Loudspeakers, Patents, and Trends. Voice Coil February 2023 Now Available!

The February 2023 issue of Voice Coil is now available and packed full or great content. Read the CES 2023 report, James Croft's review of the Quadrupole Transducer patent, and check out the latest Loudspeaker Cone/Diaphragm Industry Suppliers Directory. In this month's Test Bench, Vance Dickason spent time with the Wavecor SW259WA01 High Xmax Subwoofer and the 475BEPB-8 1” Beryllium Compression Driver from Radian Audio, covering the two frequency range extremes.

Expanding its line of premium and performance-based drivers, designed and manufactured under the Bold North Audio brand, MISCO announced the introduction of the BWX-6501 & BWX-6502, two high performance 6.5" high excursion woofers with an XBL2 motor design and 10 mm linear Xmax. These new models add to a growing line of premium and performance-based drivers, all designed and manufactured in MISCO’s own facility in St. Paul, Minnesota.

While many other OEM pro audio driver manufacturers have temporarily retreated and quarantined during the COVID-19 pandemic, others opted to stick to their original plans and albeit the cancellations of major trade-shows, maintained their product schedule. Benefiting from some additional time to refine designs, Beyma continued its search to break the limits of acoustic technology and now unveiled the latest QLEX woofer series, developed to offer the extra energy and performance that the latest generation of sound reinforcement systems demand.

PreSonus is keeping its new product introductions at a steady pace, and they have an announcement that deserves full attention from musicians and many project studio owners. The new StudioLive 24 digital console/recorders are now shipping, adding to the company’s third-generation StudioLive Series III line, which launched earlier this year with the StudioLive 16 and StudioLive 32. A complete 32-track mixing and recording system for just $2,499.95 (U.S. MAP).

For this Test Bench, Vance Dickason characterizes Wavecor’s new 8.75” high XMAX subwoofer, model SW223BD03. As Dickason reminds us, this new subwoofer is part of the brand's rather extensive line of subwoofers — ranging in size from 2.75” to 12”. Voice Coil featured the 4 Ω version of this device, the SW223BD02, in the April 2015 issue. Wavecor’s SW223BD03, which is the 8 Ω version. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, October 2016.

It was recognized early on that the speakers benefited from having separate low-frequency and high-frequency drivers, each optimized for its own frequency range. Consequently, names were needed to easily identify the various speakers in a cabinet. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, January 2012.