Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site watdcsu.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!watdcsu!herbie From: herbie@watdcsu.UUCP (Herb Chong [DCS]) Newsgroups: net.audio Subject: speakers and cables i have known Message-ID: <1368@watdcsu.UUCP> Date: Fri, 10-May-85 22:03:15 EDT Article-I.D.: watdcsu.1368 Posted: Fri May 10 22:03:15 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 11-May-85 04:12:49 EDT Distribution: net Organization: U of Waterloo Lines: 121 tonight's topics: i listened to vandersteen 2c's stanley lipschitz on the Meridian CD player portable electrostatic speakers i bought hitachi cable i have turntable problems ---------------------------------------- i had a chance a few days ago to have a listen to Vandersteen speakers. the system was: vandersteen 2c grado am-8 cartridge heybrook tt-2 with heybrook ht-1 arm hafler dh-110 pre-amp and dh-220 power amp nakimichi oms-5 CD player temperature and relative humidity unknown cabling unknown but $$$$ the room was small, but carefully prepared for listening with damping material on walls, speakers on stands with spikes into floor and speakers and carefully placed the material i chose was mostly jazz guitar. i only had a very brief session (half an hour) but it was enough to form initial impressions. on solo guitar, the sound was well reproduced with no easily noticeable frequency response anomalies. transient reproduction was excellent with sharp attack from the guitar pick well defined. other jazz music with lots of percussion was clear and imaging was precise and stable. however, on flamenco guitar, with rapid shifts in range from bass to treble, the vandersteen's suffered from sudden vertical shifts in image. this is probably caused by the spacing of drivers and cannot be corrected without physical re-design of the speakers. the soundstage suffered from "hole-in-the-middle" effect where the sound seemed to be coming from the two speakers and not from the center even though the material was clearly miked and mixed that way. in my experience, this is an amplifier effect rather than speaker, though aiming the speakers so that their axis is toward the listener reduces this. (i have no explanation of why amplifiers differ in this regard, and the effect is poorly correlated with price above the $1000 range.) however, the listening window then is much smaller. i am willing to live with this, so my speakers are aimed for one spot. under the conditions that i heard them, i feel that my speakers (B&W DM7 Mk2, no longer made) provide superior imaging, but less bass output. this could be because of poorer coupling of my speakers to the room. at $2100 CAN, the vandersteen's deserve serious consideration for the less budget restricted audiophile and are comparable in price to the B&W DM3000's which i am more familiar with. i think that the B&W's provide superior imaging so i personally would go for them, although for me, i am looking a better speakers yet (unfortunately also more $$$$). this is second hand, but Stanley Lipschitz (frequent contributor to JAES), spent some time listening and comparing the Meridian CD player with Sony players (of which his audio lab has several). he supposedly said that the Meridian sounded no different that almost any other CD player and that unless you really want to own a Meridian, why not buy a Sony for half the price. he was impressed with the Sony WM-CD5 though. a while back, someone asked about electrostatic headphones for their WM-CD5. well, it seems that Stax makes a portable battery powered amplifier for their headphones (excuse me, earspeakers). the model number is SRD-X and powers any of the Stax 'phones. a Stax dealer should be able to order it in for you. it is portable in the sense that the WM-CD5 is portable. i went and bought a 3.5M pair of the Hitachi LC-OFC SSX-104 speaker cable that has been the subject of controversy lately. there are two versions of the cable: SSX-102 with two conductors, and SSX-104 with for conductors. after careful preparation of the cable (dressing ends, "tweek"ing all new contacts, etc.), i attached them and listened with my tapedeck as a source. (my turntable in is for repair right now. more on this later.) the first noticeable difference was less bass than i'm used to. the hitachi cable is about 1/3 the effective diameter of the cable i was using before (livewire BC-8) so this was probably the cause. the difference wasn't all that subtle either. given this and the fact that i was unable to use my turntable for a source, i am unable to make any more conclusions about the cable. with the expected small difference that in other areas that the cable should make, only double blind testing should used to compare the two cables. a claimed benefit of the hitachi cable is reduced microvibrations that lead to muddying of the sound in the midrange. these vibrations are supposed to be caused by the transients traveling through the cable to the speaker. as unlikely as it sounds, there is some theoretical basis for this. the effect can be most easily demonstrated with a high power electronic flash unit. i used to use a Metz 202 professional handle mount unit with separate battery pack and capacitors. when the flash (rated at 200W/s for 1/500 s) is discharged, the connecting cable moves visibly and can be easily felt. the range of voltages are vastly different from audio and i am extremely skeptical of vibrations in the wire having any audible effect, but the jacket of the hitachi cable is especially wound to reduce all cable movement. hitachi is not the only cable manufacturer who is doing this, but then high end audio is not well known for its rationality. however, if the cable moves at all, then electrical energy is being dissipated as mechanical energy in the cable itself (including any heating effects due to resistance). how significant this energy loss is unknown, but merely binding the cable so that it moves less will not change the amount loss. since the loss is highest with high energy transients, i suppose that some dulling of transients occurs in cable. audibility is totally unknown, but reducing impedance (resistance, inductance, and capacitance) will reduce the amount lost by this mechanism. my turntable is a Technics SL1400 Mk2 and has a hydraulic cueing system. damping is superb for vertical arm motion using the cue, but i managed first to get air in the system and then blow a gasket. has anyone else had this problem? apparently, it's common in high end Technics turntables. Herb Chong... I'm user-friendly -- I don't byte, I nybble.... UUCP: {decvax|utzoo|ihnp4|allegra|clyde}!watmath!water!watdcsu!herbie CSNET: herbie%watdcsu@waterloo.csnet ARPA: herbie%watdcsu%waterloo.csnet@csnet-relay.arpa NETNORTH, BITNET, EARN: herbie@watdcs, herbie@watdcsu