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RMAF Day 2: Saying Yes To Nola

RMAF Day 2: Saying Yes To Nola

In the large speaker ranks the name Nola needs little introduction.  Open baffle designs like its Baby Grand always attract a great deal of interest. Music is reproduced on such a transparent and impactful scale that even the most jaded can’t help but be impressed. However, Nola Designer and president Carl Marchisotto certainly hasn’t lost his touch with small speakers either. The Nola Boxer had its premiere at Rocky Mountain and what a musical two-way compact it is.  Even being driven by a modest if tuneful 12Wpc Jolida tube integrated, the sound was unerringly musical and spacious with the same characteristic air  and openness that is part and parcel with the larger statement Nola designs. Not much more than fifteen-inches tall this stand-mounted monitor appears built to Nola’s rigorous standards throughout. It incorporates a low-mass 6 ½ inch bass/midrange driver with laminated pulp cone–the high frequency driver is a high-resolution silk dome tweeter, the bass driver is loaded by a rear firing twin-flared port for low distortion and noise. The 90dB sensitivity combined with an 8 ohm impedance which makes the Boxer an easy to drive. The crossover is a shallow slope design that  incorporates a shock-isolation system to minimize the effects of vibration The construction employs only point-to-point hand wiring of a proprietary low loss oxygen free copper. Bass response is a reported 44 Hz which I couldn’t confirm during this first low-powered listen. However, with higher powered amplification, who knows? But I have a feeling the little Boxer packs even more of a punch. Price: $1500

Tags: ROCKY MOUNTAIN AUDIO FEST

Neil Gader

By Neil Gader

My love of music largely predates my enthusiasm for audio. I grew up Los Angeles in a house where music was constantly playing on the stereo (Altecs, if you’re interested). It ranged from my mom listening to hit Broadway musicals to my sister’s early Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Beatles, and Stones LPs, and dad’s constant companions, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. With the British Invasion, I immediately picked up a guitar and took piano lessons and have been playing ever since. Following graduation from UCLA I became a writing member of the Lehman Engel’s BMI Musical Theater Workshops in New York–working in advertising to pay the bills. I’ve co-written bunches of songs, some published, some recorded. In 1995 I co-produced an award-winning short fiction movie that did well on the international film-festival circuit. I was introduced to Harry Pearson in the early 70s by a mutual friend. At that time Harry was still working full-time for Long Island’s Newsday even as he was writing Issue 1 of TAS during his off hours. We struck up a decades-long friendship that ultimately turned into a writing gig that has proved both stimulating and rewarding. In terms of music reproduction, I find myself listening more than ever for the “little” things. Low-level resolving power, dynamic gradients, shadings, timbral color and contrasts. Listening to a lot of vocals and solo piano has always helped me recalibrate and nail down what I’m hearing. Tonal neutrality and presence are important to me but small deviations are not disqualifying. But I am quite sensitive to treble over-reach, and find dry, hyper-detailed systems intriguing but inauthentic compared with the concert-going experience. For me, true musicality conveys the cozy warmth of a room with a fireplace not the icy cold of an igloo. Currently I split my time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Studio City, California with my wife Judi Dickerson, an acting, voice, and dialect coach, along with border collies Ivy and Alfie.

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