by Terry Olson Pacific Northwest Audio Society, P.O. Box 435, Mercer Island, WA 98040 ● www.audiosociety.org August 2011 his month’s meeting was used to demonstrate several mid to high- efficiency “full-range” speakers. The whole idea of using higher efficiency speakers is sometimes confusing to peo- ple that aren’t familiar with this genre of audio. Too often, it’s assumed that the advocates of this approach belong to some sort of cult, or perhaps, can’t af- ford better speakers. However, the main arguments in favor of these seem- ingly simple designs, is that often the first watt of an amplifier provides the cleanest, least distorted, output possible. This is especially evident in Single Ended Triode (SET) amplifiers, which are claimed to possess the sweetest, full-bodied sound of any amplifier. These claims might be deemed a rather self-serving opinion, if it wasn’t also shared by such legendary designers as Nelson Pass. The latest designs that Pass has been involved in have been solid state adaptations of Single Ended (Class-A) tube circuits, utilizing very little (or no) negative feed-back. The necessity to have efficient speakers is predicated on the fact that many of the best-sounding amplifiers are also rela- tively modest in their total output. The first speakers that we listened to were a pair of Cain & Cain (“Abby“) speakers. These speakers looked great, featuring the level of craftsmanship and finish that the late Terry Cain put into every speaker that he built. The Abby, is basically a “Voigt Pipe”. Paul Voigt designed, in the 1930s, what is often termed a Tapered Quarter Wave Tube (TQWT). Far from being simple, a TQWT is an amalgam of complex phys- ics which include Quarter Wave Helm- holtz resonator, base reflex and horn- loading. It has only been in recent years that the ability to successfully model TQWT enclosures has been possible, due to the mathematical models of Augsberger and King. Cain & Cain Abby loudspeakers (borrowed from Ted Smith) driven by René Jaeger’s new hybrid amplifier. photos by Joe Pittman
Transcript
by Terry Olson
Pacific Northwest Audio Society, P.O. Box 435, Mercer Island, WA 98040 ● www.audiosociety.org
August 2011
his month’s meeting was used todemonstrate several mid to high-
efficiency “full-range” speakers. Thewhole idea of using higher efficiencyspeakers is sometimes confusing to peo-ple that aren’t familiar with this genreof audio. Too often, it’s assumed thatthe advocates of this approach belong tosome sort of cult, or perhaps, can’t af-ford better speakers. However, themain arguments in favor of these seem-ingly simple designs, is that often thefirst watt of an amplifier provides thecleanest, least distorted, output possible.This is especially evident in SingleEnded Triode (SET) amplifiers, which
are claimed to possess the sweetest,full-bodied sound of any amplifier.These claims might be deemed a ratherself-serving opinion, if it wasn’t alsoshared by such legendary designers asNelson Pass. The latest designs thatPass has been involved in have beensolid state adaptations of Single Ended(Class-A) tube circuits, utilizing verylittle (or no) negative feed-back. Thenecessity to have efficient speakers ispredicated on the fact that many of thebest-sounding amplifiers are also rela-tively modest in their total output.
The first speakers that we listenedto were a pair of Cain & Cain (“Abby“)
speakers. These speakers looked great,featuring the level of craftsmanship andfinish that the late Terry Cain put intoevery speaker that he built. The Abby,is basically a “Voigt Pipe”. Paul Voigtdesigned, in the 1930s, what is oftentermed a Tapered Quarter Wave Tube(TQWT). Far from being simple, aTQWT is an amalgam of complex phys-ics which include Quarter Wave Helm-holtz resonator, base reflex and horn-loading. It has only been in recent yearsthat the ability to successfully modelTQWT enclosures has been possible,due to the mathematical models ofAugsberger and King.
Cain & Cain Abby loudspeakers (borrowed from Ted Smith) driven by René Jaeger’s new hybrid amplifier.
phot
osby
Joe
Pitt
man
2 Pacific Northwest Audio Society Audioletter August 2011
The Abby featured a Fostex-126,which is basically a four-inch, full-range driver. The sound of the Abby’swas very pleasant, polite and allowedthe music to be presented without anytrace of distortion caused by a cross-over.
After a brief intermission, HowardGrim hooked up his self-designed hornspeakers. This design is quite unusualand as far as I’ve been able to deter-mine, constitutes a totally unique ap-proach. Howard was able to figure out away to mechanically scale a Hyperbolichorn flare to accommodate differentsizes of drivers. Just as the ancientGreeks were able to solve problems,that are today usually solved with alge-bra, this gives added meaning to the oldadage of there being “more than oneway to skin a cat”. A couple of interest-ing features that Howard has incorpo-rated into his design is the use of a pas-sive radiator on the back of the com-pression chamber, as well as the abilityto use the speaker in a side-firing ordown-firing configuration. This allows
for the ability to use this design in avariety of settings, from a fairly smallroom to a larger room. We actually ex-perimented with both arrangements andI believe that most of the members pre-ferred the down-firing option. Howardhad selected a Fostex eight inch driverthat has a sensitivity of around 96dBper watt. The sound of Howard’s speak-ers was quite nice, possessing the dy-namics, drive, and impact, that are oftenassociated with larger single-driver hornspeakers. During the demo, they werepaired to René Yeager’s latest amplifierdesign. This proved to be an absolutelysplendid companion for Howard’sspeakers.
Finally, Clark Blumenstein of Blu-menstein Ultra-Fi was introduced. Clarkhad brought, not only his “Naga” speak-ers, but powered subwoofers and awonderful system based primarily ofBottlehead tube gear. The Naga’s utilizea Fostex three inch driver along with acabinet constructed out of Bamboo ply-wood, which is not only quite attractive,but is claimed to render a sonic advan-
tage. The narrow cabinets (3.5 incheswide) have been heavily influenced bythe back loaded horn designs of Japan’sTetsuo Nagaoka. The Naga’s designallows the back-wave to be fed into anamazing twelve-foot-long folded chan-nel for a smooth frequency response of50 Hz to 35 kHz! Clark’s pair of pow-ered subwoofers are used to supplementthe bass duties and allow for evenhigher sound-pressure levels. I believethat this is very close to an ideal solu-tion that has gained a great deal of favoramong speaker designers in recentyears. You may remember that BudPurvine’s system also utilized subwoof-ers to complement his EnABL’dFonken speakers, which also yieldedexcellent results.
Blumenstein Ultra-Fi also buildsspeakers that utilize the highly-regardedAltec/GPA 212 8A drivers as well asthe fabulous (and very expensive)Festrex drivers. All in all, it was an in-structive and extremely enjoyable eve-ning.
Howard Grim’s high efficiency folded horn design.
Clark Blumenstein from Ultra-Fi describes his Naga single driver loudspeaker, new subwoofer and his custom electronics.
René Yeager’s latest hybridamplifier design. Tube input/solid state output, that’s whyyou don't normally see hugeheat sinks in a tube design.
Excellent sound!
by John Stone
espite the new wonders of com-puters, hi-rez audio, and other
technologies to enhance our listeningexperience, there lurks within all of us,those dirty little audio vices we some-times indulge ourselves in. When we’refeeling carefree and cavalier, we mayallow others a glimpse at these“foibles”, while most times we arealone in the privacy of our listeningrooms, late at night or when the spousalunit is away. Of course what I’m talkingabout, are the bad recordings and musi-cal misfits that inhabit our music collec-tions.
Certain members of our club, youknow who you are, have been known tohave an unnatural fondness for zydeco.Other glimpses of foolishness are airedat the annual Christmas party wherenovelty tracks are brought out for eve-ryone to groan or laugh at. But the realissue here are those decidedly low-rez,scratchy, and/or badly recorded gemsthat we listen to again and again overthe years.
We all have systems that are capa-ble of playing beautiful music, and yetwe retain a certain fondness for certainugly ducklings, that keeps them in ourrecord bins and CD racks. Ok, I admitthat I’m no better than anyone else inthis department. Case in point: I havetwo digital recordings of The Who’sLive at Leeds. I used to own the better-sounding vinyl, but it was loaned tosomeone years ago and you know howthat goes. When I play this recording,my wife abruptly leaves the room re-questing I turn the volume down. She
is not a Who fan in general, and particu-larly dislikes Townshend’s grungy gui-tar and Daltry’s gravelly voice on thisalbum. I enjoy the raw power and in-credible energy that the group brings tothis performance. Rock and Roll isfrequently not clean and tidy. That’smore than OK with me, at least some ofthe time. Don’t get me wrong, I thor-oughly enjoy offerings by ReferenceRecordings, FIM, and Chesky for all oftheir virtues, but some of their lowlysecond cousins from the wrong side ofthe tracks also have a home in my col-lection.
While bad recordings of great per-formances are common in rock music,they can be found in any genre. Manyolder recordings are flawed by today’sstandards merely because of the state oftechnology at the time of their issue.The first time I heard a recording of a1950’s Maria Callas performance of thearia Casta Diva (from the Bellini operaNorma) it was in an untreated, echochamber of a room at a new audiodealer. Speakers were mediocre, roomwas horrible, the record was noisy, andI wasn’t anywhere near the sweet spot.None of this mattered. The perform-ance shined through the grit and grimeof time and old technology.
Almost as interesting is that some“bad” performances are good, and some“bad” performances are just bad, evenperformances by the same artist. Casein point: the 2010 release of the JimiHendrix Valley of Neptune album.After listening to this CD, I thinkthere’s a reason it was released long
after the artist’s death. This studio(CD) recording is, in my opinion,poorly recorded and frankly boring. Onthe other hand, a copy of Hendrix BBCsessions recorded off the radio manyyears ago, despite its limitations, has meplaying air guitar in that London studio.Hard to explain, but you’ve all beenthere, so I know you get it. One lastconfession, since moving to Seattle, myfondness for grundge led me to Ta-coma’s legendary garage rock band TheSonics. If Patricia Barber is at one endof the audiophile spectrum, The Sonicsare probably at the other. How is it thatI like them both?
I don’t mind sharing some of myguilty pleasures with you, my fellowaudiophiles, because I KNOW that,even though you might not share myfondness for Casta Diva or The Who,more than a few of your guilty pleas-ures would please my ears. If any ofyou care to share, our next newsletterawaits. But hey, can we lay off thezydeco for at least awhile?
by Terry Olson
he PNWAS DIY meet is sched-uled for 9:30 a.m. on Saturday,
August 27th. The club has sponsored"The Puget Sound! DIY Contest" onalternate years with the DIY meet. Basi-cally, this meet is a casual, low-keyevent that is reminiscent of the "Show-and-Tell" days that we used to have inschool. The participants bring variousprojects that they have built, to demo
and to talk about the various aspectsand challenges that went into their pro-jects. These can range from speakers,music servers, preamps, amplifiers,DACs, and even hand-built turntablesand tone-arms. Many of the projectsshow a highly developed level of bothcraftsmanship and ingenuity. Other thanthe start time, the actual scheduleis...well actually, there is no schedule.
The participants will be using their gearin combination with other participant'sprojects. We will have display tablesand a couple of listening rooms for theAudio Mix and Match sessions.
These events are usually quite in-teresting and just a lot of relaxed fun.
SPECIAL ELECTION NOTICEOur elected Treasurer, WillyChang, can’t participate in futureExecutive Committee meetingsand is stepping down from theoffice. We will have a specialelection at the August 11 meet-ing. If you would like to be in-volved in the management of theclub, please consider running forthe office.
Pacific Northwest Audio Society Audioletter August 2011 5
by John Stone
ur August 11th meeting will be avery special event that will take
place in North Bend, WA. Mike Lavi-gne will be hosting the meeting in hisstate of the art listening room. Thisyear’s event will showcase Mike’s newWave Kinetics NVS turntable (http://wavekinetics.com/nvs.html). The turn-table will sport the Talea 2 tonearm(http://www.durand-tonearms.com/Specifications/specifications.html) withone of several top-shelf cartridges on
hand. Mike’s magnificent new turnta-ble replaces the wonderful RockportSerius III that Mike had last year. Mikewill also be rolling the latest Tape Pro-ject and other rare offerings on hisStuder ¼” A820 reel to reel. Recentlyadded is a ½” A820, and the AmpexATR-102 (not played at last year’smeeting), both of which will be playedtoo.
Also; the Equi=tech 10WQ (10kva)isolation transformer that was waitingfor installation at the time of last year’smeeting is now installed.
But wait, there’s more. In case youthought that digital was being ignored,Mike will also have a new level of hirezdigital he will play; 24/384kHz PCM,regular DSD and 6.1 MHz DSD(2Xdsd) thru USB from a Mac Minicontrolled by an i-Pad. This is possiblewith a software upgrade to Mike’s Play-back Design MPS-5. Jonathan Tinnfrom Playback Designs will also be inattendance to answer any questions thatyou may have.
Of course, as Mike will tell you,the room’s THE thing. Professionallydesigned and tweaked by Mike, theroom sounds great and looks great
too. DarTZeel amplification, EvolutionAcoustics MM3 speakers, huge musiccollection…the list is long and distin-guished.
Since last year’s meeting therehave been a few significant changes inroom performance that will be dis-cussed.
To facilitate planning for thisevent, all members must RSVP. In-structions on how to RSVP and will becontained in a later email. Directionswill be provided to members whoRSVP. Remember, do NOT go to theregular meeting place on Mercer Islandon August 11th. We’ll see you in NorthBend.
For those who care to arrive early,music will begin around 6pm. And par-ticularly if you want to listen to mediayou bring, try to be there early, as wewill have mostly planned choices dur-ing the meeting time. The meeting willstart at our regular time of 7:30pm, butgive yourself plenty of travel time; youwon’t want to miss a minute of the mu-sic.
Drinks and snacks will be pro-vided.
rmed with a healthy treasury and“burdened” with some aging
equipment, the club’s Executive Com-mittee, composed of elected officersand committee members, has recom-mended that some of our equipment beupgraded and sold. Last month, wewere able to find a buyer for the club’solder and no-longer-used Conrad John-son PV-12 preamp. At the Augustmeeting, general membership will bevoting on two proposals to upgradeequipment.
Proposal 1. New Digital PlaybackTo allot $2000 for the purchase of anew digital playback system. There are
a number of options in this area, includ-ing standalone disc players with USBinput (Example: Oppo BDP-95), MusicPlayers (Example: Bryston BDP-1;DAC also required), and full-functioncomputer/server (many options; DACalso required). All of these optionshave their own advantages and disad-vantages. If approved, the ExecutiveCommittee will oversee a search/evaluation effort which will result in aspecific equipment proposal. For thoseof you interested in participating in thisproject, or in the evaluation/selection ofother pieces of gear for the club, pleasespeak to one of the club’s officers orsend me an email
Once a new digital playback system ischosen, it will likely be the end of theroad for the club’s excellent-sounding,but slow-loading, Sony SCD-777es CD/SACD player.
Proposal 2. Speaker UpgradeTo upgrade the club’s existing GenesisG7.1f loudspeakers to the latest versionG7.2f for $1200. This includes replac-ing the tweeters and widwoofers withthe latest units. This is a significantimprovement.
by John Stone
Pacific Northwest Audio Society Audioletter August 2011 6
by Joe Pittman
ome believe that simply raisingcables above the floor will improve
sound quality and I am one of them.The idea is that cables on the floor orcarpeting are affected by electrostaticfields and vibration. The negative ef-fects are a reduction in clarity or mask-ing of detail. This can be especiallynoticeable in the winter when the air isdry and increases electrostatic field.Rub your feet on the floor and touch adoor knob… zap!
In my previous life as an IndustrialEngineering consultant, I’ve designedmany industrial facilities. They in-cluded semi-conductor manufacturingand clean rooms which required ESD(electrostatic discharge) certification;the reduction of dangerous electrostaticdischarges which can damage sensitivesolid state devices. Usually the entirefloor was designed to prevent and dissi-pate the floors electrostatic field. Thisusually involved the installation of spe-cial floor tiles that were grounded atmany points, minimizing the distance/
size of fields relative to the groundpoint. The tiles were also coated on afrequent basis with a special conductivewax.
Over the years I have experimentedwith many cable elevator designs whichwere made from, ceramic, wood, plas-tic, brass, silk, and ERS. NONE of mydesigns were very effective. More of ahassle than a practical improvement.
Which brings me to Shunyata’sDarkField Cable Elevator. When thesecame out, I read that what distinguishesthese cable elevators from all the othersis a unique design feature. All othercable elevators are designed to be insu-lators (like all of my previous designs).But what happens is that the elevatedcables, being insulated from the floor,can accumulate a large electrostaticfield. But with no way to dissipate thefield, the built-up static field adverselyimpacts sound quality, probably makingthe sound worse. Cable elevators thatonly insulate aren’t effective and possi-bly counterproductive in my opinion.
The unique and patented approach ofthe DarkField elevators is to neutralizethe static field by the special foam lay-ers utilized in its construction. When Ithink about it, this is the design goal ofspecial ESD floors. Good science.
I found the installation of these intwo of my reference systems to be anoticeable improvement. Shunyata alsorecommended their Mini cable elevatorsalso. The Mini elevators can be used inplace of the more expensive elevatorwhen used between the larger elevators.The Mini elevators can also be usedbetween cables behind equipment racksfor similar effect I am told. I plan to getmore of the Mini’s to try this out.
Meanwhile, the DarkField ca-bleelevators are inexpensive, about$300 for a set of 12 and the Mini’s are$100 for a set of 12.
Ps: I don’t sell these so you shouldbe able to get them from your localShunyata dealer or online from e-tailerslike Music Direct.
Pacific Northwest Audio Society Audioletter August 2011 7
August 11 PNWAS MeetingRoad Trip to Mike Lavigne’s.
August 27 DIY MEETOur biennial DIY Meet on Saturday.Everyone is welcome!
September 8 PNWAS MeetingMusic only. Everybody bring theirown music and say a few wordsabout it.
October 13 PNWAS MeetingAmplifier comparisons.
October 14-16 RMAF 2011Hi Ho Hi Ho it’s off to Denver we go!
November 10 PNWAS MeetingIt’s dark outside, time for our annualhome theater event. This time it is aroad trip to Madrona Digital. Theywill host the meeting in their new,state of the art theater.
December 15 PNWAS MeetingAnnual Christmas music competi-tion.
January 12 PNWAS MeetingComparison of two digital playbackunits. Our first shoot-out for select-ing our new system.
February 15 PNWAS MeetingComparison of two digital playbackunits. Our second, and last shoot-out for final selection.
Venue for our concerts Sherman Clay 1000 Bellevue Way.Tickets $13 Adults, Students 18 and under $8.Bring your CD’s for exchange, or buy from the box @$5.Enquiries: 425-828-9104 or 425-454-0633.Tickets: $13 Adults, Students 18 and under $8.Everyone is welcome. Please join us.Best regards,Cooksie KramerContact Us:Lionel Kramer, 10135 NE 64th Str, Kirkland, WA [email protected] www.eastsidejazzclub.com
RPG Skyline diffuser approx2’x2’x7”, 20 each available in excel-lent condition (no damage) and aresold in pairs only. Retail price is$419 per pair plus $40 shipping,street prices as low as $350/pairincluding shipping. My sell price is$150 per pair, but you must pick-upat my place. I don’t want to shipthem. If you are interested in all 20,total price would be $1200. ContactJoe Pittman, 206-878-3833 or [email protected]
Bruce Brown has two amplifierstands available. He used them withhis Pass Labs amps and the standsare approximately 19” x 20”. Pleasecontact Bruce if you are interested.His email is:[email protected]
Tuesday August 9th 7.30 pm. We are delighted to be pre-senting The Greg Williamson Quartet featuring Greg onDrums, Alex Nikolaev on Sax, John Hansen on the Steinway,Jon Hamar on Bass, with Guest Vocalist Kelly Eisenhourmaking her debut at the Club.
Kelly Eisenhour
Visitors Welcome!Meetings are held on the second Thursdayof every month at 7:30pm at 4545 IslandCrest Way, Mercer Island, WA 98040.
PNWAS Mission StatementTo bring people with a common interest in
music reproduced at its best, for theirmutual edification and pleasure.
To facilitate the exchange and dissemina-tion of accurate data concerning audioequipment and musical recordings.
To promote, sponsor, and cultivate thehighest quality reproduction of music inthe home.
To encourage maintenance of high stan-dards in the performance, recording andtransmission of music.
PNWAS Objectives1. Provide a forum for meeting other audio-
philes and exchanging information onmusical recordings and audio equipment.
2. Demonstrate and compare equipmentand recordings.
3. Give members opportunities to becomefamiliar with the techniques of audiomanufacturing, testing, repair, recording,broadcasting, etc.
EditorialEditorial submissions are welcome.Content must be audio-related or of generalinterest to the club in plain text or Worddocument format without automation(macros and scripts). We reserve the rightto edit for style, content, and length.Editorial Deadline: two weeks before meet-ing date.Publishing any editorial material is contin-gent upon the approval of the ExecutiveCommittee.
DisclaimerOpinions in this Audioletter are those of theirauthors; the Pacific Northwest Audio Societyitself does not endorse or criticize products.Copyright 2011 by the Pacific NorthwestAudio Society except as noted; all rightsreserved.No part of this publication may be reprintedor otherwise reproduced without the writtenpermission of the
