Filter
Top Products
slight bump at 2kHz is gone, and the
top two octaves are between 1–3dB
higher in level.
The response
now falls between
±1.25dB limits all
the way from
80Hz to 16kHz,
which is simply
extraordinary in-
room perfor-
mance. Extraordi-
nary!
Summing
Up: Art Dudley
recently wrote
that the true test
of a component
under review is
how you feel
when it comes time to return it to
the manufacturer. In the case of
NHT’s Xd, I felt bad about having to
send it back. It did almost all of what
I want an amp and speakers to do,
with very little downside. However, I
have five pairs of speakers on deck
for review and I have to move on.
In the meantime, the revised
crossover software, in conjunction
with stereo subwoofers, has taken a
relatively affordable, excellent-
sounding loudspeaker system and
made it almost beyond criticism. It’s
true that the NHT Xd system still
lacks ultimate dynamic range, but
there’s only so much you can ask in
terms of ultimate loudness from a
pair of drive-units with a radiating
diameter of just 3". Highly recom-
mended.
—John Atkinson
FOLLOW-UP
Fig.3 NHT Xd system,
1
⁄
3
-octave, spatially averaged response in JA’s listening
room with original crossover filters (blue) and revised crossover filters
(red).
Posted with permission from the January 2006 issue of
Stereophile
® www.stereophile.com.Copyright 2006 PRIMEDIA Inc. All rights reserved.
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