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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: Dayton Audio RS180P-8 7” Reference Series Midwoofer

January 30, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Dayton Audio RS180P-8 7” Reference Series Midwoofer

The 7” RS180P-8 Reference Series midwoofer from Dayton Audio uses a nice six-spoke cast-aluminum frame with narrow 10-mm wide spokes to minimize reflections back into the cone. The cone assembly is composed of a three-part lightweight paper cone that combines Kevlar and glass fiber with the paper slurry. Cosmetically speaking, this is very good looking driver. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, May 2014.

Test Bench: BMS 4507ND Dual Diaphragm Coaxial Planar Wave Driver

January 16, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: BMS 4507ND Dual Diaphragm Coaxial Planar Wave Driver

The BMS 4507ND is a unique transducer that uses a neodymium coaxial compression driver to drive a planar waveguide intended for use in line arrays. BMS Speakers patented the two-way compression driver technology in 1997. This month’s Test Bench subject, the 6.5” 4507ND features a 300-Hz to 22-kHz bandwidth (6 to 22 kHz for the tweeter and 400 Hz to 6.3 kHz for the midrange). The rectangular planar waveguide is optimized for 0° to 15° vertical dispersion and up to 120° in the horizontal plane. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, May 2014.

Test Bench: A 12-Inch NBR Pro Sound woofer from B&C Speakers

January 9, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: A 12-Inch NBR Pro Sound woofer from B&C Speakers

In this Test Bench I characterized the 12BG76-8, a high power handling 12” NBR pro sound woofer from B&C Speakers. This month’s sample submission is in the upper range of power handling in this extensive group with a continuous power handling rating of 1000 W (500 W nominal). Applications range from two and three-way PA speakers and compact two-way designs for high SPL in limited spaces. Features for the 12BG76-8 are similar to most high-performance pro sound drivers, fairly substantial. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, October 2018.

Test Bench: The Wavecor SW275BD01 Home Audio Subwoofer

January 2, 2019 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The Wavecor SW275BD01 Home Audio Subwoofer

This month, I characterized the SW275BD01, a 10.75" high-end home audio subwoofer from OEM manufacturer Wavecor. This driver has a well-appointed feature set that includes a proprietary cast eight-spoke (four twin spokes) cast aluminum frame, a very stiff black mica/paper composite cone, further stiffened by a 4" convex black hard paper dust cap. Suspension is provided by a FEA optimized low-loss (high Qm) NBR surround plus dual 6” diameter black flat conex spiders (dampers). This article was originally published in Voice Coil, October 2018.

Test Bench: B&C Speakers' 12FCX76 12” High-Performance Pro Sound Coaxial

December 26, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: B&C Speakers' 12FCX76 12” High-Performance Pro Sound Coaxial

This edition of Test Bench characterizes the 12FCX76, 12” high-performance pro sound coaxial from B&C Speakers. This coaxial driver is similar to the 12FHX76, where the “H” designates that it uses a horn-loaded compression driver, while the “C” in the 12FCX76 stands for conical-loaded compression driver (the “F” is for ferrite). The 12FCX76 uses ferrite motors for both the woofer and the compression driver. In terms of features, the 12FCX76 woofer is built on a 12-spoke (six twin-leg spokes) cast aluminum frame with eight mounting holes. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, July 2014.

Test Bench: The Peerless by Tymphany PMT-40N25AL01-04 Mini Full-Range Driver

December 19, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: The Peerless by Tymphany PMT-40N25AL01-04 Mini Full-Range Driver

The 1" diameter full-range drivers are among the most used transducers in consumer electronics. They are finding broad use in numerous Bluetooth speakers. The driver submitted by Tymphany for this Test Bench fits into that category. The Peerless by Tymphany PMT-40N25AL01-04 is a 25-mm (1”) diameter full-range driver built on a proprietary injection-molded two-piece polycarbonate (one piece for the motor assembly structure and one piece for the protective grill). This article was originally published in Voice Coil, July 2014.

Test Bench: Two 28 mm Dome Tweeters from Dayton Audio: RST28A-4 and the RST28F-4

December 5, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Two 28 mm Dome Tweeters from Dayton Audio: RST28A-4 and the RST28F-4

In this Test Bench, I characterized two new 28 mm dome tweeters from Dayton Audio — the RST28A-4 and the RST28F-4 from the Dayton Reference Series. Both are similar tweeters that share pretty much the same platform with the primary difference being the RST28A-4 uses an 30 mm aluminum dome and the RST28F-4 has a 30 mm coated silk dome. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, September 2018.

Test Bench: Dayton Audio Epique E160CF-8 Midbass Driver

November 28, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: Dayton Audio Epique E160CF-8 Midbass Driver

This Test Bench characterizes the new Dayton Audio Epique E160CF-8 midbass driver, from the company’s new Epique high-end transducer line. This new 5.25” midwoofer is Dayton’s entry into the ultra-high-end driver market. Dayton built it with the intention of competing with the likes of SEAS, Scan-Speak, Eton, Accuton, and Morel. Applications for the E160CF-8 include use as a midrange in a multi-way speaker or as a woofer in a two-way speaker. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, September 2018.

Dayton Audio Releases DSP-408 Signal Processor

November 20, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Dayton Audio Releases DSP-408 Signal Processor

Dayton Audio has released a new DSP loudspeaker signal processor intended for both home and car audio, the DSP-408. This is a feature-rich 4 input/8 output digital signal processor, featuring built-in EQ, crossovers, time alignment, and input/output mixing. Exploring all the features the DSP-408 offers, the ability to manipulate and improve the sound quality of an audio system is the most alluring aspect of this affordable unit.

Test Bench: B&C Speakers DE780TN-8 Compression Driver

November 14, 2018 by Vance Dickason

Test Bench: B&C Speakers DE780TN-8 Compression Driver

For this test bench article, I characterized the DE780TN, a 1.4" exit titanium diaphragm pro sound compression driver from B&C Speakers. This compression driver is one of the latest additions to B&C Speakers’ extensive 17-model ferrite and neodymium motor 1.4" exit compression drivers. B&C Speakers supplied the ME90 horn for use with the DE780TN-8. This constant directivity horn has a 1.4" exit bolton type made from cast aluminum, and provides an 80° × 60° coverage pattern and a 900 Hz cut-off frequency. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, August 2018.

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