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TDL is part of ELAC, one of the most successful OEM drive-unit manufacturers in the UK, particularly renowned for the 1" aluminum-dome tweeter that they make for Monitor Audio, Acoustic Energy, and British Fidelity (footnote 1). Perhaps of even more interest to readers of Stereophile is that the TDL system designer is one John Wright, who designed the classic series of IMF loudspeakers (footnote 2) and who also was one of the leading equipment reviewers in the UK back in the 1960s. (For a while John was also a contributor to this magazine, his comprehensive reviews of tonearms appearing in…
Sidebar 1: Review context
The TDL speakers was positioned for the best sound (with only one pair of loudspeakers in the listening room at a time), generally some 4' from the rear wall (which is faced with books and LPs) and approximately 5' from the side walls (which also have bookshelves covering some of their surfaces).
Source components consisted of a Revox A77 to play my own and others' 15ips master tapes, a Linn Sondek/Ekos/Troika setup sitting on a Sound Organisation table to play LPs, and Kinergetics KCD-40 and Proceed CD players. Amplification consisted of a Mark Levinson…
Sidebar 2: Measurements
Looking first at the Studio 1's impedance, measured using the magazine's Audio Precision System One (fig.1), this suggests that the speaker is an easy load to drive, only nearing 6 ohms in the upper bass. The port/line tuning lies at 30Hz, indicated by the minimum at that frequency. Note, however, the glitch in impedance around 130Hz, which the phase response (dashed line) suggests is due to a resonance, presumably due to the transmission line, and which could correlate with my feelings about a "lumpy" response in this region.
Fig.1 TDL Studio…
Sidebar 3: Specifications
Description: Two-way, transmission-line loudspeaker. Drive-units: 1", ferrofluid-cooled, metal-dome tweeter, 6.5" plastic-cone woofer with vented poles. Crossover frequency: 3kHz. Crossover slopes: first-order, high-pass; second-order, low-pass. Frequency range: 28Hz$n20kHz. Sensitivity: 86dB/W/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Amplifier requirements: greater than 30W.
Dimensions: 28.5" (724mm) H (32.5", 824mm, on stands) by 9" (230mm) W by 13.2" (335mm) D. Weight: 39.5 lbs (18kg) each.
Finishes available: walnut veneer or black, with a brown grille cloth.…
John Atkinson wrote about the Dynaudio Contour 20 in May 2017 (Vol.40 No.5):
When Herb Reichert reviewed this elegant, stand-mounted, two-way speaker (footnote 1) in the April 2017 issue, he had a hard time optimizing its low-frequency balance in his room. Using PrimaLuna's ProLogue Premium 35Wpc tube amplifier, he eventually got the Contour 20 to sing, and concluded that "The Dynaudio Contour 20 is the first speaker I've heard that might actually be as neutral (I hate that word) as the best headphones. . . . It leaned a touch more toward the left side of my brain than I prefer, but not…
If we had been asked some time ago to describe our "dream amplifier," chances are we would have described the Crown DC-300. Designed originally as an industrial device, it was made available as an audio amplifier rather as an afterthought. But if that roundabout approach is necessary to produce an audio amplifier like this, so be it.
We thought we had heard virtual perfection in power amplifiers before. The SAE Mark II, for instance, produced such beautifully lucid, effortless sound that we honestly believed further improvement would be superfluous. It isn't.
By comparison, the DC…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Solid-state stereo power amplifier. Rated power: 100Wpc into 16 ohms (23dBW), 150Wpc into 8 ohms (21.8dBW), 250Wpc into 4 ohms (21dBW), all at <0.1% IM distortion. Frequency response: DC–20kHz, ±0.1dB; DC–100kHz ±0.6dB. IM distortion: <0.1%, 10mW–150W into 8 ohms; typically below 0.05%. Input sensitivity: 1.75V in for rated power out.
Dimensions: 7" (178mm) H by 9¾" (229mm) D by 19" (483mm) W (standard rack-mount panel). Weight: 40 lbs (18.2kg).
Price: $795 (1970); no longer available (2017).
Manufacturer: Crown International,…
Everyone knows that a lot of serious music listeners—that is, those who listen to music instead of using it as a conversational background—have neither the space nor the money for a pair of typical floor-standing speakers, and must make do with bookshelf-type systems that are actually small enough to put in a bookshelf. But while the typical audio perfectionist will freely admit that there is a place in the audio sun for these dinky little speakers, he cannot really take them seriously, particularly when they're priced significantly under $100 each. At least, that has been our feeling about…
Sidebar: Specifications
Description: Two-way, dynamic bookshelf loudspeaker with aperiodic woofer loading. Impedance: 8 ohms. Power ratings: minimum amplifier 15Wpc continuous sinewave watts; maximum 70W program.
Dimensions: 11½ (280mm) H by 9¾ (229mm) W by 10" (254mm) D.
Price: $159.90/pair (1969); no longer available (2017).
Manufacturer: Dynaco, Inc., Philadelphia, PA 19121 (1969); company no longer in existence (2017).
...goes the song from the Middle Ages and no, it isn't really true in the month of Apriling. But the May issue of Stereophile is about to hit newsstands, mailboxes, and tables as we write and it is, we modestly claim, one heck of an issue!
Taking pride of place on the cover is the new No.526 preamplifier from the venerable Mark Levinson brand. Designed by a team led by the well-respected Todd Eichenbaum at Harman's new Engineering Center of Excellence and manufactured in the US, the No.526 offers a full array of inputs—line, phono, and digital—and excels with all of them. The Levinson is…