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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: Motus Audio UH25CT1 Dome Tweeter
March 18, 2020 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Motus Audio UH25CT1 Dome Tweeter

The Motus UH25CTi 1" dome tweeter, from Motus Audio, a U.S. high-end driver OEM distributed by Solen.ca, was reviewed in Voice Coil December 2012 and the review appeared also in audioXpress February 2013. Motus Audio was founded in 2010 by Trevor Ryan, who also started Ryan Acoustics, a finished product speaker manufacturer from Riverside, California. "With his extensive experience in Asian sourcing and assembly of high-performance speakers, Ryan brings the high-end-manufacturing-in-China perspective to the OEM raw driver market," Vance Dickason wrote about the company.
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Test Bench: The BMS 1” 5530ND High-Efficiency Compression Driver
February 26, 2020 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The BMS 1” 5530ND High-Efficiency Compression Driver

This Test Bench characterizes a new BMS compression driver, the 1” 5530ND, introduced at Prolight+Sound 2019, as a new generation offering a compact physical package that is only 72 mm in diameter, ultra-low intermodulation distortion ring diaphragm, and very high efficiency. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, December 2019.
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Test Bench: The Dayton Audio DMA58-4 2" Full-Range Speaker Driver
February 19, 2020 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The Dayton Audio DMA58-4 2" Full-Range Speaker Driver

In this Test Bench, the focus is the Dayton Audio DMA58-4, a new 2" full-range line array/smart speaker from Dayton Audio. DMA stands for Dual Magnet Aluminum Cone and the series already includes five models of full-range drivers, all using a proprietary 12-spoke injection-molded frame. This frame is very open to reduce reflections back into the cone and also has a very generous mounting flange making multiple driver arrays cosmetically attractive and compact. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, December 2019.
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Test Bench: The Punktkilde AUGDL0003-JN03 1” Magnesium-Lithium Alloy Dome Tweeter from Eastech
January 15, 2020 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The Punktkilde AUGDL0003-JN03 1” Magnesium-Lithium Alloy Dome Tweeter from Eastech

For this edition of Test Bench we characterized the Punktkilde AUGDL0003-JN03, a 1” magnesium-lithium alloy dome tweeter. This transducer, from Eastech’s relatively new Punktkilde line of home hi-fi drivers built in China and designed in Denmark by Scan-Speak engineers, is a tweeter from its magnesium-lithium product line, which includes this AUGDL0003-JN03 tweeter plus 4” thru 8” magnesium-lithium alloy cone woofers. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, November 2019.
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Test Bench: The Dayton Audio DMA80-4 3” Full-Range Driver
January 8, 2020 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The Dayton Audio DMA80-4 3” Full-Range Driver

In this month’s Test Bench, we characterize Dayton Audio’s DMA80-4, a new 3” full-range line array/smart speaker driver. The Dayton Audio DMA80-4 is one of the transducers from the brand's new DMA Series, where DMA stands for Dual-Magnet Aluminum Cone and includes five models of full-range drivers, all with both 8 and 4 ohm versions. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, November 2019.
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Test Bench: Trueanalog TAFE28 Silk Dome Tweeter
December 26, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Trueanalog TAFE28 Silk Dome Tweeter

For this edition of Test Bench, Vance Dickason characterizes the TAFE28, a 28 mm silk dome tweeter from Trueanalog. This is the first time Test Bench has characterized any product from Trueanalog, and the company sent Voice Coil its new 28 mm diameter silk dome tweeter, intended for high end hi-fi and recording studio applications. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, October 2019.
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Test Bench: B&C Speakers DCX464 High Power Coaxial Compression Driver and Horn
December 19, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: B&C Speakers DCX464 High Power Coaxial Compression Driver and Horn

The driver to be characterized in this Test Bench is from B&C Speakers and is the DCX464, a pretty unusual ring radiator compression driver. First, because it’s a coaxial compression driver - a rare category of compression driver, and second because the DCX464 compression driver and the accompanying horn measure down to an honest 300 Hz, which is quite a low frequency considering only a few OEM horns on the market go even as low as 400 Hz. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, October 2019.
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Test Bench: Morel SCW 636 Woofer from The Fat Lady Speaker
December 12, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Morel SCW 636 Woofer from The Fat Lady Speaker

This month’s Test Bench includes a very high-end 6″ home audio driver, coming from Morel. This is a hybrid neodymium/ferrite motor, the 6.0″ carbon fiber/Nextel sandwich cone SCW 636, a by-product of the Fat Lady project, Morel’s flagship loudspeaker. Similar to the cabinet utilized in the Fat Lady, the Morel SCW 636 uses a three-layer composite cone and dust cap that combines carbon fiber/Rohacell/carbon fiber that is both lightweight and very stiff. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, May 2010.
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Zero Phase In Studio Monitors
December 4, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Zero Phase In Studio Monitors

This Voice Coil’s Spotlight, written by Vance Dickason with commentary from Floyd Toole, Wolfgang Klippel, Andrew Jones, and James Croft, focuses on Zero Phase in Studio Monitors. As Dickason explains, "the implication of using FIR filters to zero out the phase of a loudspeaker to improve its subjective performance seems inherently flawed given all the research done over years that concluded that the human ear is not very sensitive to phase or group delay." This article was originally published in Voice Coil, October 2019.
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Test Bench: Eastech’s Punktkilde FSA044010-0802 1” Titanium Dome Tweeter
November 27, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Eastech’s Punktkilde FSA044010-0802 1” Titanium Dome Tweeter

The transducer characterized in this Test Bench is from Eastech's Punktkilde line of home hi-fi drivers built in China and designed in Denmark by Scan-Speak engineers. The FSA044010-0802 is a recently released Punktkilde tweeter, featuring a 1” damped titanium dome diaphragm, dual magnet neodymium motor, a cast-aluminum anodized red faceplate (other colors are available), and an 8 ohm voice coil. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, September 2019.
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