Page description

About Vance Dickason

Vance Dickason has been working as a professional in the loudspeaker industry since 1974. A contributing editor to Speaker Builder magazine (now audioXpress) since 1986, in November 1987 he became editor of Voice Coil, the monthly Periodical for the Loudspeaker Industry, today published by KCK Media Corp. His globally acclaimed book Loudspeaker Design Cookbook is now in its 8th Edition, published by KCK Media. A life member of the Audio Engineering Society, Vance received the 1995 AES Citation Award for his long term contribution to audio education, and the 2013 Beryllium Award, Lifetime achievement from ALMA (Associating of Loudspeaker Manufacturers and Acoustics, now ALTI Association). Since 2001, he also does business as Vance Dickason Consultancy based out of Portland, Oregon, working as an independent engineering consultant to loudspeaker manufacturers.

All items written by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The Purifi Audio PTT8.0X04-NAB-02 8” Aluminum Cone Woofer

April 10, 2024 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The Purifi Audio PTT8.0X04-NAB-02 8” Aluminum Cone Woofer

The PTT8.0X04-NAB-02 is the fifth Purifi woofer to be examined in Test Bench. The new 8" aluminum cone woofer includes the same constant Sd surround, cone edge stiffening ring, and low magnetic hysteresis motor design as previous models. The addition of the unique Purifi NBR surround, make the PTT8.0X04 like no other in the history of woofer development. The PTT8.0X04e is rated for 350W IEC268 long-term power handling, and a 9.3mm Xmax.

March 13, 2024 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The UF295FAS Thin-Profile Dipole 10" Woofer from Neotera

This new 10" thin-profile woofer comes from Neotera, a new company headquartered in Sweden, founded by a diverse group of loudspeaker/electronic design veterans. Maurizio Servadio is the engineer who invented the Neotera Ultraflat technology and is based in Italy where the UF295FAS is manufactured. This thin-profile woofer with a depth of 2.6" and with a low-frequency response down to 29Hz, is specifically designed for dipole system applications. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, November 2023.

Test Bench: The New 6” WF152BD09-04 Midbass Driver from Wavecor

March 6, 2024 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The New 6” WF152BD09-04 Midbass Driver from Wavecor

This Test Bench characterizes the 6" WF152BD09-04 midbass driver from Wavecor, part of a new line of midbass models using a unique proprietary interwoven Kevlar and carbon fiber cone material. The WF152BD09 has a generous feature set that includes a vented inverted dome-type phase plug (no dust cap) and a shallow profile low loss high Qm NBR surround, accompanied by a flat 4" diameter black cloth spider. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, November 2023.

Test Bench: The D2008/2010 Revised Classic Dome Tweeter from Scan-Speak

February 21, 2024 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The D2008/2010 Revised Classic Dome Tweeter from Scan-Speak

Vance Dickason measures the Scan-Speak D2008/2010, the revised version of the classic dome tweeter from the Danish brand. The D2010 and the D2008 are two revised classic Scan-Speak 19mm soft dome tweeters, originally launched more than 35 years ago. Scan-Speak basically discontinued production of the original 19mm ferrite magnet soft dome models and replaced them with these new 19mm textile dome neodymium motor versions.

Test Bench: The New TW030WA23/24 Tweeters from Wavecor

February 14, 2024 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The New TW030WA23/24 Tweeters from Wavecor

This Test Bench characterizes an updated version of the popular TW030WA23/24 tweeter from Wavecor, the latest in the company's 30mm tweeter lineup. The A23 is the 4Ω version, while the A24 is the 8Ω version and they are both available without a faceplate for custom mounting (the TW030A25/26 model). While the TW030WA23/24 have a very similar feature set to the Wavecor TW030WA13/14 tweeters, the biggest difference is a new graphene reinforced textile (Tetoron) 30mm soft dome.

Test Bench: The AMT100H Driver from Eighteen Sound

February 7, 2024 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The AMT100H Driver from Eighteen Sound

The AMT100H driver from Eighteen Sound is the "little brother" of the AMT200P (with the XMT200 horn) air motion transformer (characterized in the November 2021 issue). Features for the AMT100H, include a rectangular throat with a Kapton diaphragm, a neodymium magnet structure, and a net weight of 1.84lb (0.835kg). This driver has a recommended crossover frequency of 1.2kHz at 24dB/octave. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, October 2023.

Test Bench: SEAS’ New L22ROY2 8” Subwoofer from Its Extreme Line

January 31, 2024 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: SEAS’ New L22ROY2 8” Subwoofer from Its Extreme Line

The new L22ROY2 8" subwoofer from Norwegian OEM manufacturer SEAS offers a well-appointed feature set that includes a proprietary cast 16-spoke (8 twin spokes) cast-aluminum frame, completely open 1" deep below the spider mounting shelf. Other features include a very stiff black anodized aluminum cone and dust cap, NBR surround, driven by a 2" voice coil. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, September 2023.

Test Bench: SB Acoustics’ WO24TX-4 Satori 9.5” Midbass Woofer

January 24, 2024 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: SB Acoustics’ WO24TX-4 Satori 9.5” Midbass Woofer

This midbass woofer is the latest product from SB Acoustics to feature a Composite Sound Thin-ply Carbon Diaphragm (TPCD) cone and another significant product from its Satori Line of high end drivers. The SB Acoustics WO24TX-4 Satori features a curvilinear inverted single piece “bowl” shaped TPCD cone. Clearly a material choice that is starting to conquer a growing number of speaker manufacturers in all application segments. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, September 2023.

Test Bench: Fountek NeoCD2.0 High-End Ribbon Tweeter

January 17, 2024 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Fountek NeoCD2.0 High-End Ribbon Tweeter

The Fountek brand is now being manufactured by Shanghai Nada Technology (formerly Fountek Electronics), updating a large portfolio of high-end range of transducers (woofers, midbass drivers, full-range drivers, and ribbons high-frequency devices). The device that was sent to Voice Coil is the company’s current iteration of its Fountek NeoCD 2.0 ribbon tweeter. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, September 2023.

Neotera Audio Introduces Ultra Flat Series Woofers

November 24, 2023 by Vance Dickason

Neotera Audio Introduces Ultra Flat Series Woofers

Neotera Audio, which has manufacturing in Italy and engineering in Sweden, has recently released two rather interesting thin-profile 10" woofers, the UF295CBS, and the UF295FAS. Both woofers have a voice coil and motor structure located around the rim of the cone assembly, and both use and front and rear facing NBR surrounds for compliance. The UF295CBS was designed for small closed box subwoofer applications, while the UF295FAS is a a pure dipole woofer with a Fiberglass/Rohacell dome suspended directly on the voice coil.

«
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
...
30
31
»