Indholdsfortegnelse for Nov-12 i Stereophile

50 Years of Stereophile! Fifty years ago this month, Vol.1 No.1, Issue No.1 of The Stereophile, published, edited, and mostly written by J. Gordon Holt out of Wallingford, Pennsylvania, hit the newsstands. Gordon had worked for two major audio magazines, High Fidelity and HiFi/Stereo Review (later renamed Stereo Review), and had been disgusted by those magazines’ pandering to advertisers. Not only was The Stereophile going to tell it like it was, it was going to judge audio components by listening to them—a heretical idea in those days of meters and measurements. “Dammit,” said Gordon, who died in 2009, “if nobody else will report what an audio component sounds like, I’ll do it myself!” (See www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/711/index.html.) The magazine you hold in your hands is issue number 394; unusually, there have been…

ATTENTION ALL AUDIO SOCIETIES: Attention all audio societies: We have a page on the Stereophile website devoted to you: www.stereophile.com/audiophile-societies. If you’d like to have your audio-society information posted on the site, e-mail Chris Vogel at info@vcable.us. Please note that it is inappropriate for a retailer to promote a new product line in “Calendar” unless this is associated with a seminar or similar event. CALIFORNIA • Sunday, October 21, 1–5pm: The Los Angeles and Orange County Audio Society and Weinhart Design (2337 Roscomare Road, Studio 1, Los Angeles) will host Bob Carver, LLC. Carver’s Black Beauty amplifier will be auditioned with a pair of Magico loudspeakers, and Bob Carver will be on hand to discuss his products, answer questions, and sign autographs. Eastwind Import will have LPs and CDs for…

This Year’s Heresy A part from a 2004 column in which I made cruel fun of the angriest1 complaints I’d received to that point—an entertaining if lazy template I hope to re-use before long—I’ve done little to acknowledge the mail I receive every week, most of it thoughtful and positive. I’m especially grateful for the nice letters I get every time I write about vintage audio, as I did in Stereophile’s August issue (“Five vintage loudspeakers you should hear before you die,” www.stereophile.com/content/listening-116): The art of music is best served by an open-minded approach to playback gear, and I’m encouraged to think that some Stereophile readers actually understand that. Of course, there remain a few readers at the other end of the spectrum: people who chafe at every challenge to…

CENTER STAGE Humble, unprepossessing, modest are not words normally associated with lead guitarists, or lead singers, or, lead anything. But Albert Lee, the Fender Telecaster devotee, has, by all accounts, always been refreshingly down to earth. The other unusual quality about Lee is that he’s an English guitarist who, in country music, can hold his own against any American player. Lee was the only major English guitarist of the 1970s who decided to follow his first love, country music, and not even attempt to match the blues-rock players who then dominated the UK and US rock charts. “In the ’70s, everybody was listening to B.B. King and Jimi Hendrix. There were times when I felt like the odd man out. I can’t really get into that stuff, and I can’t…

Analog Sources Rega Research P3-24 & RP3 turntables with RB301 and RB303 tonearms, respectively; Dynavector DV 10X5, Rega Research Elys 2 phono cartridges. Preamplification Parasound Zphono•USB phono preamplifier. Integrated amplifier NAD C 316BEE. Loudspeakers PSB Alpha B1, DeVore Fidelity Gibbon 3. Cables Interconnect: AudioQuest Sidewinder, Kimber Kable Hero & PBJ, RadioShack, XLO ultraPlus. Speaker: AudioQuest Rocket 33, Kimber Kable 8VS, RadioShack Megacable (used as ground wire). Accessories Furutech e-TP60 power distributor; Polycrystal equipment rack; Audio Additives, Shure SFG-2 stylus-force gauges; Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Geo-Disc cartridge-alignment tool; Hunt EDA record-cleaning brush; VPI HW- 16.5 record-cleaning machine; a little flashlight, a little rum, a lot of ice cream.…

SI measured the Audio Research Reference 5SE with Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 “As We See It,” http://tinyurl.com/4ffpve4). There was one problem: During shipping, one of the four large, 10ìF Teflon outputcoupling caps at the right rear of the printed circuit board had broken off. ARC sent me a replacement, along with the appropriate solder. However, although my soldering iron is temperature-controlled, it dates from a time when solder was lead-based and melted at a lower temperature. That, coupled with the fact that the Ref 5SE’s printed circuit board traces are very large and thus have significant thermal mass, meant that I was unable to do a professional job of installing the new capacitor. I rigged a temporary solution…

Description Tubed integrated amplifier. Tube complement: two EF86, two 12AX7, four KT88. Line inputs: 4. Input impedance: 50k ohms. Rated output power: 65Wpc into 8 ohms (18.1dBW). Frequency response: 2Hz–100kHz, –1dB. Total distortion: <0.1% (output power not specified). Dimensions 17" (432mm) W by 10" (254mm) H by 16" (407mm) D. Weight: 50 lbs (22.7kg). Serial Number of Unit Reviewed 3036. Price $6350. Approximate number of dealers: 15. Manufacturer Rogers High Fidelity, 52 Kain Road, Warwick, NY 10990. Tel: (845) 987-7744. www.rogershighfidelity.com.…

USB A/D converter Since its founding in 1993, Colorado-based Ayre Acoustics has made its name with amplifiers and preamplifiers based on truly balanced, solid-state circuitry that didn’t use the ubiquitous panacea of loop negative feedback to produce linear behavior. Their first digital product was the D-1x DVD player, reviewed for Stereophile by Paul Bolin in February 2003, which offered unusually good video performance. The D-1x was followed by the C-5xe and DX-5 universal players, respectively reviewed by Wes Phillips (July 2005) and Michael Fremer (December 2010). But the most intriguing digital product to come from Ayre was the QB-9 digital processor. Reviewed by WP in October 2009 (http://tinyurl.com/8kul4sq), the QB-9 has just one input, USB, and uses Gordon Rankin’s proprietary Streamlength code to give asynchronous operation, which in theory offers…

Analog Sources Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Lingo power supply, Linn Ekos tonearm, Linn Arkiv B phono cartridge. Digital Sources Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP & DX-5 universal players; Apple 2.7GHz i7 Mac mini running OS10.7, iTunes 10, Pure Music 1.86, Vinyl Studio, Pure Vinyl, BIAS Peak Pro 7; dCS Debussy, Metric Halo ULN-2 (headphone output), Benchmark DAC 1 (headphone output) D/A converters; Empirical Audio Off-Ramp 4 USB–AES/ABU converter; Metric Halo ULN-2, dCS904 A/D converters. Preamplification Liberty B2B-1 phono preamplifier, Classé CP-800 D/A preamplifier. Power Amplifiers Classé CT-M600, Lamm M1.2 Reference (both monoblocks). D/A Integrated Amplifier Devialet D-Premier. Loudspeakers BBC LS3/5a, Lansche 5.1, Sony SS-AR2, KEF LS50. Headphones Sennheiser HD-650. Cables Digital: DH Labs Silver Sonic. AES/EBU: AudioQuest Coffee, Belkin Gold USB. FireWire: AudioQuest FireWire 400 (prototype). Interconnect (balanced): AudioQuest Wild. Speaker:…

I measured the Definitive Technology StudioMonitor 55 with DRA Labs’ MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone for the speaker’s frequency response in the farfield, and an earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. I estimated the SM55’s voltage sensitivity at 87.6dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is reasonably high but significantly below the specified 90dB. The SM55’s impedance is specified as 8 ohms; my plot of its impedance magnitude (fig.1, solid trace) remained above 6 ohms for most of the audioband. Though there are minimum values of 3.8 ohms at 205Hz and 3.9 ohms at 57Hz, the electrical phase angle remains manageable; the speaker should be a relatively easy load for the partnering amplifier or receiver to drive. Discontinuities in the impedance traces just below 500Hz, and between 600 and 700Hz, imply the…

“From a layman’s perspective, I’d listen to the ‘Audience’ mix on my first bourbon and the ‘Stage’ mix on my second.” Ahh, yes, out of the mouths of . . . audiophiles . . . who like good booze! Lacking a 5.1-channel surround-sound rig at home, I enlisted the able assistance of “Music in the Round” columnist Kalman Rubinson, who then convinced his son-in-law, Michael Schechter, source of the above quote, to host us for an evening of listening to and watching the Blu-ray disc Tearing It Up, a new set by the incomparable English country-rock guitarist Albert Lee, recently released by AIX Records. We convened at Michael’s uptown apartment early one gorgeous August evening, where he and Kal sipped good bourbon (Hemingway would be disappointed, I know, but I…

FEEDBACK TO THE EDITOR On Erick Editor: In light of recent unwarranted bashing, I am writing this letter in support of Erick Lichte, who, like Ezra Dyer at Automobile magazine, has introduced a much-needed dose of fresh perspective, superlative diction, and candor to Stereophile. Kudos to his skill set and his marvelous Audio Research review in July (www.stereophile.com/content/audio-research-reference-150-power-amplifier), which, after listening, I wholeheartedly agree with. If only I could articulate so well. —Rieck Beiersdorf halopredator@yahoo.com On Rush Editor: Over the past few years, I have seen a dramatic change for the good in the content of Stereophile magazine and look forward to my copy every month. Well done. When I saw the cover of the September issue with the word “Rush” in bold letters, I was shocked! My favorite band…

Walk, Don’t Run Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today. —Benjamin Franklin Never do today what you can do tomorrow. Something may occur to make you regret your premature action. —Aaron Burr Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow. —Mark Twain I’ve just finished reading Wait: The Art and Science of Delay, by Frank Partnoy (Public Affairs, 2012). We are often better off when we delay decisions as long as possible, Partnoy advises. Hold off reading Wait in hardcover and it will turn up in paperback. Or get in line and read it free from the local library.1 Aaron Burr is right. Wait before you buy that loudspeaker or amplifier reviewed this month in Stereophile. “Something may occur to make you…

The Right Tools It was around 7pm on Tuesday evening when I bumped into Nicole and Ms. Little on Newark Avenue, in downtown Jersey City. The girls were on their way to Kristen’s shop, Kanibal Home, for their weekly book-club meeting. (Or was it Writing Club? Knitting? Screen printing? Butterfly pinning? I can never keep track.) I was on my way home, not to read, write, or listen to music, but . . . “Hi, honey,” Ms. Little said. “Going home to play with your cartridge?” I made a face, nodded, sighed. Sensing some sharp-witted remark forming in Nicole’s filthy mind, I beat her to the punch: “Yup, that’s what I call it.” “A lot of strange things went through my head,” Nicole admitted, “but I’ll keep them to myself.”…

TURNTABLE On May 21, 2008, five months after purchasing my very first turntable (a Rega Research P3-24), I decided that my obsession with LPs had grown to the extent that I could no longer function without a good record-cleaning machine. I’d done some research and found that the device best suited to my life and wallet was VPI’s time-honored HW-16.5. I was certain, anxious, determined. But that morning, when I gave VPI a call, the line was busy. When I called again in the afternoon, the line was busy. When I called again in the evening, the line was busy. When someone finally answered my call, I was surprised—partly because I’d grown so accustomed to hearing that busy signal, but mostly because the person on the other end of the…

LINE PREAMPLIFIER I’ve heard a lot of great audio components over the years, but even in that steady stream of excellence, a few have stood out as something special. These are the products that, in their day, set a new standard for performance, and many of them are ones I wish I’d hung on to. Among these products are three preamps from Audio Research: the SP-3A, the SP-6B, and the SP-10.1 I know I’m not alone in viewing these models as classics. Rumor has it that in the mid-1990s, when William Z. Johnson set out to design the original Reference 1 preamplifier, his jumping-off point was the SP-10. What’s not a rumor is that the Reference 1 carried on the tradition and lineage of those classic preamps. It was fully…

Analog Sources VPI HR-X turntable & tonearm; Spiral Groove SG-2 turntable & tonearm; Triplanar Precision Mk.VII tonearm; Lyra Titan i, Grado Signature Reference cartridges. Digital Sources Audio Research CD8, Primare CD 31 CD players. Phono Preamplifiers Sutherland Engineering Phono Blocks. Power Amplifiers VTL MB750 SE, Mark Levinson No.20.1 (both monoblocks). Loudspeakers Wilson Audio Specialties Sophia 2. Cables Interconnect: Nirvana SL, Nordost Valhalla. Interconnect: Stereovox. Speaker: Audience Au-24e. AC: Audience Au24 & PowerChord-e, Synergistic Research. Accessories Audience aR-12TS &aR-2TS power conditioners; Echo Busters room-treatment products; Finite Elemente Reference Pagode equipment stand, MusicTools CD-only CD rack & equipment stand; Audience Auric Illuminator, Disk Dr., Nordost Eco-3 CD cleaning & treatment systems; VPI 16.5 record-cleaning machine, VPI & Disk Dr. record-cleaning fluids; Wally Tools turntable-setup tools.…

I measured the Rogers High Fidelity EHF-100 using Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio precision sYs2722 system (see the January 2008 “As We see It” and www.ap.com). The maximum voltage gain at 1kHz into 8 ohms measured 40.15dB, close to the specified 40dB, and the amplifier preserved absolute polarity (ie, was non-inverting). The input impedance was lower than the specified 100k ohms, at 58k ohms at low and middle frequencies, dropping slightly to 51k ohms at the top of the audioband. This should not be a problem in use, though it is marginally acceptable for Art Dudley’s Leben Rs30EQ phono preamp, which has a source impedance ranging from 6k to 28k ohms, depending on frequency. The EHF-100’s output impedance from the single pair of Furutech binding posts per channel…

Description Solid-state A/D converter with USB 2.0 and AES/EBU data outputs, one pair of balanced analog inputs on XLR jacks (pin 2 hot). Sample rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192kHz (USB Class 2); 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96kHz (USB Class 1). Bit depth: 24. Input impedance: 2M ohms (1M ohm per signal pages). Input sensitivity: 10.0V RMS with level control at minimum, 750mV with control at maximum. Pro version adds Word Clock and DSD outputs, both on 75 ohm, transformer-isolated BNC jacks. Dimensions 8.5" (215mm) W by 3" (76mm) H by 11.5" (290mm) D. Weight: 5 lbs (2.3kg). Finish Brushed aluminum. Serial Number of Unit Reviewed Not noted (first sample); 2IC0001 (second sample). Price $3950; Pro version, $4750. Approximate number of dealers: 40. Manufacturer Ayre Acoustics, Inc., 2300-B Central Avenue,…

LOUDSPEAKER Recently, I thought about all the audio shows I’ve attended over the last 27 years, looking for any pattern that all of them might have shared. I came up with a handful of audio manufacturers that have earned at shows a reputation for getting, year after year, consistently good sound—rooms in which I could reliably depend on being able to chill out and enjoy music in good, involving sound. Those companies include Audio Research, Music Hall (distributor of Creek and Epos), Vandersteen Audio—and Definitive Technology. Since their founding, in 1990, Maryland-based DefTech has been a major presence at shows, displaying an increasingly wide range of high-value speakers for two-channel and surround-sound systems. But I’d never reviewed one of their models. I thought it was about time. Of the 25…

Analog Sources VPI TNT IV, Rega planar 3 turntables; Immedia, Syrinx PU-3 tonearms; Koetsu Urushi, Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridges. Digital Sources Lector CDP-7T, Creek Destiny CD players. Preamplification Vendetta Research SCP-2D, Creek Destiny phono stages; Audio Valve eclipse line stage. Power Amplifier Audio Research Reference 110. Integrated Amplifier Creek Destiny. Loudspeakers Epos ELS3 & M5i, Wharfedale Diamond 10.1. Cables interconnect (all MIT): Magnum M3, Mi-350 CVTwin Terminator, Mi-330SG Terminator. Speaker: Acarian Systems Black Orpheus. Accessories Various by ASC, Bright Star, Celestion, echo Busters, Salamander Designs, Simply physics, Sound Anchor, VPI.…

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab & Audio Additives Editor: I really appreciate the opportunity to comment on Stephen Mejias’s review of the Mobile Fidelity Geo-Disc and the Audio Additives Digital Stylus Force Gauge. Those of us who constantly swap out phono cartridges sometimes forget the stress and fear that came with changing our first expensive cartridge. As we’ve assisted thousands of new analog lovers with their enjoyment of vinyl, I was more than happy to have helped Mr. Mejias allay his fears. With the proper tools and a little patience, anyone can get through the turntable- setup process. And while an accurate stylus-force gauge and alignment tools are absolutely essential for any analog lover, there are dozens of other helpful accessories we all depend on every day to allow us to…

AUDIO NEWS & VIEWS UK: LONDON Paul Messenger The brief history of the Clarity Alliance has been complicated. Launched last February, it grew out of the demise of the manufacturer-based British Federation of Audio (BFA; see “Industry Update,” May 2011), and the subsequent decision by the British Audio- Video Dealers Association (BADA) to expand and reorganize itself to incorporate the now disassociated manufacturers and distributors. It all began with Project Grass, which emerged exactly one year ago (“Industry Update,” October 2011) as a BADA initiative to create a body that would represent the entire specialist hi-fi industry. A steering committee was set up to develop the ideas, and the initiative, now called the Clarity Alliance, was introduced at BADA’s annual general meeting last February (“Industry Update,” May 2012). At a…

Spiraling Grooves Allen Perkins’s Spiral Groove SG1.1 turntable ($25,0001) is a remarkably dense, compact, belt-driven design that weighs a surprising 75 lbs. With the motor isolated inside its 18.5" wide by 15" deep plinth, the SG1.1 has a small footprint, and its height of ca 5", including feet, permits a flexibility of placement seldom found with premium-priced turntables. The design, reminiscent of a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, is far more complex and ingenious than it might at first appear, and while the SG1.1 superficially resembles a few other turntables now on the market, those took their styling cues (but only those) from Perkins’s late-1990s RPM turntables, which were not particularly well marketed. Design Features The SG1.1 has a split plinth, its two halves separated by four strategically placed Sorbothane pads under…

Room Correction & Wireless Audio I’m writing this in the dog days of a hot August. Over the past few months, a couple of interesting devices have accumulated, but were bumped from the column in favor of bigger things, as it should be. So this column is an end-of-season close-out. Atlantic Technology WA-5030 Wireless Transmitter/Amplifier-Receiver System Its name is a mouthful, but this useful device is based on a simple concept. Atlantic Technology has added a power amplifier to a wireless audio transmitter and receiver and called it the WA-5030 Wireless Transmitter/Amplifier-Receiver System ($399; additional WA-5030-r receivers are available for $199 each). It’s not the first such product, with or without an amplifier; I reviewed the amp-less AudioEngine AW-1 in my September 2008 column (see www.stereophile.com/content/music-round-32-page-2). The tiny AW-1 did…

Description Belt-driven turntable with tonearm. Speeds: 331/3, 45rpm. Wow & flutter: <0.2%. Rumble: >-80dB. Speed accuracy: 40.1%. Dimensions 16.5" (425mm) W by 5" (130mm) H by 12" (310mm) D. Weight: 24 lbs (10.9kg). Serial Number of Unit Reviewed T1-05071202. Finish Black, Red, White, or Blue. Price $1299 in Basic Black finish with tonearm. Red, White, and Blue finishes add $100. Grado Gold phono cartridge adds $200. Approximate number of dealers: >60. Manufacturer VPI Industries, Inc., 77 Cliffwood Avenue #3B, Cliffwood, NJ 07721-1087. Tel: (732) 583-6895. Fax: (732) 946-8578. www.vpiindustries.com.…

Description Tubed, remote-controlled line preamplifier with six sets of balanced and unbalanced inputs, three sets of balanced and unbalanced outputs, and a unity-gain Processor input. Tube complement: 6550C and 6H30P (power-supply regulation), four 6H30P (dual triodes). Frequency response: 0.2Hz–200kHz, +0/–3dB, at rated output (balanced, 200k ohms load). Maximum voltage gain, main output (single-ended or balanced input): 12dB, balanced output; 6dB, single-ended output. Distortion: <0.01% at 2V RMS, balanced output. Input impedance: 120k ohms balanced, 60k ohms single-ended. Output impedance: 600 ohms balanced, 300 ohms single-ended main, 20k ohms minimum load and 2000pF maximum capacitance. Output polarity: non-inverting. Maximum input: 20V RMS maximum balanced, 10V RMS single-ended. Rated output: 2V RMS (1V RMS single-ended) into 200k ohm balanced load (maximum balanced output capability is 30V RMS at <0.5% THD at 1kHz).…

INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER I can imagine the gaiety and mirth that filled the halls of the electronics industry in the 1950s, as engineer after bespectacled engineer realized that the transistor would soon consign to the outposts of oblivion those ancient technologies that had preceded it. Before long—surely no more than a decade—the hated vacuum tube would vanish from the Earth, along with the tube socket, the tube tester, the tag board, the high-voltage rail, and that lowest rascal of them all, the output transformer. What a jubilant time! I can’t imagine what went wrong. Description The EHF-100 integrated amplifier ($6350) is one of two products made by Rogers High Fidelity, a new company in rural Warwick, New York. (When I first saw a Rogers amp, at Stereo Exchange in New York…

Analog Sources Garrard 301, Thorens TD 124 turntables; EMT 997, Ortofon TA-210 tonearms; Ortofon SPU, EMT TSD 15 70th Anniversary & OFD 25 & OFD 65 pickup heads; Denon DL-103, Miyabi mono cartridges. Digital Sources Wavelength proton, Halide DAC HD USB D/A converters; Apple iMac G5 computer running Apple iTunes v.10.2.2, Decibel v.1.0.2 playback software; Sony SCD-777 SACD/CD player. Preamplification Auditorium 23 standard (SPU version), Silvercore one-to-Ten, Hommage T2 step-up transformers; Leben RS 30EQ phono preamplifier; Shindo Masseto preamplifier. Power Amplifiers Shindo Corton-Charlemagne monoblocks, Shindo Haut-Brion, Fi 421A. Loudspeakers Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE, Line magnetic 755 I, DeVore Fidelity o/96, Klipsch Heresy III, Quad ESL. Cables USB: AudioQuest Diamond, Nordost Blue Heaven. Interconnect: Audio Note AN-Vx, AudioQuest Columbia & Yosemite, Shindo Silver. Speaker: Auditorium 23. Accessories Box Furniture Company D3s…

I used Stereophile’s loan sample of the top-of-the-line Audio Precision SyS2722 system (see www.ap.com and the January 2008 “As We See It”) to examine the Ayre QA-9’s measured performance, analyzing the AES/EBU output data in the digital domain. I repeated some measurements using the USB connection and examined the resultant AIFF files with Adobe Audition’s FFT analyzer. I assessed only the QA-9’s behavior as an LPCM converter; take it as read that all the measurements I discuss refer to both AES/EBU and USB output formats, there being no difference between them. The Macintosh USB Prober utility reported the manufacturer string as “Ayre Acoustics,” the product string as “Ayre ADC USB Interface,” and the serial-number string as “Streamlength(tm),” the latter referring to Gordon Rankin’s proprietary asynchronous USB protocol. The QA9 preserved…

Description Two-way, biwirable, stand-mounted loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1" aluminum-dome tweeter, 6.5" BDSS cast-basket mid/woofer reflex loaded by a 6"-by-10" passive radiator. Frequency range: 32Hz–30kHz. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Sensitivity: 90dB/w/m. Recommended amplification: 20.225W. Dimensions 13" (329mm) H by 7 7/8" (200mm) W by 12 3/8" (310mm) D. Weight: 15.5 lbs (7kg). Finish Matte-black wood-grain vinyl. Serial numbers of units reviewed Mgba0112ta00281, ’499. Price $598/pair. Approximate number of dealers: 150. Manufacturer Definitive Technology, 11433 Cronridge Drive, Suite K, Owings Mills, MD 21117-2294. Tel: (800) 228-7148, (410) 363-7148. Fax: (410) 363-9998. www.definitivetech.com.…

Tannoy Mercury V1 loudspeaker Stephen Mejias wrote about the Tannoy Mercury V1 loudspeaker ($320/pair)1 in his September 2012 “Entry Level” column: “[I’ll] miss the Tannoys’ delicacy and grace.” In fact, he missed them so much that he returned to the Mercury V1 in his October column: “Their delicate, graceful highs and tight, properly balanced bass had entranced me.” It seemed appropriate that I get the Tannoys on my test bench. I examined the performance of one Mercury V1 (serial no.810780) with DRA Labs’ MLSSA system, using a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone to measure the speaker’s frequency response in the farfield, and an Earthworks QTC-40 mike for the nearfield responses. I estimated the Mercury V1’s voltage sensitivity at 85.1dB(B)/2.83V/m, which is a couple of dB below average and slightly lower than…

Be Yourself Think of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and immediately you hear the voices—the ones singing those unforgettable harmonies, but also the ones drenched in anger, blurred by intoxication, or defiantly silent toward each other. In the pantheon of arena-rock dysfunction, the epic musical rancor and reunion of the 1970s, this tempestuous quartet has had few equals. All bands, especially turbulent ones, need one member to bridge the chasms between personalities and keep everyone on task, and in all the permutations of CSN&Y, that role has been filled by Graham Nash. In New York City to promote the trio’s new album, CSN 2012, Nash met me early one morning for tea and toast in a midtown hotel, to discuss how he and his mates seem to have grown up.…