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SILICON CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Publisher & Editor-in-Chief Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD Production Manager Greg Swain, B.Sc. (Hons.) Technical Editor John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.) Technical Staff Ross Tester Jim Rowe, B.A., B.Sc Nicholas Vinen Photography Ross Tester Reader Services Ann Morris Advertising Enquiries Glyn Smith Phone (02) 9939 3295 Mobile 0431 792 293 glyn<at>siliconchip.com.au Regular Contributors Brendan Akhurst Rodney Champness, VK3UG Kevin Poulter Stan Swan Dave Thompson SILICON CHIP is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. ACN 003 205 490. ABN 49 003 205 490. All material is copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Printing: Hannanprint, Noble Park, Victoria. Distribution: Network Distribution Company. Subscription rates: $105.00 per year in Australia. For overseas rates, see our website or the subscriptions page in this issue. Editorial office: Unit 1, 234 Harbord Rd, Brookvale, NSW 2100. Postal address: PO Box 139, Collaroy Beach, NSW 2097. Phone (02) 9939 3295. Fax (02) 9939 2648. E-mail: silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au ISSN 1030-2662 Recommended and maximum price only. 2  Silicon Chip Publisher’s Letter Is a large loudspeaker an anachronism? This month, we have gone out on a limb and published details of a large hifi loudspeaker system. Might it be an anachronism? Well possibly, given that the vast majority of the population are never exposed to really high quality sound and most are not interested anyway. The majority of people who do listen to music do so from MP3 recordings via those ubiquitous white-corded thingies hanging from their ears while they walk, jog or travel on public transport. And those who don’t listen with ear buds probably listen in their cars. Either way, it is far from the best listening experience. This is a marked change from about 30 years ago when the many homes had a hifi stereo system, usually with a turntable, FM/AM tuner and a Dolby tape deck. Nowadays, such a system would be based around a high-quality CD player but most homes don’t have them, being more likely to have a tiny console which can play MP3 files, with questionable sound quality. Sadly, very few people are ever exposed to unamplified music so they have no benchmark to compare with the recorded music they listen to. They simply don’t know what they are missing! In fact, these days about the only time that people are ever exposed to unamplified music is when they attend a classical music performance. How many people do that? All of which means that few people have any concept of what high-fidelity sound reproduction is. Fewer still will ever have the means to obtain the necessary equipment. Over the years, SILICON CHIP has produced a number of high-quality amplifiers which have been very popular but we have never produced a really high-quality loudspeaker to match. Now we have the Majestic, as described in the article starting on page 22. As stated in the article, it has a bass response down to 20Hz and below. That is literally unheard of these days. Why would you want it? Well, how else will you hear the lowest fundamental frequencies produced by a pipe organ (with a 32-foot pipe) or a Bosendorfer grand piano (with a 97-note keyboard) or even a tuba? But even if you don’t listen to pipe organs, the typical loudspeaker really doesn’t do justice to the bass output of most large stringed instruments, including a harp. How many people have heard the bass output of a harp? It is impressive. Not only that, the Majestic is very efficient, so it does not need a high-powered amplifier to drive it to very loud levels in the average lounge room. If you do have a big amplifier, it would enable a pair of Majestics to easily fill a large auditorium. So why is it so big? If you want a really wide-range loudspeaker with very good low-frequency response this is the only way to do it. Small drivers in small boxes cannot produce really low frequency sounds. That is why home-theatre systems usually have a sub-woofer. But the vast majority of sub-woofers cannot produce any output below about 35Hz, are usually quite inefficient and need a big amplifier to drive them. And if you have a system with a subwoofer, the chances that you have a flat response down to very low bass is, well, almost zero. So we have produced what is superficially a large bass-reflex system which looks similar to those large systems that were popular way back in the 1950s and 1960s. Now you can see why it may be an anachronism. But it works. It is very efficient, has very wide range and has low distortion. And it is much better than any speaker system produced in those days of yore. Apart from that, its bulk has another advantage. Unlike a tower system, it can never be tipped over by toddlers. Even so, it takes up little more floor space than a typical tower loudspeaker system or smaller systems sitting on ugly stands. To be frank, you do need a reasonably large living room but if you have a home-theatre system you probably already have the space. If so, you can build a stereo pair of Majestics and dispense with your dodgy home-theatre speakers and subwoofer. You will be amazed at the difference. Leo Simpson siliconchip.com.au