Tabla de contenidos para Fall 2023 en The Absolute Sound

There’s no more spectacular assemblage of loudspeakers in the world than at the Munich High End Show. Manufacturers from all over the globe display and demonstrate their most ambitious products at this biggest and most prestigious hi-fi event. Attending Munich, as I did last week, is not only an opportunity to learn about specific new products but also a fascinating macro-view of the loudspeaker industry. The show reveals the immense range of business models that drive speaker companies, from multinationals creating high-end speakers on a massive scale, to intermediate-sized companies, to craftsmen building bespoke products whose annual sales numbers are in the single digits. At one extreme you have a company like Focal in France, winch builds very high-quality loudspeakers and drivers in large numbers. I visited the factory about…

MY PERSONAL INTEREST in the recreation of music began with my first phonograph—a vintage Garrard deck and tonearm, which I purchased second-hand at the age of 11, and my first LP, Cat Stevens’ Teaser and the Firecat. In the late 1970s, while working on an Electrical Engineering degree in college, my interest in audio became greater at the same time that the “high end” of the audio industry was just coming of age. I’ve been involved in manufacturing and design consulting since 1984 for companies such as MIT, Transparent Audio Marketing, Well Tempered Labs, Avalon Acoustics, Respons (Sweden), Artemis Systems, and Crosby Audio (Entec). During this time, I’ve had the privilege to work with some of high-end audios’ finest designers, including Richard Marsh, Jeff Rowland, Demian Martin, and John Curl.…

Loudspeaker Designer Roundtable Do you consider loudspeaker design more of an art or a science? Speakers are by their nature imperfect devices (by multiple orders of magnitude) as compared to the measured performance of other components in an audio system. Of course, “ears aren’t microphones,” and we are able to get good sound where we are today. Still, there are still many opportunities for science and engineering to fundamentally improve upon loudspeakers, and they are a very fertile area of potential innovation. If engineering is the art of compromise, then a lot of the art in design comes from making what you think are the best design compromises. Nothing is without compromise, and designers do the very best we can for the size, price, and aesthetic requirements of the product…

Excerpted and adapted from The Complete Guide to High-End Audio (sixth edition). Copyright © 1994—2023 by Robert Harley. hifibooks.com. To order call (800) 841-4741. ■ CHOOSING JUST THE RIGHT LOUDSPEAKER for your system, tastes, and home is much more challenging than picking, say, a power amplifier. Loudspeakers come in a wider range of sonic “flavors” than do other components; they must be matched electrically to your power amplifier for the best performance; and because of their large physical presence the loudspeaker must fit harmoniously into your home. What’s more, the world abounds in poor-quality, even dreadful, loudspeakers. Some very bad loudspeakers are expensive, while superlative models may sell for a fraction of an inferior model’s price. There is sometimes little relationship between price and musical performance. This situation offers the…

Albedo Silver Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Analysis Plus Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Audience Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects AudioQuest Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Cardas Audio Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Chord Company Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Clarus Cables Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Crystal Cable Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Echole Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects EnKlein Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Esprit Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Furutech Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Gamut Cables Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Göbel High End Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects The Gryphon Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Harmonic Technology Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Hemingway Audio Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects JMF Audio Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Kharma Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Kimber Kable Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Moon Audio Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Morrow Audio Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Neotech Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Nordost Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Pangea Audio Interconnects Purist Audio Design Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Shunyata Research Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects Siltech Loudspeaker Cables Interconnects…

Bowers & Wilkins 801 D4 Signature and the 805 D4 Signature Loudspeakers B&W has chosen its 801 D4 and 805 D4 models from its flagship 800 Series Diamond range for Signature designation. This follows the precedent set by its last 800 Series Signature models (released in 2001). These models feature innovative new high-performance technologies that build on the specification of the standard models: They have improvements to the mechanical behavior of their cabinets, to the performance of their drive units, and to their crossover designs. The two Signature models are available in two exclusive new finishes: Midnight Blue Metallic (finished with the same paint as B&W’s iconic Nautilus) and California Burl, a highly figured wood finish. Importantly, neither Signature model replaces the existing D4 standard-quality production models. As with all…

Loudspeaker Designer Roundtable Do you consider loudspeaker design more of an art or a science? Legacy Audio loudspeakers approach head-on numerous issues in the listening room by controlling the directivity of the speaker’s polar pattern to deliver greater realism and mitigate the unwanted effects of the acoustic environment from the very first wavelaunch of the speaker. Much like the pioneers in microphone design discovered the benefits of the cardioid pattern for recording musicians and rejecting unwanted off-axis sound, a similar approach can be applied to loudspeaker design. By controlling the sound dispersion across the frequency spectrum, it is possible to minimize the impact of room acoustics, allowing speakers to be placed in a wider range of listening environments and to reproduce music with more precision. Our design, testing, and tuning…

■ In many cases we’ve included the award indications for updated versions of products that have won those awards in the past, even if we haven’t fully reviewed the new version. We’ve done this only for those products that are substantially similar to the original, and that we have judged to be at least as good as the component that earned our initial recognition. Be aware that some of the more recently reviewed products don’t indicate any award citations simply because we have not yet published the award issues for which those items are eligible. The loudspeaker and cable listings are arranged by manufacturer in ascending price order. In the case of companies with several series within their overall line, we’ve grouped the series together rather than following the strict…

Integrated Systems Bluesound Pulse 2i and Pulse 2i Mini, $699/$499 KEF LSX II Meta, $1399 Naim Mu-so 2, $1799 KEF LS50 Meta Wireless II, $2799 Cabasse Pearl Akoya, $3798 ($800, stands) T+A Caruso, $4450 Bowers & Wilkins Formation Duo, $4998 ($999, stands) Subwoofers GoldenEar ForceField 30, $900 REL T/7x, $1099 JL Audio e110/e112, $1900$2100/$2500-$2700 JL Audio Fathom f112/f113, $5000/$6000 Wilson Audio Loke, $8750 Loudspeakers $500-$1000 PSB Alpha P5, $499 Polk Audio Reserve R200, $749 PSB Alpha T20, $849 Magnepan LRS+, $995 Sonus faber Lumina I, $999 $1000-$3000 KEF LS50 Meta, $1599 Vandersteen 1Ci+, $1887 Audiovector QR1, $2300 Tannoy XT 8F, $2772 Magnepan MG1.7i, $2995 $3000-$10,000 Vandersteen 2CE Signature 3, $3607 MoFi SourcePoint 10, $3700 Paradigm Founder 80F, $3899 Rosso Fiorentino Pienza/Elba 2, $4900/$7000 Vivid Audio Kaya S12, $6900 (stands $1200)…

Do you consider loudspeaker design more of an art or a science? I think most would agree that loudspeaker design is a combination of both art and science. Loudspeaker design is a multifaceted discipline where a number of critical interdependencies exist in the electrical, mechanical, and acoustic realms simultaneously and, hence, must all be satisfied simultaneously to achieve an excellent and, by definition, balanced design. The designer needs to have a broad understanding of acoustic principles, specifically as they relate to such things as transducer characteristics, enclosure shape, crossover filter design, and the interpretation of measured response. In addition, a firm grasp of mechanical engineering principles, materials properties, and manufacturing processes are required to be able to optimize a design and then actually execute it. Most importantly, the designer needs…

Excerpted and adapted from The Complete Guide to High-End Audio (sixth edition). Copyright © 1994—2023 by Robert Harley. hifibooks.com. To order call (800) 841-4741. ■ ALTHOUGH YOU SHOULD NEVER RELY ON specifications alone when choosing any audio product, an understanding of loudspeaker specifications and what they mean is invaluable in directing you toward the speakers that will potentially be a good match for your system, room, and musical taste. This knowledge will allow you to create a short list of speakers you should consider for an audition in a dealer’s showroom. In this article I’ll explain the most important specs (such as those in our product listings in this issue) and how to use your newfound insight to find the perfect speaker for you. Type We’re using the term Type…

■ IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES you’ll find specifications and pricing on 175 subwoofers, many with very different features and specs. To help you get the most out of the information and find just the right subwoofer for your system, we’ve put together explanations of some of the categories you’ll find in the spec charts. Driver This is the size and number of drivers (usually cones) in the subwoofer. A number in parenthesis indicates the number of drivers. Some entries include the legend “PR,” for passive radiator. A passive radiator is a cone or flats diaphragm, with no voice coil or magnet, that cannot produce sound on its own. The passive radiator isn’t driven by an amplifier, but rather moves in response to air-pressure variations inside the subwoofer enclosure caused by…