a group of audiophiles and headed straight for the two new black loudspeakers already set up and ready to play. Music writer and society member Sid Marks made a sound. I turned to him and he pointed across the room: "Go tap on that enclosure." I walked over to one of the black speakers and did so. There was no sound—no give, no nothing. It was as if I'd knocked on a granite boulder. "See what I mean?" said Sid. I nodded. There was nothing to add.

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Audio Physic Avanti III loudspeaker

Michael Fremer Aug 19, 2001 First Published: Aug 19, 2001 0 comments

Success can be a two-edged sword. With the Virgo (reviewed">http://www.stereophile.com//loudspeakerreviews/147/">reviewed in September 1995), Audio Physic created a $5000/pair benchmark product at the midpoint of the company's speaker lineup. While an upgraded, $5800 Virgo is due out soon, the original version will remain in production, its price dropping to $4495/pair—less than it cost six years ago.

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Sony ES SS-M9ED loudspeaker

John Atkinson Aug 12, 2001 First Published: Aug 12, 2001 0 comments

The occasion was the 1999 Consumer Electronics Show, and I had sought out the Sony suite at Bally's—the word in the Las Vegas bars where audio journalists hung out was that Sony was demonstrating the production version of their SCD-1">http://www.stereophile.com//digitalsourcereviews/180/">SCD-1 Super Audio CD player. I was glad I'd made the trek along the Strip: As I reported in the May 1999 Stereophile, the sound of a DMP recording—of unaccompanied choral music recorded and mixed in DSD by Tom Jung—was breathtaking, I felt, with an exquisite sense of space. It was definitely the best sound at the CES.

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MartinLogan Prodigy loudspeaker

Larry Greenhill Jul 12, 2001 First Published: Jul 12, 2001 0 comments

Electrostatic speakers are my passion. Why else have I put up with their high prices, unreliability, low power handling, tendency to arc, high-frequency beaming, limited bass response, and widely fluctuating impedances?

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Totem Acoustic Forest loudspeaker

Larry Greenhill Apr 22, 2001 First Published: Apr 22, 2001 0 comments

Those who have read this magazine regularly over the past five years know that Canadian designer Vince Bruzzese has been marketing his small, two-way loudspeakers under the Totem Acoustic brand name. Every review of one of these designs has raved about their strong bass response and three-dimensional imaging, but ends with a "but": "the sound is totally awesome, the imaging is holographic, and my wife thinks it looks terrific in the living room, but..."

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PSB Image 4T loudspeaker

Robert J. Reina Feb 01, 2001 First Published: Feb 01, 2001 0 comments

I have a passion for great speaker designs at affordable prices, and with modern driver, crossover, and cabinet technologies making innovative strides, many serious high-end speaker designers are turning their attentions to coming up with the next great budget speaker. All audiophiles need affordable speakers, whether to recommend to friends to lure them into our hobby or to set up multiple, less costly systems in our own houses. I currently run a main reference system, a vacation-house system, a recording-studio system, a computer system, a portable system I take to parties, a car system, and an office system. I insist on having music playing constantly, wherever I am, unless my wife or son tells me to turn it off—which happens increasingly often these days.