Audio Legends: Matt Polk & Sandy Gross

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audio, loudspeakers, Matt Polk, Polk Audio, Polk Model 10, Sandy Gross

A Trip Down Memory Lane: Speakers That Rivaled the Greats

I was introduced to the Polk Model 10 loudspeakers at a CES in Chicago many years ago. It was, for me, the first American speaker that rivaled the best from England. Up to that time most American box speakers lacked stereo imaging. The Model 10 did not! The imaging was there and so was the low coloration on voices. This was the American version of a Spendor BC1. I raved about the speakers but had very little circulation at the time. Fortunately for Polk, good word of mouth carried the day.

Polk initially headquartered in a beautiful old house in a suburb of Baltimore. Here the principles of the company lived and worked. I was fortunate enough to be invited to the Polk compound. I had little circulation but Polk and company were very gracious to me. (I was traveling with my genius audio friend Murray Zeligman and that may have been the reason I got inside the compound.)

Matt Polk was listening to some Model 10’s that sounded even better than I remembered. On the floor behind the speakers were two banks of custom-built tube power amplifiers pumping out the sound. Yes, amplifiers do controll the sound of a loudspeaker! A good monitor speaker will reveal all that is in the audio chain ahead of it.

The Model 10’s were an amazing set of speakers. It is a classic that will hold its own even to this day. If you can find a pair in good condition, buy them!

Sandy Gross, the marketing guru of Polk, graciously took me to one of his listening rooms. On the floor were a pair of the original Quad ESL’s – speakers that I greatly admired as well. Sandy eventually left Polk and started two high-end loudspeaker companies of his own, first Definitive Technology and then Golden Ear Audio – aptly named. Sandy has a golden ear indeed and his speakers sound great.

My hero is Matt Polk, however. He has designed and sold so many excellent products – from subwoofers to headphones. They are very competitive with high-end products but are offered at what must be considered budget prices by today’s standards. Matt has a been able to translate his technical training at John’s Hopkins into highly practical products. He is able to zero in on what contributes to excellent sound reproduction while eliminating the frills.

Polk and Definitive Technology are now owned by the company that owns Denon, Marantz and Boston Acoustics. Yes, Saul Marantz products are still going strong and Polk is right up there with the best.

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ELAC Debut B5 Bookshelf Loudspeakers

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Andrew Jones, audio, AudioEngine, audiophile, ELAC Debut B5, monitor speakers

Andrew Jones is a very famous loudspeaker designer and rightfully so. He designed the TAD $80,000 Reference One loudspeakers. But it is much easier to design a great sounding speaker when price is no object. Mr. Jones did not stop there, however. He designed some great budget priced speakers for Pioneer. Now he has moved on to ELAC, a respected German loudspeaker manufacture. And there he has done it again, designed budget sounding speakers that most anyone can enjoy if they love the accurate reproduction of live music.

Mr. Jones has designed several models for ELAC. We have chosen the new ELAC Debut B5 Bookshelf Loudspeakers because we want to compare it to the AudioEngine A2+’s. These speakers are about equal in price. There are obvious similarities. In each case, the individual drivers in these speakers are made in-house. AudioEngine assembles their own speakers while the Debut B5’s are assembled in China. The mid/base drivers in both speakers are made of similar materials – a woven aramid-fiber for greater stiffness and lower distortion. The B5’sw are priced at $230 while the A2+’s are priced at $250. Both of these speakers offer outstanding clarity for the price.

The comparison breaks down when it comes to lower bass reproduction however. The A2+’s clearly need a subwoofer, particularly when placed on stands in a medium-sized room. The Debut B5’s are better in the lower end. They have 5.25 inch woofers compared to the A2+’s 2.5 inch woofers. This also means that B5’s have greater power handling which could prove significant in playing louder in a medium-sized room.

Let us look at the prices again. The A2+’s cost a little more and really need a subwoofer. That will add at least a $100 to their overall cost. But the A2+’s have a built-in dual class AB monolithic power amp that is superbly matched to the speakers. In order for the Debut B5’s to play at their best they need to be mated with a very good power amp and not some generic receiver.

Which ones win? They both do. When it comes to stereo imaging the A2+’s are hard to beat. Their small-sized baffles have something to do with that. The B5’s are much larger speakers. They carry more weight in the low-end. Are they as nimble as the A2+’s? An extended period of listening will be necessary to complete any meaningful comparison. Perhaps you might want to share any experiences you have in auditioning these speakers. They are beauties and the price is right!

Audio Legends: Ivor Tiefenbrun

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analogue, audio, Ivor Tiefenbrun, Linn Products, Linn Sondek, state of the art, turntable

A Trip Down Memory Lane – The Master Turntable Builder

I met Ivor Tiefenbrun at a Hi Fi show in the early days. He was demonstrating what became his famous turntable. I asked why he did not put strobe markings on his turntable for fine tuning the turntable’s speed. He told me that what necessitated the need from speed correction were fluctuations in line current. Those same fluctuations would cause the speed indication and, thus, the speed correction to be inaccurate to the same degree as the fluctuations in the line current. He engineered his turntable to be simple, with only the things that mattered with regard to superb sonics.

Does a turntable have sound? In those days, some reviews were still writing that there were no sonic differences between amplifiers. Here was some strange guy from Scotland that was telling us that turntables affect the sound. Even some of the high end press were dismissing him. Direct drive turntables were all the rage, the ones where the motor is directly coupled to the platter without any belt to dampen out vibrations. The press needed an education and Ivor was just to one to give it.

His Linn Sondek LP12 turntable was beautiful to look at. It was so well machined – a processioned instrument that was deceptively simply, yet incredibly sophisticated. Introduced in 1972, it utilizes a suspended sub-chassis design and a patented tightly-toleranced single-point bearing. The design was similar to the Acoustic Research XA turntable created by renowned audio pioneer Edgar Villchur. However, Linn greatly improved the suspension system.

Ivor marked his turntable as the most important component in an audio system. Most people would probably say the loudspeakers are, but Ivor stressed that the overall sound of the system could be no better that what was at the beginning of the chain. People scoffed at this until they A/B’d his table with others in the system. Once again, Ivor new what he was talking about.

The cost of turntables has skyrocketed over the years. The Sondek is no exception. It is still helping to define the state of the art. Fortunately, the ground work that Ivor did helped manufacturers to greatly improve their turntables. Today we may buy some very good and quite reasonably priced turntables that provide excellent analogue reproduction. We are all indebted to Ivor Teifenbrun’s pioneering work.

Glasgow-based Linn Products also produced some excellent loudspeakers, and some outstanding vinyl records which are still the benchmark to this day. (See Exemplary Recordings of Handle’s Messiah).

Budget State of the Art?

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audio, AudioEngine, audiophile, budget, David Berning, Magnepan, planar, QUAD 303, Rogue Audio Sphinx, state of the art

Magnepan is an American manufacturer of quality stereo loudspeakers. That statement is somewhat of an understatement. Magnepan designed and built the original Magneplanar Tympani 1 loudspeaker, which was head and shoulders above anything in its day, at least in the vital midrange frequencies. It lacked bass and dynamic impact, but it sounded like no other loudspeaker at the time. It did not sound like a box speaker and it was not outrageously priced.

Magnepan speakers have advanced significantly since the Magneplanar days. They are still not outrageous priced. In fact, they are probably the best bargain in high-end audio speakers. Not only that, but most of them sound better than many other high-end speakers. The new Magnepan fits into their lineup nicely. It is a near state of the art speaker, following closely on the heels of its bigger brothers.

Frequency Response of the Magnepan .7i is from 45Hz–22kHz” +/- 3dB. As you can see in the graph below, the .7i has a smooth frequency response in a typical room. It drops off somewhat in the high end, mostly due to room reflections. On axis it does not. (Careful positioning of the quasi ribbon tweeter is essential.) The midrange/woofer panels fall off below 40 Hz. This is pretty good bass response for a planar driver. The bass is solid and crisp, but it is not designed for the high impact found in most rock music. It will do quite well for Jazz and classical music.

The curve shows a subwoofer crossed over at 35 Hz. This will allow the overall speaker system to play louder, with greater dynamic impact. But is the sound better? That depends on what type of music you like to listen to. In many cases, the overall sound is better without the subwoofer. Magnepan sells a DWM flat-panel woofer, which does a better job of integrating with the whole. However, it will not have the same impact as a sub with cone drivers. Most Rock music will benefit from the sub.

Speaker response curves do not tell the whole story. The .7i’s are smooth, but they are also very transparent and neutral. They have excellent stereo imaging which is something for which panel speakers are not know. Room placement is critical. Time and patience are required to experiment with the best placement. Keep them away from the back walls and tow them in slightly. Some room damping is required for them to sound at their best – a few pictures or hangings, carpets, and stuffed chairs and sofa will do the trick. The speakers are beautiful to look at, but the spouse may not appreciate expensive, ugly, sound deadening material.

The speaker cost $1400. Not cheap, but a bargain for the high-end market. And a bargain for the such exceptional music reproduction in the home. The speaker price is only the beginning. Amplifiers are required. (One of the great advantages is that AudioEngine speakers have excellent built-in power amps.) What should you use. Good tube amps are the best. Something by Berning or Audio Research, but that would be quite expensive, though the sound of the speakers might justify the price if you can afford one of these amps. I might go with a reconditioned QUAD 303 power amp, which sounds like good tubes. It was the solid state amp that sounded musical, and it is still viable to this day. The 303 only puts out 45 watts per channel RMS, but that is more than sufficient. It does well with low impedance speakers which is the case for Magnepan. Some amplifiers just do not drive Magnepan speakers well.

For a tube amplifier I would go with a reconditioned Paoli 60M – the one designed by Walter Key. It will hold its own with many top end tube amplifiers – not the Berning. If you want a modern, but modestly priced tubed amplifier, try the Rogue Audio Sphinx, a vacuum tube/Class D/ hybrid design. It sells for $1,295, almost as much as the .7i speakers themselves. Nonetheless, it can hold its own with other high-end designs.

As you can see, this discussion of a “budget” audio system may just break many people’s budgets. I do not say you should make such a purchase. You should be perfectly happen with an AudioEngine system. But if you want to venture into state of the are, then the Magnepan system will fill the bill at the lowest possible cost.

Crazy Apple Music

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Apple Inc., Apple Music, audio, AudioEngine, computer audio, high-resolution, iTunes, iTunes Match

Apple Music has got to be one of the most fascinating and exasperating pieces of software that Apple has ever produced. It is a great way to discover new music and new performances. The audio quality is good. It has radio stations, but who needs radio? It has the largest selection of music available. And it the curated playlists are simply superb.

What is not to like? Well. early usees reported lost playlists, deleted songs, unwanted songs added, and problems with album covers. To prevent any potential of this from happening you will not want to enable Apple Music’s iCloud Music’s Library. However, you will have lost one of the great advantages of Apple Music, playing songs without having to download them, which is a boon for Apple devices with limited memory. (More on this later.)

What I would recommend is to have a dedicated server for all your stored iTunes files and play lists, such as an Apple laptop. (You do not want to deal with iTunes under Windows!) Of course, this solution is an extra expense. But if you afford it you can feed your iTunes music directly into your AudioEngine 2A+’s. These speakers have an excellent builtin DAC. If you are playing high-resolution downloads, you may wish to buy an outboard DAC such as AudioEngine’s excellent D3 24-bit DAC/Headphone Amp pictured below. In addition, switch all your iTunes files to Enqueue, a software app for browsing your music, which is better able to handle high resolution files.

Or you might want to use the AudioQuest DragonFly DAC as an alternative.

You could spend more money, but why do so. These are excellent DAC’s at bargain prices. They will plug directly into your laptop, by passing the built-in DAC. Then plugin the DAC into your AudioEngines, bypassing the speaker’s built-in DAC. If you are using high-resolution downloads, be sure to investigate the enhancement software found in iTunes Audiophile Software Comparisons.

Now on to the crazies. I do not have iTunes Match. And for the most part you will not need it if you are using Apple Music with iTunes Cloud Library selected. You can stream the huge selection of iTunes songs without having to download them. Of course, you will not have access to the files you have stored on your computer. Right? Well, in some cases you will. Even without iTunes Match I am finding that I can access my own files. Apple simply goes ahead and matches them anyway. Or does it. It does so for much of my stored music, but not all. It may also mess-up my playlist, leaving out songs. This is not so good for classical music because you do not want to miss any of the movements in a piece.

What is going on Apple? I do not know, but I am willing to put up with it because of the great discovery feature and the availability of so much music with so little storage on my portable device.

Should you try Apple Music? Yes, by all means. The first three months are free. You can opt out of it but that is a little tricky. You can also disable the Connect feature which is left over from Ping, Apple last failed attempt at social media. I am a critic, so I have pointed out some of the drawbacks of Apple Music. But personally, I love it. And Apple seems to be steadily improving it.