This review page is supported in part by the sponsors whose ad banners are displayed below

A tough recording for a female vocal is Lucinda Williams' 1989 release Passionate Kisses [Rough Trade US 66CD]. Lucinda's voice on this CD has a nasal, edgy quality that can be almost unlistenable on many systems. On the title track, Lucinda's voice didn't make me cringe but it was surely a far cry from the mellifluous Norah Jones. I would place the T3s on the forgiving side of the continuum for this test. This CD is definitely tougher to take on my Steps. Cut 3, "Disgusted", has some wonderfully energetic acoustic guitar underpinned by a bass line by Dr. John Ciambotti. The T3s convey the dynamics and excitement of Lucinda's guitar better than the Sonics Allegra but they fall slightly short of my Audio Physics Steps. The Steps are world-beaters in the leading edge snap department. I've yet to find a speaker that compares in this regard other than Lowthers.

Bass is mainly being heard from the midbass driver with the 8-inch woofer coming in below 80Hz. The bass guitar on the Lucinda Williams CD showed that bass speed and overhang are well controlled and pitch definition is tuneful. A recent tag sale CD purchase I made is the 1997 soundtrack from Clint Eastwood's movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil [Malpaso Records/Warner Bros. 9 46829-2]. This is a collection of standards sung by some fabulous vocalists including Rosemary Clooney, K. D. Lang, Joe Williams, Paula Cole, etc. Unfortunately, Clint couldn't help himself and got in on the act, 'singing' one selection - ugh!

Every cut on this CD came across with total ease and pleasure. To borrow the somewhat controversial term, which was recently used in the series by fellow moonie Jeff Day, these are definitely a 'music lover's' speaker. For my own purposes, I define this is as having an overriding ability to make the music enjoyable, even if the performance may not be the ultimate in certain audiophile checklist parameters. To borrow from Jeff's inspiration, I would much prefer this quality over a speaker that can image like a champ or have the ultimate in detail but sacrifices this by being lean, bright, or otherwise unpleasant to listen to. This is a testament to Dave MacPherson's success in attaining his original design goal of producing a monitor speaker that is not fatiguing.

Regarding the 'audiophile checklist', I am compelled to comment on the soundstaging. Soundstage width and depth were good but not spectacular. The sound extended only a foot or so to the left and right of the speakers. In the depth and soundstage focus department, my Step SLs outperform the T3s. Again, once you sign on to the strengths of the T3s, you may find this easy to forgive or unimportant.

For dynamics, I love to play Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux [Warner Bros. 45221-2]. This was Miles' last recorded performance of his classic compositions from his past and in the glorious accompaniment of the Gil Evans Orchestra. The dynamics of the percussion and brass backing up Miles on "Orgone" is a good test. The T3s again proved themselves the better of the Sonics Allegra on this cut but I still prefer my Audio Physics Step SLE / Audio Physics Luna subwoofer for microdynamics.


I don't want to come across as going down the checklist with the T3s. They deserve much better. They portray music as a whole and in an uncomplicated fashion that can be somewhat disarming. They have a real meat-on-the-bones presentation that gives embodiment to every instrument and voice. One of my longtime audio friends, Rich Brown, was visiting me last weekend from Portland, Oregon and took a listen to the T3s. Recently, he was contracted to record performances by the Portland Baroque Orchestra. He brought along a few of his recordings on CD.