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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
Audio Precision APx500 Flex Audio Analyzer — Hands-On
May 27, 2020 by Vance Dickason

Audio Precision APx500 Flex Audio Analyzer — Hands-On

Vance Dickason writes about the Audio Precision APx500 Flex Audio Analyzer and shares his hands-on experience with this latest affordable analyzer solution, designed to work with third-party USB audio recording interfaces. Dan Knighten, AP's VP of Product Development, and Michael Martin, AP's Product Marketing Manager, brought a complete system to Dickason's place and assisted him in performing a series of R&D type measurements on the same driver featured in a Test Bench column. Which means, readers can compare the readings and results directly! This article was originally published in Voice Coil, March 2020.
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Test Bench: Radian Audio 835PB 1.4” Ferrite Compression Driver
April 29, 2020 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Radian Audio 835PB 1.4” Ferrite Compression Driver

This Test Bench explication focused on the 835PB ferrite 1.4” aluminum diaphragm compression driver, from Radian Audio Engineering. Features for the 835PB 3" diaphragm, 1.4" exit, compression driver includes a 3” polyimide voice coil former with a copper clad aluminum edge wound ribbon wire voice coil, a self-aligning field replaceable diaphragm assembly, and the most important feature, a proprietary processed and hardened aerospace-grade aluminum alloy diaphragm over a three slit phase plug. The 835BP is also available with a beryllium diaphragm. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, February 2020.
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Test Bench: LaVoce WAN103-01 High-Power 10” Midbass Driver
April 22, 2020 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: LaVoce WAN103-01 High-Power 10” Midbass Driver

For this Test Bench, Vance Dickason characterizes the new WAN103.01 10" woofer from Italian OEM transducer manufacturer, LaVoce. All LaVoce products are designed at its headquarters in Potenza Picena, Italy, but with the logistic and price advantage of being manufactured at its purpose-built ISO 9001-certified production facility in China. The WAN103.01 is a high-sensitivity and high-power 10" driver, with a substantial feature set, which has been designed with line array and mid-bass applications in mind, using an elegant heavy duty die-cast basket and FEM optimized motor structure and suspensions.
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Test Bench: Oberton ND72CT/HB 1.4” Compression Driver
April 1, 2020 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Oberton ND72CT/HB 1.4” Compression Driver

This article focuses on another pro sound OEM new to Voice Coil’s Test Bench, Oberton of Bulgaria. For this characterization, Oberton supplied the recently released ND72CT/HB 1.4" compression driver along with the H-1464 1.4” cast aluminum 60° × 40° constant directivity horn. The ND72 has two iterations available - a cotton composite diaphragm with polycotton surround - The ND72CT - and an alternative dome, named the Hybrid Dome, using a combination of carbon composite diaphragm with a center cotton composite “patch” that reduces break-up modes - the ND72HB. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, January 2020.
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Test Bench: LaVoce DF10.172K 1” Compression Driver
March 25, 2020 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: LaVoce DF10.172K 1” Compression Driver

Vance Dickason welcomes a new company that, for the first time, submitted products for characterization. The DF10.172K is a new 1" compression driver from LaVoce, an Italian company founded in 2008 by Elettromedia, with its R&D center located in Potenza Picena, Italy, and manufacturing based in Jiashan, China (near Shanghai), its own purpose-built ISO 9001-certified production facility. LaVoce submitted the 1” DF10.172K compression driver combined with its own HD1003 cast aluminum 90°×40° exponential horn. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, January 2020.
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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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