23
The loudspeakers

The bass driver

The newly developed bass unit features extremely large
magnets and voice coils working on a carbon fibre cone
which can reproduce even very intense peak signals
accurately.
The large cone area of this driver enables it to generate
very high sound pressure. The cradle is pressure-cast in
alloy, and therefore extremely strong and stiff in torsion.
The strength of the ma terial makes it possi ble to employ
very narrow connectin g s truts, leaving large inter-strut
openings which help to avoid turbulence and compressi-
on effects.

The mid-range driver

In many respects the mid-range reproduction of a
loudspeaker is of crucial significance. The human ear is
at its most sens itive in this frequency range, and carries
out the tasks of direction-finding and range assessment
in this are a. The ear is also most efficien t at percei ving
subtle sound colours and (dis-) colorations at mid-ran ge
frequencies. For this reason we have invested particular
effort in developing a mid-range unit of truly outstandin g
quality for the TCI series.
This new driver is capable of reproducing the entire fre-
quency range from 250 Hz to 2500 Hz homogeneously
and with an exceptionally linear respo nse, as it features
an extremely stiff but l ightweight cone made of wooden
fibre.
The radiation characteristics of this mid-range unit are
outstanding, due to the specially shaped speaker con e
and the accurately calculated, finely tuned phase plug.
The newly d eveloped low-profile surround is made of a
hard rubber compound with excellent dam ping characte-
ristics, which el iminates resonances and effectively pre-
vents reflections in the cone which could cause colora ti-
on of the sound.
Since the tr eble and b ass units in the TCI series trans-
mission line speakers have superb peak handling pro-
perties, the new mid-range unit also had to be able to
perform much better than any previous driver. The gi-
gantic 120 mm Ø magnet system and a 40 mm Ø voice
coil consisting of four layers of titanium form an impres-
sively powerful com bination, and are mounted in a low-
resonance cast magnesium cradle.
This driver and its carefully designed mid-range housing
(with non-parallel walls for low resonance) is capable of
handling peak signals in a way which is usually the re-
serve of the PA arena.
The overall result is that the mid-range system of the TCI
series sounds very natural , free and melodious , but also
has enormous dynamic reserves.

The ringradiator high-frequency driver

Modern si gnal sources such as CD, DVD and SACD
have a n i mpressively wide and linear dynamic range,
and this places stringent demands on the treble area of
the loudspeaker. Conventi onal dome tweeters invariably
reach their limits i n these applications, and that is why
we have developed high-frequency drivers for our TCI
loudspeakers which offer th e reserves of performanc e
required for these and future developments.
The annular cone of this treble unit is supported mecha-
nically at the outer edges and the centre of the cone, an d
the coil is attached centrally between the two support
locations. This method of mounting enables the cone to
move in a very accurate and well-controlled way. The
result is the potential for h igher sound pressure com bi-
ned with low distortion. The cone does not b ecome de-
coupled at high frequencies or at extreme amplitudes.
The centre features a phase plug designed to make the
frequency response truly l inear. Characteristics of this
special type of high-frequency driver are an unusually
wide frequenc y range (1000 - 50,000 Hz) and a very
open, clear, and spatially precise soun d image, while the
lightweight cone gives an extremely good dynamic per-
formance. This ringradiator gives the TCI 3 R the poten-
tial for an impressively deep sound image.
The large volume produces a low re sonant frequen cy,
and this combined with excellent peak handling and
transient response produces a fast, airy sound image
combined with a very high upper limit frequency.