Recording - December 2010 - 30

well. If you’re in the market for a big, impressivelooking, and well-featured USB mic and headphone-output system, check the Yeti out. The Icicle turns the output of any microphone into a 16-bit/44.1 kHz digital audio signal over USB. It’s as simple as can be, a lightweight plastic shell with a mini-USB connector on one end, a locking XLR jack on the other, and a gain knob. A blue LED illuminates the interior of the Icicle’s body when it’s connected via USB; a white LED near the gain knob glows to indicate the presence of 48 V phantom power for condenser mics—the Icicle autosenses when phantom is needed. The Icicle draws 200 mA of current over USB; really hefty condenser mics might want more, so you’ll want to test it if you plan on using it with a high-ticket mic. In our tests with condenser and dynamic mics, it provided a good amount of gain and a clean and artifact-free signal, perfectly good for turning any handy mic into a USB mic. While the very light plastic body doesn’t induce much confidence in the Icicle’s long-term sturdiness, the sound is solid and the price can’t be beat.—MM Behringer TRUTH B1030A monitors $571.99/pair; www.behringer.com Behringer’s TRUTH line of studio monitors contains eight models and a sub. All have a dark-grey color scheme except the model under review, the B1030A, and its sibling, the B1031A—they both stand out visually with their yellow Kevlar woofer cones. The TRUTH B1030A stands about 11.5 x 10.5 x 7.75"—a size that should fit nicely into most personal studios in the preferred equilateral triangle setup, your ears at the same distance from the speakers as they are from each other. The amplifiers for the 1" tweeter and 5.25” Kevlar woofer are rated at 50/25W (the other yellow-coned TRUTH model, the B1031A with an 8" woofer, comes in at 100/50W). It is an efficient setup, producing ample volume for the average home studio. The tweeter is recessed in a softly contoured wave guide, the woofer is surrounded by a slightly protruding rounded ridge—neither sits behind a grille. It’s around back that things get lively, with labels, warnings, diagrams, controls, and I/O. The TRUTH B1030A accepts signals on balanced XLR or on unbalanced 1/4" and RCA connectors. Equally versatile is its AC configuration—it is ready for work anywhere in the world, with a multiple-voltage setup from (nominally) 100–240 V and at 50/60 Hz, as long as the current arrives on a standard IEC (three-prong) plug. A tiny input trim knob is notched at the 0 dB point (labelled “typical”) and allows for ±6 dB of adjustment. There are two separate four-position switches to deal with low-frequency problems, each offering notched settings at 0, –2, –4, –6 dB. One is labelled “Room Compensation—compensates low frequency boost due to monitor placement”, the other is labelled “Low
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Frequency—to adapt monitor’s low frequency response to an additional subwoofer or to simulate small speaker systems”. Another identical four-position switch is labelled “High Frequency—to match monitor’s frequency response to control room damping”. 0 dB is labelled as “typical” on all three switches, and an accompanying diagram suggests adjustments for speaker positions near walls or in corners. A bass port and the power switch complete the busy rear panel. I connected the speakers under review to a variety of sources and listened to all kinds of material after burning the speakers in over a weekend away from home. Set up on monitor stands in the center of a sizable room, out of the box they seemed at first not to breathe freely, with a slightly “congested” upper midrange that soon opened up after warming up and many hours of constant playing. There is a fairly deep bass response that should be enough for nearfield use without a subwoofer, and could be more than enough in tight quarters where an adjustment might be indicated. In the free field it is “sensible” bass—not flabby, not out to impress, quite well defined. That definition extends to the upper bass and low mids—discerning the subtle tonal shadings between cello and viola and violin around middle C in a string trio, for example, presented no problem. The highs are open and clear without unwanted sizzle. The waveguide seems to work well; in my setup, at an equilateral triangle from tweeters to this listener’s ears on an even plane, the stereo field was wide enough to allow maybe eight or ten inches of movement to either side. The ever-important high

mids opened up to reveal vocal nuances and things like breath and fingering noises on woodwinds with good detail, and I detected no abnormality at the crossover. With all its input options and with all that help it offers for room and system adjustments, the TRUTH B1030A should make itself useful in just about any circumstances. A novice should resist the temptation to make immediate use of the rear-panel adjustments—they are not there to make the speaker “sound good” but to help in achieving a neutral sound presentation. Work on the room, change the setup, and A/B reliable sound sources before reaching for those switches. But when all else fails, it is nice to know that help is at hand.—LzR

http://www.behringer.com

Recording - December 2010

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