LOTUS HERESY
Audio Reviewers Insider Secret Revealed

By

Dr. Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg
meta-gizmo.com
Guildmeister of the Triode Guild

Let me prove my point in less than 30 seconds: Name one article that has appeared in any American high end audio magazine in the last two decades... that is twenty years... that has discussed the issue of speaker magnet quality. Don't waste time... there hasn't been one... not one.

Is this because speaker magnet quality doesn't matter? Quite the opposite... speaker magnets are the single most important individual component in your audio system. According to our Japanese audiomaniac brothers it is such an important subject that in the same way we argue about sports teams or beer, they argue about speaker magnet quality. This is such an important issue to them that when, a number of years ago, JBL introduced a new line of speakers that were supposed to have "new and better" magnets, the speaker line had to be literally re-engineered, because our refined Japanese bros' thought that the new magnets, compared to the old magnets, weren't better but cheaper and cruder... and they were right.

In the same way wine connoisseurs are aware of the best vintage years of wines these men are aware of which vintage magnets are the connoisseurs delight... and they are Alnico... a brand of magnet with high cobalt content... something almost entirely missing in America... the land of the speaker magnet ostrich head in the sand... except for Carl Marchisotto... who knows what every speaker designer knows... high cobalt content magnets create a more refined sound because of the way they respond to the AC electrical signal created by your amplifier.

As you know from reading articles on my Triode Guild web site, I can only eat Alnico magnet speakers because I know the aural taste difference between ceramic/ferrite magnets, which are normal, and the expensive spread. In many of my articles I talk about a form of musical ecstasy I experienced for the first time in Japan in 1984... the alchemy between Alnico and directly heated triode tubes... which is the "normal" aural gourmet spread in Japan, and why almost all of the classic American Alnico speakers that were made between 1940 and 1970 are now living in Japan.

On my web site you will also notice an article "SONY NO BALONEY" which is about why Sony, to save face in Japan, went into the Alnico speaker driver, not manufactured speaker, business. TAD, a division of Pioneer, another huge company also makes Alnico speakers. So if you are ready to spend $10,000 up you have many choices...

Which brings me back to Carl and the challenge he is facing communicating about the special qualities of his all cobalt magnet Lotus speaker... which I have heard.

I faced the same challenge a number of times when I was operating New York Audio Labs and I believed I had made a number of significant breakthroughs... and I had... and they did received rave reviews... just like the Lotus... but the audio press must be careful not to make waves and upset other advertisers...

Is it reasonable for any audio writer to scream out... other than me... "Hey... if you are not using Alnico type magnets... you are eating margarine and not butter... and if you can't taste the difference between Mc Donald's, if you don't care about the difference between Ripple and Chateau Margot... if you don't care about the difference between a Cuban cigar and a Marlboro... what are you doing playing this sport?

With, as a far as I know, only Carl, exploiting these type of esoteric magnets, he must be considered a madman, a heretic, or a genius. In our American audio culture, that has not yet reached a sufficient level of refinement to take speaker magnet quality seriously... which is the most important single element in every audio system... no wonder Carl needs those extra hugs from his wife Marilyn while he says... "No one appreciates me".

Well he is not quite right... because I appreciate him and so does Art Dudley, and more and more music maniacs who are into the type of musical refinement that our Japanese audiomaniac bros' have been eating for decades.

WARNING: When you ask you local audio dealer about the importance of Alnico type magnets, and he says they don't matter... be a good guy... and send him an extra set of batteries for his hearing aid... because they obviously need replacing.

Dr. Gizmo