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STEREO • MUSIC
GUIDE to
HIGH-PERFORMANCE
LOUDSPEAKERS
Sponsored by
Sponsored by
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Contents
|
Features
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Bookshelf, Stand-Mount and Desktop
|
Floorstanding
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Editors' Choice Awards
Contents
Sponsored by
Features
• From the Editor
• On the Horizon: Great New Products
Coming Your Way
• Sneak Previews
• Further Thoughts
• Top Picks
• Loudspeaker Types and How They Work
• Designer Roundtable
• Editors' Choice Awards
Bookshelf, Stand-Mount
and Desktop Loudspeakers
• Pioneer SP-BS22
• Paradigm Shift
• PSB Imagine Mini
• Sonus faber Venere 1.5
• KEF LS50
• Monitor Audio GX50
• B&W Prestige Monitor 1
• Harbeth 30.1
• Raidho C1.1
Floorstanding
Loudspeakers
• Paradigm Monitor 9, Series 7
• PSB Imagine T2
• Vienna Acoustics Beethoven Grand
• Dynaudio Focus 260
• Thiel CS2.7
• Acoustic Zen Crescendo
• Wilson Audio Sophia Series 3
• mbl 121
• Sony SS-AR2
Sponsored by
• Von Schweikert VR-44
• TAD Evolution One
• KEF Blade
Clic k on one of the links above to jump to that secti on, featu re or revie w.
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GUIDE to
publisher.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jim Hannon
editor-in-chief
. . . . . . . . . . . Robert Harley
executive editor
. . . . . . . . . Jonathan Valin
acquisitions manager
and associate editor
. . . . . Neil Gader
music editor
. . . . . . . . . . . . Mark Lehman
creative director
. . . . . . . . Torquil Dewar
art director
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Shelley Lai
STEREO • MUSIC
HIGH-PERFORMANCE
senior writers
. . . . . . . . . . . Anthony H. Cordesman
Wayne Garcia
Robert E. Greene
Jim Hannon
Chris Martens
Tom Martin
Dick Olsher
Andrew Quint
Paul Seydor
Steven Stone
Alan Taffel
reviewers &
contributing writers
. . . . . Duck Baker, Peter
Breuninger, Greg
Cahill, Stephen Estep,
Jacob Heilbrunn,
Sherri Lehman,
Ted Libbey, David
McGee, Kirk Midtskog,
Bill Milkowski, Derk
Richardson, Jeff Wilson
3
Guide to High-Performance Loudspeakers
Sponsored by
LOUDSPEAKERS
nextscreen, LLC
chairman and ceo
. . . . . . . Tom Martin
vp/group publisher
. . . . . . Jim Hannon
advertising reps
. . . . . . . . Cheryl Smith
(512) 891-7775
Marvin Lewis
MTM Sales
(718) 225-8803
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Address letters to the Editor:
The Absolute Sound,
8868 Research Blvd., Austin, TX 78758 or
rharley@nextscreen.com
©2013 NextScreen, LLC
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FROM THE
Editor
Welcome to the 2013 edition of our
Buyer’s Guide to High-Performance Loudspeakers,
brought to you by
The Absolute Sound.
Inside you’ll find reviews of 21 great
loudspeakers, priced to fit any budget. The reviews have been selected from the
pages of
The Absolute Sound,
but all are new for this Buyer’s guide.
In addition to On The Horizon, our traditional report on newly introduced products, we’ve added some
special new features. Sneak Previews gives you an advance look at products under review before that
review appears in
The Absolute Sound.
The new Further Thoughts section provides you with additional
commentary on a product that has previously been reviewed. The reviewer might have additional insight
into the product, and can also tell you what it’s like to live long-term with the loudspeaker. Another new
feature is Our Top Picks. Four of our editors and reviewers each name the speaker that they would buy
for themselves at $1500, $5000, $10,000 to $15,000, and $25,000. Recommendations don’t come much
higher than that.
We’ve also included a fascinating look into the minds of the world’s foremost loudspeaker designers
in the Designer Roundtable: The Art of the Small Speaker. What goes into making a musically satisfying
sound from a small enclosure? These experts share their secrets. Finally, for the technically minded we
bring you “Loudspeaker Types and How They Work,” a crash course in speaker technology excerpted
from my book
The Complete Guide to High-End Audio
(fourth edition).
The product reviews in this Buyer’s Guide are notable for the sheer number of amazing values available
today at every price level. Can a $129-per-pair speaker be considered “high-end?” If that speaker is
designed by Andrew Jones, author of the magnificent $70,000 TAD Reference One it can. When Jones
turned his attention to creating a $129 speaker for Pioneer (TAD’s parent
company), the results defied expectations in this price category. You’ll also find
Andrew’s work represented in this issue with Neil Gader’s review of the $29,800
TAD Evolution One. These two products prove the point that high-end audio isn’t
about price, but about the attitude and skill of the product’s designer. High-end
products are built by skilled enthusiasts to deliver real musical performance, not
as commodities to be sold in the greatest number.
Every time I attend a hi-fi show I’m amazed to discover a new small affordable
loudspeaker that delivers performance far above what its price and size would
suggest. The PSB Imagine Mini ($799), Sonus faber Venere 1.5 ($1198), and the
KEF LS50 ($1499) have all impressed me greatly at shows, and have pushed the
price-to-performance ratio on the category. You’ll find full reviews of these three
remarkable speakers in this Buyer’s Guide.
No matter what your budget or listening tastes, you’re sure to find a great
loudspeaker among those featured here. Remember that a review is just a
starting point for your own auditioning. Use the reviews and recommendations
in this Buyer’s Guide to create a short list of speakers you should audition
yourself. Choose wisely and you’ll enjoy your favorite music brought to life as
never before.
C li ck here to tu rn th e p ag e.
www.theabsolutesound.com
—Robert Harley
4
Guide to High-Performance Loudspeakers
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Hot New Loudspeakers
Coming Your Way
Neil gader
GoldenEar Triton Seven
The GoldenEar Triton Seven brings award-
winning Triton Series performance to a
more compact size and more affordable
price range. It represents the first
Triton Tower without a built-in powered
subwoofer, yet it achieves subwoofer-like
bass performance by combining advanced-
technology drivers with GoldenEar’s
sophisticated bass-loading technologies.
Like the Triton Two, the Seven combines a
D’Appolito array of 5.25" mid/bass drivers,
a High Velocity Folded Ribbon Driver
(HVFR™), used in both the Triton Two and
Three, plus a pair of side-mounted sub-
bass radiators that are located on either
side of the cabinet down near the floor for
optimum coupling to the room. The Seven’s
crossover and unique cabinet shape not
only aligns the driver array for a coherent
wave-launch directed at the listening
position, but also results in better control of
internal standing waves. Sensitivity is rated
at 89dB; nominal impedance is 8 ohms.
price:
$1400. www.goldenear.com
oN tHE HoRIZoN
and you’re there
Close your eyes and you’re there. Building on our award-winning AR series, Sony ES speakers
recreate the experience of hearing music performed in a live venue. Hand-crafted from 
Scandinavian birch selected for its acoustic resonance, the single cabinet, two-enclosure design
gives you unparalleled low-frequency isolation. The I -Array
™
tweeter system delivers a true-to-life
listening experience. And the result is beyond words. 
Because You Care About Music
™
Learn more at
www.sony.com/ES
SS - NA2ES
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Guide to HIgh-Performance Loudspeakers
www.theabsolutesound.com
©2013 Sony Electronics Inc. Sony and the Sony make.believe logo are trademarks of Sony. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.
All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners.
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