Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

Editor: It is with more than a little embarrassment that I must advise you that you were sent a pair of Troubadors that were not intended for the North American market but were specifically manufactured for a customer in Europe. This version of the Troubador uses a second-order crossover with the tweeter being phase-inverted. The regular version that is sold in North America and the Far East utilizes a first-order slope with both drivers connected in-phase. This crossover not only eliminates the low-treble suckout, but time-aligns the drivers as well.

The measurements of our standard Troubador are exactly as JA measured with regards to the low frequencies, but are totally different everywhere else. Sonically, the hollowing-out of vowel sounds and the thickening of textures that Wes observed are completely absent, and indeed represent some of the strengths of the speaker. Indeed, Troubador owners marvel at how detailed and coherent the Troubadors are. Our customers have traded in WATTs, CLSes, Apogees, ProAcs, and other very exotic speakers costing many times the price of the Troubadors, and I have yet to receive any comments that are seriously negative. Quite the opposite: many of our customers call me regularly to wax ecstatic about their speakers.

The comments made by both WP and JA are mainly valid for the version of Troubador that was auditioned by Stereophile. That version is markedly different from and sonically far inferior to our current and regularly distributed one.

Please allow me to send you the regular version of the Troubador and I am certain that both the measurements and the listening will confirm that the Troubador not only represents the best value in high-end speakers, but in many ways the finest sonics, regardless of price.

Since the published review of the Troubador in Stereophile is so negative, it is of critical importance that a new review appear of the standard model.—Israel Blume, Coincident Speaker Technology

My policy is to assume that samples submitted for review are representative of a manufacturer's production. Merely sounding poor is in itself no indication that a sample must have been faulty. And in this case, both samples of the pair measured identically, indicating that that was indeed how they were meant to sound and measure. In the case of the Troubadors, we will publish a follow-up on the replacement pair of speakers in our February '96 issue.—John Atkinson