Avantone Pro Releases Planar the II Open-Back Reference-Grade Headphones

Having introduced its original open-back reference-grade headphones with planar drivers in 2020, Avantone Pro now announced availability of its Planar the II — making it better by reducing the weight to ensure even greater comfort during long mixing and listening sessions. Being one of the most affordable open-back planar headphones available in the market, the new Planar the II continues to ensure all the qualities of planar drivers to an extended audience of audio engineers, musicians, and hi-fi enthusiasts alike.

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.

The October 2019 edition of Voice Coil is packed full of essential reading material. Vance Dickason discusses Zero Phase in Studio Monitors with commentary from industry experts. In Acoustic Patents, a new Speaker Structure design patented by Yamaha, and a new Passive Acoustic Radiator Module, invented by Joseph Sahyoun are under review. And Test Bench characterizes a new high power coaxial compression driver and horn from B&C Speakers, and a 28 mm silk dome tweeter from Trueanalog. Now available to download!

The third annual Loudspeaker Sourcing Show was again held in Guangzhou, China, which is about an hour by ferry from Hong Kong. The show was hosted by Philip Richardson, owner of Trueanalog Strictly OEM, and his wife Mandy Tseng of ZengBen. The couple created the Loudspeaker Sourcing Show to connect qualified and vetted loudspeaker component, driver, and system manufacturers directly with loudspeaker engineers, purchasing heads, and brands. This is a focused engineering/purchasing event where the attendees meet directly with manufacturers for details and costing at the show.

Voice Coil May 2017 is an issue not to be missed. Aaron Heuschmidt, from Klippel, writes about new ways to measure key loudspeaker parts, James Croft reviews two recent patents for a Low-Profile Loudspeaker Transducer and a new Passive Radiator Structure, and there’s a company profile on Trueanalog Strictly OEM, based in Panyu, Southern China. And this month's Test Bench characterizes two new compressions drivers from Brazilian pro sound OEM PRV Audio. Download your copy now!