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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: Scan-Speak Ellipticor 18WE/4542T00 Midbass Woofer

July 18, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Scan-Speak Ellipticor 18WE/4542T00 Midbass Woofer

Following the first test on the new Scan-Speak Ellipticor series, with the D3404/552000 tweeter, this edition of Test Bench focuses on the Scan-Speak Ellipticor 18WE/4542T00 midbass woofer. Like the D3404, the 18WE/4542T00 is a seriously feature rich transducer, which has a magnetically attached aluminum trim ring that can obviously be anodized a variety of colors besides black. For the cone assembly, Scan-Speak chose a rather stiff curvilinear profile back coated paper cone with an elliptical 45 mm × 35 mm convex paper dustcap. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, April 2018.

Test Bench: The New Ellipticor D3404/552000 Tweeter from Scan-Speak

July 10, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The New Ellipticor D3404/552000 Tweeter from Scan-Speak

This edition of Test Bench focuses on the Scan-Speak Ellipticor D3404/552000 dome neodymium motor tweeter. Overall, the D3404/552000 is like a big elongated 28 mm diameter tweeter. For a motor system, Scan-Speak basically scaled up their currently successful Air-Circ tweeter motor with 10 neodymium slugs and copper shorting rings and a titanium former. The big news is that this motor and diaphragm yield a 2.83 V/1 m sensitivity of 97 dB! This article was originally published in Voice Coil, April 2018.

New OEM Driver Company: BlieSMa

July 4, 2018 by Vance Dickason

New OEM Driver Company: BlieSMa

BlieSMa, located in Blieskastel, Germany, was founded January 16, 2018 by Stas Malikov. Prior to starting BlieSMa, Malikov worked at Ultrasound Technologies, at Morel as a QC manager and a transducer engineer, and at Accuton as a production engineer for the last 8 years. The first product released by BlieSMa is the T34A, a 34 mm tweeter. Available since May 2018, the T34A is a metal aluminum/magnesium alloy dome tweeter.

Test Bench: Peerless by Tymphany DFM-2544R00-08 Compression Driver

June 27, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Peerless by Tymphany DFM-2544R00-08 Compression Driver

In this Test Bench, Vance Dickason examines the Peerless by Tymphany DFM-2544R00-08 compression driver, which is part of the brand’s new three model compression driver series. The compression driver features a 1” throat exit diameter, but with a 1.75” titanium diaphragm and the same type of polyimide surround. The DFM-2544R00-08 is driven by a 44.4 mm diameter voice coil wound with aluminum wire on a TIL film non-conducting former. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, March 2018.

Test Bench: Precision Devices PD-CD1N Compression Driver

June 19, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Precision Devices PD-CD1N Compression Driver

In this month's Test Bench, Vance Dickason examines a new 1" PEEK diaphragm compression driver from Precision Devices, the PD.CD1N. This is a unique design in Precision Devices' UL portfolio, using a PEEK diaphragm/surround material, which also incorporates a three-slot optimized phase plug design and a 44 mm (1.73”) diameter voice coil wound with copper-clad aluminum wire on a Kapton former. This article was published in Voice Coil, March 2018.

Test Bench: Wavecor WF259PA01 10-Inch PA Woofer

June 6, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Wavecor WF259PA01 10-Inch PA Woofer

This month, I characterized a a 10” PA woofer from Wavecor, model WF259PA01. This is an interesting driver since, until now, Wavecor has been known mainly for its high-end home hi-fi drivers. However, the company has decided to expand its coverage in the loudspeaker market and has introduced a well-designed 10” OEM pro sound PA woofer. The WF259PA01 is for now available only as an 8 Ω model, and uses a very stiff flat black coated curvilinear paper cone. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, February 2018.

Test Bench: Precision Devices PD.CD2N 1.4” Titanium Diaphragm Compression Driver

May 30, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Precision Devices PD.CD2N 1.4” Titanium Diaphragm Compression Driver

In this edition of Test Bench, I characterized a 1.4” titanium diaphragm compression driver from Precision Devices. The new driver from this prestigious UK Pro Sound OEM manufacturer is part of a seven model lineup of high-performance neodymium compression drivers. The PD.CD2N has a 50.8 mm (2”) throat diameter, with a radial neodymium magnet motor structure, an aluminum three-slot phase plug, and nominal 105 W (AES) rated power handling. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, February 2018.

Test Bench: B&C Speakers Pro Sound 12CXN88 12” Coax Driver

May 23, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: B&C Speakers Pro Sound 12CXN88 12” Coax Driver

For this month's Test Bench, Dickason characterizes a new 12” coaxial pro audio driver from B&C Speakers, a design typically applied in stage monitors, studio monitors, or distributed audio in large venues. B&C Speakers 12CXN88 is unique in that it uses a single neodymium magnet assembly for both the 12” woofer and the 1.3” throat exit compression driver. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, January 2018.

Test Bench: Volt RV3143 Studio Monitor Woofer

May 8, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Volt RV3143 Studio Monitor Woofer

The driver for this month’s Test Bench explication comes from the UK. Volt sent the 12” RV3143 Studio Monitor woofer, which is probably the most uniquely designed woofer to come across my desk in a while — there is no frame on the back side of the driver! The Volt Radial Technology consists of a front-mounted eight-spoke proprietary cast aluminum frame that is mechanically coupled to both the back plate and to the top of the pole structure/phase plug, in contrast to a normal rear frame that is only coupled to the motor front plate. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, December 2017.

Test Bench: Eton 4-512/C8/25 RP Bass-Midrange

April 28, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Eton 4-512/C8/25 RP Bass-Midrange

The driver for this month’s Test Bench explication came from a German OEM driver manufacturer and is from Eton’s home audio Orchestra line of drivers. I asked Eton to send a model from this line, the 4-512/C8/25 RP, mostly because of the unique cone. All of the cones in the Orchestra line are serrated paper cones, which is somewhat reminiscent of the orange sliced paper cones in the Scan-Speak Revelator line. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, December 2017.

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