そしてその、少し後、新藤ラボラトリーでスピーカーを買ったのでした。
店にあったALTEC604Bが当時の懐具合から見て身の丈でしたし、同軸2way独特の響きも好きで、これにしよう！と思ったのですが、奥様からこう言われました。
「これはあなたには売らない。貴方なようにクラシックもジャズも聴く人は、いずれ不満になるから、こっちがいいよ。」
と勧められたのはALTEC80？のホーンとJENSENのPM15Aの2way。クロスオーバーネットワークとキャビネットは新藤さん設計の物。
604Bでも既にかなりのお値段でしたが、こっちは更に上。それでも素直に買っちゃいました。
届いた時は酷い音でした(苦笑)。
音はボケボケ、スピーカーがまるでコントロールされておらず、大枚はたいてデグレードしたようなもの。
どこにも良い点が、みられない、という…。
新藤さんにそれを伝えると…それはアンプがね…と。
暫くは金欠で我慢して、ある日新藤さんのところで出していた一番安いキットのパワーアンプを買いに行きました。
そこでまた奥さんから
「これはダメ。あなたは満足できないから。社長と相談して別のを用意するからちょっと待ってて。」と。
新藤ユーザーが上位機種に買い換えた時に下取りしたアンプがあって、それを整備して出してくださるらしい。
しばらく待つと連絡がきました。
WE349のプッシュプル！
これはキットよりはお高いですがWesternElectricの349などが載っているひとかどの新藤アンプでした。
素直にそれにしました。
で、出た音は…？
見違えるようになりました。
各帯域ともきちんとコントロールされ、このスピーカー特有のクセのない素直な再生音が流れます。輪郭もハッキリとし以前のラックスとタンノイの組み合わせよりも格上。
ご機嫌な音になりました。
A little later, I bought speakers at Shindo Laboratory.
The ALTEC604B in the store was within my budget at the time, and I liked the unique sound of the coaxial 2-way, so I thought I'd get that! But his wife said to me:
"I won't sell this to you. People who listen to both classical and jazz like you will eventually become dissatisfied, so this is better."
She recommended the ALTEC80? horn and the JENSEN PM15A 2-way. The crossover network and cabinet were designed by Shindo.
The 604B was already quite expensive, but these were even more expensive. Still, I bought them without hesitation.
When they arrived, they sounded terrible (bitter smile).
The sound was dull, the speakers were not controlled at all, and it was like they had been degraded after spending a lot of money.
There was nothing good about them, she said...
When I told Shindo about it, he said... it was the amplifier...
I put up with being short on money for a while, and one day I went to buy the cheapest power amplifier kit that Shindo-san had.
But then his wife said again
"This won't do. You won't be satisfied. I'll talk to the president and get you another one, so please wait a bit."
Apparently, Shindo-san had traded in an amplifier when a user replaced it with a higher-end model, and they were going to service it and sell it.
After waiting a while, I got a call.
A WE349 push pull!
This was more expensive than the kit, but it was a respectable Shindo amplifier with a Western Electric 349 and other parts.
I went for it.
And what was the sound that came out...?
It was completely different.
Each frequency band was properly controlled, and the speaker's unique, straightforward sound was reproduced without any quirks. The contours were clear and it was a higher-class sound than the previous combination of Lux and Tannoy.
The sound was in a good mood.
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