I’ve been an audiophile for 40 years. This ain’t my first rodeo. I’ve been a hobbyist (made and modified a few speakers in my time), an enthusiast (listened to many) and for a brief period of insanity during internship following medical school, I was a dealer (circa 1979, Audio Shoppe in Pasadena, CA). The point is, I’ve seen and heard a lot of things. Most of them have been disappointing. Some have been fun to hear. Few have been bargains. I’m about to share a listening report of a speaker that has re-defined, at least for me, what “good” is all about in the wonderful but wacky world of audio.
The speaker in question is the B&G Z-92. It is made by Bohlender and Graebener, or B&G for short. They’ve been around a while also. Many audiophiles will recognize them as the original provider of the drivers for the Wisdom line of loudpeakers. The Z-92 uses planar-magnetic (ribbon) drivers in a 3 way design in conjunction with twin 6.5” woofers in a nice-looking, floor-standing cabinet. The 8 inch midrange driver hands off to a 3 inch hi-freq driver and these are aligned co-axially. I won’t provide any more details on the speaker since information on these is plentiful, as are some pre-existing reviews.
http://www.bgcorp.com/PDFs/Z-92-literature.pdf
http://stereos.about.com/od/reviewsandrecommendations/fr/BGZ-92.htm
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/home...lanar-ribbon-speakers-and-210i-subwoofer.html
Of interest, B&G will OEM their ribbon drivers to others, and details on both the 8 and 3 inch ribbons can be found here:
http://www.radiapro.net/uploads/RadiaProNEO8.pdf
http://www.radiapro.net/uploads/NEO3WhitePaper.pdf
And now for the good part. Folks, these speakers aren’t just good, they are mind-boggling good. But I must add an important qualifier. I have never heard the speakers by themselves. Rather, I heard them in a system that also contained a 12 inch Sunfire subwoofer. The speakers were run full range, and the sub is added to supplement the low end using a cut off I believe of about 45 Hz. In fact, I would never buy these speakers without a subwoofer as I don’t typically consider listening to something that is not full range to be rewarding sonically. But taken together, the system I heard is a world-beater. What is ridiculous is that the speakers were recently discontinued and were obtainable for about $500 each on Audiogon (they retailed for $1250). Coupled with a Sunfire sub or equivalent, I do not exaggerate when I say these speakers can do anything and everything that my big rig does (Pipedreams plus Gotham subs), albeit somewhat less impressively in terms of sheer SPL, soundstage size and refinement. But the key to their astounding sound is really very basic. They are, plain and simple, just musically right. I mean spot-on, drop dead musically right. There isn’t a bad or unmusical sound coming from these things. Sinatra’s baritone?- an acid test of male vocals- spot-on. Reference Recordings brass in the Sousa marches?- fantastic -no floor woofer suck out in the 150-200Hz region in these babies. Strings? Damn these pricks. Nobody should get strings to sound this good for so little money. And you can bet your ass they don’t have $1000 capacitors in them. Soundstage? Wonderful, whether it was symphonic or the King’s singers. Lest you think this was all in some spectacular room- fuggetabout it. It was a very modest room with a brick wall at one end a lot of glass on the side wall and no special treatments of any kind. It made me sick. Nobody should be able to get sound this good by paying so little attention to the room. And I’m not talking about ancillary equipment that was anything to write home about. I’m talking about a modest B&K amp that is 8 years old, a used BAT preamp and an El-Cheapo Sony Blue-Ray player. Interconnects were Nordost Quatra-Fils that were the stars of yesteryear, and some speaker cables that I never heard of. But the sound was just wonderful, ravishing even. I brought my 3 demo CDs that I use to slay equipment everywhere and anywhere I go. Just ask my buddies with the expensive stuff. But I was floored here. I couldn’t find a single cut on any of my discs that didn’t sound, at the very minimum, good. And I don’t mean 500 dollar qualified good. I mean good. In fact, very good.
Are you a measurements guy? Well, just for fun I pulled out my Phonic meter and ran pink noise from the Stereophile test CD. I could not believe my eyes. At the listening chair they were flat from 200Hz to 10K with a gentle roll-off thereafter. I don't mean flat as in Cate Blanchett-Gwenyth Paltrow-Twiggy flat. I mean ruler flat. Flatter than any system I have ever measured, including my own or Steve and Brian's Alexandria systems. And these are 3 megabuck systems in great megabuck rooms. (My friend's Z92's are in a shit hole by comparison). From 200 and below they have that beautiful "B&K" gentle elevation (discussed elsewhere in this forum) peaking at 40-80Hz (the Jason Bloom/Apogee bump) with good response down to 20Hz thanks to the Sunfire sub. In other words, it was textbook, absolutely textbook. If you were judging by measurements, you'd have to give it a A+. It was simply the best I've ever seen. And it made me apoplectic. Did I mention we're talkin' 500 dollar loudspeakers here?
But that’s exactly the point. And the big take away. I heard a system that for unbelievably little money by high end standards could play anything and everything with such aplomb that I was truly impressed. And it was backed-up by very solid measured performance data, in case that stuff is important to you. More importantly, at least to me, it wasn’t a matter of being able to hear and being able to localize every fart from the second clarinet or third trumpet in the orchestra. It was throwing the system every type of music imaginable and having it all come back with such enjoyment that the system became irrelevant. It was just damned good music and darned good sound. It was emotionally moving and it was a pleasure to listen to. It was the realization of what we all strive for with the 6 figure stuff, and here it was for a fraction of that. I was genuinely blown away. Nothing should sound that good for so little money, right? Wrong. And the very heart of the reason why that system sounded so good is the Z-92 speaker. If there is a better bargain in all of audio, I don’t know about it. It’s not that it was a good value. It was good period. But again, I reemphasize, the sub is a must. Without it, I’m sure I would have been non-plussed. But taken together, it has become a clear as a bell to me that the “high end”, as we know it is doomed. If it's possible to get performance this good from a loudspeaker this cheap, and if the loudspeaker is the most important variable to getting good sound in a home system as many profess (and to which I agree), then its clear that $100,000 loudspeakers and their ilk will die a death driven by the same laws of natural selection that allow for only the most successful of all species to survive. There will of course, always be museums and folks for whom discretionary spending and human nature permits such conspicuous consumption. Are we there yet? Not quite. But the Z-92, more than any other audio product I have ever heard, has signaled for me that we are well on our way.
The speaker in question is the B&G Z-92. It is made by Bohlender and Graebener, or B&G for short. They’ve been around a while also. Many audiophiles will recognize them as the original provider of the drivers for the Wisdom line of loudpeakers. The Z-92 uses planar-magnetic (ribbon) drivers in a 3 way design in conjunction with twin 6.5” woofers in a nice-looking, floor-standing cabinet. The 8 inch midrange driver hands off to a 3 inch hi-freq driver and these are aligned co-axially. I won’t provide any more details on the speaker since information on these is plentiful, as are some pre-existing reviews.
http://www.bgcorp.com/PDFs/Z-92-literature.pdf
http://stereos.about.com/od/reviewsandrecommendations/fr/BGZ-92.htm
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/home...lanar-ribbon-speakers-and-210i-subwoofer.html
Of interest, B&G will OEM their ribbon drivers to others, and details on both the 8 and 3 inch ribbons can be found here:
http://www.radiapro.net/uploads/RadiaProNEO8.pdf
http://www.radiapro.net/uploads/NEO3WhitePaper.pdf
And now for the good part. Folks, these speakers aren’t just good, they are mind-boggling good. But I must add an important qualifier. I have never heard the speakers by themselves. Rather, I heard them in a system that also contained a 12 inch Sunfire subwoofer. The speakers were run full range, and the sub is added to supplement the low end using a cut off I believe of about 45 Hz. In fact, I would never buy these speakers without a subwoofer as I don’t typically consider listening to something that is not full range to be rewarding sonically. But taken together, the system I heard is a world-beater. What is ridiculous is that the speakers were recently discontinued and were obtainable for about $500 each on Audiogon (they retailed for $1250). Coupled with a Sunfire sub or equivalent, I do not exaggerate when I say these speakers can do anything and everything that my big rig does (Pipedreams plus Gotham subs), albeit somewhat less impressively in terms of sheer SPL, soundstage size and refinement. But the key to their astounding sound is really very basic. They are, plain and simple, just musically right. I mean spot-on, drop dead musically right. There isn’t a bad or unmusical sound coming from these things. Sinatra’s baritone?- an acid test of male vocals- spot-on. Reference Recordings brass in the Sousa marches?- fantastic -no floor woofer suck out in the 150-200Hz region in these babies. Strings? Damn these pricks. Nobody should get strings to sound this good for so little money. And you can bet your ass they don’t have $1000 capacitors in them. Soundstage? Wonderful, whether it was symphonic or the King’s singers. Lest you think this was all in some spectacular room- fuggetabout it. It was a very modest room with a brick wall at one end a lot of glass on the side wall and no special treatments of any kind. It made me sick. Nobody should be able to get sound this good by paying so little attention to the room. And I’m not talking about ancillary equipment that was anything to write home about. I’m talking about a modest B&K amp that is 8 years old, a used BAT preamp and an El-Cheapo Sony Blue-Ray player. Interconnects were Nordost Quatra-Fils that were the stars of yesteryear, and some speaker cables that I never heard of. But the sound was just wonderful, ravishing even. I brought my 3 demo CDs that I use to slay equipment everywhere and anywhere I go. Just ask my buddies with the expensive stuff. But I was floored here. I couldn’t find a single cut on any of my discs that didn’t sound, at the very minimum, good. And I don’t mean 500 dollar qualified good. I mean good. In fact, very good.
Are you a measurements guy? Well, just for fun I pulled out my Phonic meter and ran pink noise from the Stereophile test CD. I could not believe my eyes. At the listening chair they were flat from 200Hz to 10K with a gentle roll-off thereafter. I don't mean flat as in Cate Blanchett-Gwenyth Paltrow-Twiggy flat. I mean ruler flat. Flatter than any system I have ever measured, including my own or Steve and Brian's Alexandria systems. And these are 3 megabuck systems in great megabuck rooms. (My friend's Z92's are in a shit hole by comparison). From 200 and below they have that beautiful "B&K" gentle elevation (discussed elsewhere in this forum) peaking at 40-80Hz (the Jason Bloom/Apogee bump) with good response down to 20Hz thanks to the Sunfire sub. In other words, it was textbook, absolutely textbook. If you were judging by measurements, you'd have to give it a A+. It was simply the best I've ever seen. And it made me apoplectic. Did I mention we're talkin' 500 dollar loudspeakers here?
But that’s exactly the point. And the big take away. I heard a system that for unbelievably little money by high end standards could play anything and everything with such aplomb that I was truly impressed. And it was backed-up by very solid measured performance data, in case that stuff is important to you. More importantly, at least to me, it wasn’t a matter of being able to hear and being able to localize every fart from the second clarinet or third trumpet in the orchestra. It was throwing the system every type of music imaginable and having it all come back with such enjoyment that the system became irrelevant. It was just damned good music and darned good sound. It was emotionally moving and it was a pleasure to listen to. It was the realization of what we all strive for with the 6 figure stuff, and here it was for a fraction of that. I was genuinely blown away. Nothing should sound that good for so little money, right? Wrong. And the very heart of the reason why that system sounded so good is the Z-92 speaker. If there is a better bargain in all of audio, I don’t know about it. It’s not that it was a good value. It was good period. But again, I reemphasize, the sub is a must. Without it, I’m sure I would have been non-plussed. But taken together, it has become a clear as a bell to me that the “high end”, as we know it is doomed. If it's possible to get performance this good from a loudspeaker this cheap, and if the loudspeaker is the most important variable to getting good sound in a home system as many profess (and to which I agree), then its clear that $100,000 loudspeakers and their ilk will die a death driven by the same laws of natural selection that allow for only the most successful of all species to survive. There will of course, always be museums and folks for whom discretionary spending and human nature permits such conspicuous consumption. Are we there yet? Not quite. But the Z-92, more than any other audio product I have ever heard, has signaled for me that we are well on our way.
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