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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: The SB Acoustics SB29BNC-C000-4 Tweeter
June 5, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The SB Acoustics SB29BNC-C000-4 Tweeter

This month I am characterizing the SB29BNC beryllium 29 mm dome tweeter from SB Acoustics. This is the second high-end 29 mm beryllium diaphragm neodymium dome sent by SB Acoustics for Test Bench. Features for this transducer include a small format 72 mm diameter injection-molded plastic faceplate, and an 8 mm wide coated cloth surround. This article was published in Voice Coil, March 2019.
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Test Bench: A New Beryllium Tweeter from BlieSMa
May 23, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: A New Beryllium Tweeter from BlieSMa

This Test Bench characterizes the T34B-4 34mm beryllium dome tweeter from BlieSMa, a German company founded in 2018 by Stas Malikov. BlieSMa’s first tweeter offering, the T34A-4 34 mm aluminum/magnesium alloy dome, appeared in Voice Coil’s June 2018 Test Bench. This month, I received the company’s second offering, and it seems logical that this driver, the T34B-4, is a 34 mm beryllium dome tweeter. This article was published in Voice Coil, March 2019.
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Test Bench: Bold North Audio MS-10W - A Legendary 6.5" Woofer from MISCO
May 6, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Bold North Audio MS-10W - A Legendary 6.5" Woofer from MISCO

For this Test Bench, Vance Dickason actually had lots of fun characterizing a new version of a legendary 6.5” woofer recently announced by MISCO (Minneapolis Speaker Company). The new MS-10W, will be marketed under the new MISCO brand, Bold North Audio, and it is effectively a direct replacement for the famous white driver on Yamaha’s NS10 studio monitors! This article was originally published in Voice Coil, February 2019.
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Test Bench: Eminence SD28 Soft Dome Tweeter
April 17, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Eminence SD28 Soft Dome Tweeter

Being primarily known as a pro sound driver OEM, with a great reputation for both guitar speakers and PA drivers, it may come as a surprise that this Eminence driver, the SD28, is a 1” soft dome tweeter — a staple of the home and car audio businesses. I should note however, that while Eminence has a rather large catalog of pro audio transducers, the company also produces drivers for home and car audio companies. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, January 2019
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Test Bench: Radian Audio Engineering 475PB 1-Inch Compression Driver
April 10, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Radian Audio Engineering 475PB 1-Inch Compression Driver

In this Test Bench I characterized the 475PB, a 1" compression driver from Radian Audio Engineering. The 475PB has a similar set of features as Radian’s 745PB. This includes a 1” throat diameter, a 134 mm × 19 mm ferrite magnet motor, and the most important feature—a proprietary processed and hardened aerospace-grade aluminum alloy diaphragm over a three-slit phase plug. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, January 2019.
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Test Bench: Radian Audio Engineering 745PB 1.4” Compression Driver
March 27, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Radian Audio Engineering 745PB 1.4” Compression Driver

In this Test Bench I characterized the 745PB 1.4” compression driver from Radian Audio Engineering. Based in Orange, CA, Radian is a serious player in the OEM loudspeaker component business, the sound contractor/fixed installation market, and the portable/tour sound industry. The 745PB has the expected rich feature set of other Radian compression drivers. Subjectively, this speaker is incredibly musical, detailed, and extremely easy to listen to — certainly a goal for all monitors. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, December 2018.
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Test Bench: Celestion CDX14-2420 1.4” Compression Driver
March 20, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Celestion CDX14-2420 1.4” Compression Driver

In this Test Bench I characterized the CDX14-2420 1.4” compression driver from UK Pro Sound OEM manufacturer Celestion. Designed for use with 1.4” throat horns, the CDX14-2420 has a 35.6 mm (1.4”) throat diameter driven by a 60 mm (2.4”) diameter voice coil wound with edgewound copper-clad aluminum wire (CCAW) on a high-temperature fiberglass non-conducting former, which drives a deep-drawn titanium diaphragm and polyimide surround. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, December 2018.
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Test Bench: Eighteen Sound ND4015BE Beryllium Compression Driver
March 13, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Eighteen Sound ND4015BE Beryllium Compression Driver

This Test Bench examines Eighteen Sound's ND4015BE beryllium compression driver, which was mated to an Eighteen Sound XR2064 60° × 40° horn. This compression driver is available in two versions, a 1.5" throat and a 2" throat. This review focuses on the 2" throat model. The ND4015BE has a 4”-diameter edge-wound aluminum voice coil on a nonconducting Nomex former, a 4" pure beryllium diaphragm with a polymer surround. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, February 2014.
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Test Bench: Celestion AN2075 2" Full-Range Compact Array Driver
March 7, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Celestion AN2075 2" Full-Range Compact Array Driver

The Celestion AN2075 has a 2”-diameter aluminum cone neodymium motor full-range transducer primarily intended for use in line source arrays. The AN2075 is built on a proprietary six-spoke molded-glass reinforced ABS frame. The cone assembly consists of a black anodized aluminum cone with a 19-mm diameter aluminum dust cap and whizzer-type extension. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, February 2014.
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Test Bench: SEAS Excel T35C002 Dome Midrange Tweeter
February 27, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: SEAS Excel T35C002 Dome Midrange Tweeter

This month’s Test Bench driver is the T35C002 1.5” tweeter from Norwegian high-end home audio manufacturer SEAS’s home audio driver Excel line. The T35C002 is basically an Excel line version of the company’s Exotic line T35 Alnico V tweeter, but it uses a neodymium magnet, with a 1.5” coated cloth diaphragm sourced from German high-end diaphragm manufacturer Dr. Kurt Muller (DKM). This article was originally published in Voice Coil, April 2014.
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