8/25/2023 0 Comments Bg radia z7 for saleDon Fiorino's lotar-a fretless, four-string Moroccan lute-on Attention Screen's La Tessitura (CD, Hojo HOJO 10) sounded as if it was in the room with me. I began to mine my collection for recordings of acoustic stringed instruments. The Z1's combination of low-level dynamic articulation and what appears to be a remarkable tweeter let me hear tactile nuances from this recording that I'd not noticed before through any speaker costing less than $2000/pair. The Z1's resolution of the high frequencies of vocal sibilants was so accurate that I felt I was listening to Janis Ian's Breaking Silence (CD, Analogue Productions CAPP 027) for the first time-a tough thing to do, considering that it's the most-played recording I own. The notes I took while listening to the acappella introduction of Brian Wilson's "Our Prayer," from SMiLE (CD, Nonesuch 79863-2), read the same as my notes for Madeleine Peyroux's "Hey, Sweet Man," from Dreamland (CD, Atlantic 82946-2): "gorgeous, silky, holographic vocals." The Peyroux track also had me fixated on Marc Ribot's dobro the extended and detailed high-frequency capabilities of the Z1's ribbon tweeter revealed levels of detail, delicacy, and immediacy that I'm not used to hearing from a $499/pair speaker. The Z1's detailed, delicate, coloration-free, and holographic midrange presentation impressed me with all vocal recordings. Although BG felt there would be a slight improvement in sound on-axis with the speakers' grilles removed, I got the most timbrally natural sound with them left on, which is how I did most of my listening. I placed the Z1s on my trusty Celestion Si stands, loaded with sand and lead shot. BG says this allows them to largely retain the transducer's necessary sensitivity while providing sufficiently wide horizontal dispersion. Their patented ribbon design uses fewer magnets than conventional ribbons by eliminating side magnets positioned close to the clamping frame and, instead, placing strips of acoustically semitransparent absorptive material close to the diaphragm in the area between the diaphragm and the metal plates. BG feels that Teonex can withstand higher temperatures and is stronger than the Mylar film used in earlier ribbon designs.īG set out to design a ribbon tweeter with smooth frequency response, low noise, wide horizontal dispersion, and high efficiency, all at low cost. Second, BG makes their diaphragms of Teonex film, developed by DuPont in the 1990s. Magnets made of neodymium have magnetic energy 20–30 times greater than the ceramic magnets used in the ribbons of the 1970s and '80s. ![]() First, neodymium has become less costly, making it viable for use in the motor structure of ribbon tweeters. It can be energized more quickly, stores much less energy and inertia, can stop vibrating sooner, and its decay pattern is cleaner.īG credits two major developments in materials science over the last two decades that have enabled further advancement in ribbon technology. Thus, according to BG, the tweeter's mass is comparable to that of the air that is vibrating along with the diaphragm. The mass of BG's tweeter diaphragm is 30–50 times less than that of a typical dome tweeter. ![]() The Z1 ($499/pair), the first model in BG's affordable Z series, is a fairly unassuming shielded bookshelf speaker in which BG's ribbon tweeter is coupled with a 5.25" aluminum-cone woofer.īG feels strongly that a ribbon driver is the best way to reproduce midrange and high frequencies. In addition to a line of conventional speaker pairs-the flagship of which, the Radia 520i ($4000/pair), Larry Greenhill reviewed in December 2004-BG manufactures a wide range of in-wall, on-wall, and custom-installation speakers. "Sounds good," said I, and resumed my ivory duties.īohlender-Graebener Corporation, now known as BG Corp., is a Nevada-based company that since 1994 has produced a broad range of loudspeakers, all of them featuring BG's proprietary ribbon-tweeter technology. "It's an interesting little bookshelf speaker featuring a ribbon tweeter." Hmm-an affordable bookshelf speaker matching a ribbon tweeter to a dynamic woofer? Very interesting. As JA adjusted his microphones and I became increasingly nervous about the running, jumping kids splashing chlorinated water on his Nagra digital recorder, he asked me if I'd like to review the Z1 loudspeaker from BG Corp. Last summer, John Atkinson and I were playing a jazz gig poolside at my local club, and during a break we began discussing equipment.
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