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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: GAIT BGD-D72-64-4-0A1 Glass Diaphragm 1" Dome Tweeter

July 2, 2025 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: GAIT BGD-D72-64-4-0A1 Glass Diaphragm 1" Dome Tweeter

Glass Acoustic Innovations Technologies (GAIT) is a company from Taiwan and a renowned specialist in Ultra-Thin Glass (UTG) diaphragm technology, quickly gaining recognition in hifi and high-end audio circles. This 1" dome super tweeter uses a unique glass diaphragm formed using a chemical strengthening process, and includes a 1” voice coil and neodymium magnet motor, assembled with an injection-molded plastic faceplate, a phase plug, and a damped rear chamber.

Test Bench: Dayton Audio’s Ultimax II 8-22 8” Subwoofer

June 24, 2025 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Dayton Audio’s Ultimax II 8-22 8” Subwoofer

This powerful Dayton Audio Ultimax II 8-22 8" subwoofer from the company's recently upgraded series maintains many common features with the original Ultimax drivers. After having examined the Ultimax II 10" version in January 2025, this Test Bench looks at the new 8" version where the very stiff and thick carbon fiber cone stands out with the NBR surround, assisted by the two flat 6" diameter cloth spiders.

Test Bench: Faital Pro’s 5PR120 - 5” Pro Midrange Driver

June 17, 2025 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Faital Pro’s 5PR120 - 5” Pro Midrange Driver

The Faital Pro 5PR120 is a high sensitivity and high-power handling 5” midrange driver, built on a proprietary six-spoke cast-aluminum frame, with four vents below the spider mounting shelf, and additional cooling provided by a pole vent. It features a curvilinear inverted single piece “bowl” shaped paper cone and black anodized aluminum dust cap. The motor is a FEA-optimized neodymium ring, and driving the cone is a 32mm voice coil wound with round copper wire on a non-conducting Kapton former.

Outboard DSP: miniDSP Flex

May 21, 2025 by Vance Dickason

Outboard DSP: miniDSP Flex

The fourth in a series of product reviews of outboard DSP hardware, this article explores the miniDSP Flex digital signal processing (DSP) unit. The Flex is a two channels in/four channels out, Sharc-based audio processor that offers a more cost-effective model than the previously featured miniDSP processors in the series, with a retail price of $570 for the TRS balanced IO model. Besides the competitive price, the review confirms how the miniDSP Flex manages to measure and impress.

Test Bench: Dayton Audio’s UMII10-22 Ultimax II 10” Subwoofer

May 14, 2025 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Dayton Audio’s UMII10-22 Ultimax II 10” Subwoofer

This Test Bench characterizes the Dayton Audio UMII10-22 Ultimax II 10" Subwoofer, a recent example of the upgraded, high-performance designs that succeeded the brand’s original Ultimax subwoofer line. Available for now in four diameters (18", 12", 10", and 8"), the common feature set for the new line includes a large aluminum shorting ring and aluminum pole sleeve for lower magnetic distortion, a lightweight and rigid woven carbon fiber cone assembly, high Xmax, with a frame and motor designed with extensive thermal venting, all optimized for compact sealed enclosures.

Test Bench: Scan-Speak’s D3004/666000 Metamodal TPCD Dome AirCirc Motor Tweeter

May 7, 2025 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Scan-Speak’s D3004/666000 Metamodal TPCD Dome AirCirc Motor Tweeter

Vance Dickason has spent some time characterizing the new Scan-Speak D3004/666000 tweeter, the first to combine a metamodal Thin-ply Carbon Diaphragm (TPCD) dome with the company's AirCirc motor. This new Scan-Speak tweeter is not a common "evolutionary" design but a joint manufacturing project with Swedish company Composite Sound to develop new second-generation TPCD diaphragms with the characteristics and able to rival the performance levels of a beryllium dome.

Test Bench: SB Acoustics Satori MR16TX-8 TPCD 6.5" Midrange

April 16, 2025 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: SB Acoustics Satori MR16TX-8 TPCD 6.5" Midrange

The 6.5" MR16TX-8 TPCD Midrange from SB Acoustics' prestige Satori line targets hifi and high-end audio applications, and expands the company's already significant investment in TPCD Textreme diaphragms. The cone assembly consists of a curvilinear inverted single piece, "bowl" shaped TPCD cone, glued to an inverted NBR surround, with the remaining compliance coming from a flat BIMAX spider. The motor is an FEA-optimized neodymium magnet and a 1.4" voice coil with a nonconducting fiberglass former.

Test Bench: Faital Pro HF110 1" Neodymium Motor Compression Driver

April 9, 2025 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Faital Pro HF110 1" Neodymium Motor Compression Driver

This Test Bench characterizes a 1" conical exit compression driver from Faital Pro that was measured along with the brand's STH100 elliptical Tractrix flare horn (80° × 70°). Driven by a voice coil wound with aluminum wire on a high Qm non-conducting Kapton former, and powered by a neodymium ring magnet, the HF110 compression driver targets applications such as stage monitors and PA speakers with a 2kHz recommended crossover frequency (second-order or higher high-pass filter).

Outboard DSP: Marani Pro MIR260A

March 19, 2025 by Vance Dickason

Outboard DSP: Marani Pro MIR260A

The third of a series of product reviews of outboard DSP hardware, this article explores the MIR260A DSP processor from Marani Pro Audio. Supported with expert measurements performed by Charlene Chow on a flagship APx555B analyzer (courtesy of Audio Precision), Vance Dickason looks at this professional DSP processor with two inputs and six outputs, and a more cost-effective model from Marani.

Outboard DSP: Marani Pro MIR480I Audio System Processor

March 13, 2025 by Vance Dickason

Outboard DSP: Marani Pro MIR480I Audio System Processor

In his exploration of available Outboard DSP systems, Vance Dickason explores the Marani Pro Audio MIR4801, the company's flagship DSP processor with four inputs and eight outputs. MIR stands for Marani Impulse Response, which refers to the proprietary Marani linear (zero) phase Linkwitz-Riley filter, which is described in a whitepaper titled by Michael Marani and Simone Castrucci, both from SEED Electronics, Guangzhou, China.

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