Voice Coil is celebrating its 39th anniversary starting in November 2025, and this issue is now available as we dive into the world of Bass Extensions. In Industry News & Developments, Vance Dickason recollects how it all began and how it is going with the publication that he envisioned would be “an information super highway” for the loudspeaker industry.” Next up, Mike Klasco and Karen Inthirath explore the latest cutting-edge options available to enhance the bass of your speaker designs. And for Test Bench, there is a triple-dose of characterizations as Vance Dickason explores the latest Wavecor TW-022TU01 22mm OEM car audio cloth dome tweeter, followed by the CD-2514Nd/PT compression driver from Beyma, and finally a new high-powered 10” pro sound woofer from B&C Speakers. All that and more with the Industry Watch, giving you plenty of reasons to dive in now. Read it now online or download your PDF, while the print issue is on the way! For the November 2025 issue of Voice Coil, Vance Dickason remembers the magazine's journey as an information resource for the loudspeaker industry that started 39 years ago. Ed Dell, the father of audioXpress, came up with the name, Voice Coil, and Vance Dickason was happy to deliver on something he felt the industry badly needed. From the first issue until February 1992, Voice Coil was a monthly subscription-based black-and-white four-page newsletter that gradually turned into a printed 16-page bulletin available by subscription. The next big change came in 1995 when the magazine became advertiser driven with no subscription fee, for qualified subscribers, and it was made available also as a digital, online subscription. It is still going strong today, now directly supported with an expanded online presence in audioXpress.com where many of its contents are also available.
The Voice Coil Focus for this issue is once again on subwoofers and bass extensions, and Mike Klasco and Karen Inthirath (Menlo Scientific, LLC) prepared a comprehensive overview of the latest cutting-edge techniques that loudspeaker designers should consider to improve bass response. From lowering distortion via signal processing using smart amps that allow driving the speaker to its maximum Safe Operating Area - to the very edge of its design limits but not over - to bass enhancement DSP approaches and motional feedback (MFB). Those include the WaveLock patented embedded algorithm and processing tool suite invented by John French and his team at Audera Acoustics, which is an easy firmware integration that combines lower distortion, higher output, and bass extension. The report also mentions new materials and metamaterials such as N’Bass, new materials for enclosure fill, and obviously, advanced loudspeaker design techniques, enabling some forms of contravention of Hofmann’s Iron Law. From Brane Audio to Dinaburg C2S and GSS Audio, the report discusses drivers that have achieved increasing bass output, improving X-max, maximum volume velocity, piston area, and peak excursion. Exciting times!
And moving straight to this issue’s Test Bench, we start with the new TW022TU01 22mm OEM car audio dome tweeter from Wavecor. This new OEM cloth dome tweeter is another version of the Wavecor TW030TU03, already characterized in the April 2025 issue of Voice Coil magazine. As with the TW030TU03, the TW022TU01 features a 22mm diameter precision-coated graphene-reinforced cloth diaphragm optimized for high-frequency cutoff above 20kHz, with internal chambers below the dome and surround edge.
The TW022TU01 also features dual neodymium magnets vented into a damped rear chamber, copper-clad aluminum voice coil winding with a vented voice coil former, a copper-clad pole piece, and flexible lead wires for large excursions. This new 2kHz to 20kHz range driver with 92.5dB sensitivity was specified to crossover below 3kHz. It is available in a black machined and anodized aluminum housing for advanced cooling and offers a minimal mounting area for application in the car, with a zero-diffraction surface-mount face plate, and a metal protective grill.
The CD-2514Nd/PT is designed for use as a high-power, high-frequency driver in small-to-large venue PA systems and features a 2.5” diameter copper-clad aluminum wire (CCAW) voice coil wound on a non-conducting Nomex former. This assembly drives the field-replaceable FEM-optimized advanced high-temperature polyester diaphragm and surround. Other features include a lightweight computer FEA-optimized neodymium ring magnet motor structure with patented Deplocex thermal technology for lower power compression and increased power handling.
Finally, Vance Dickason characterizes the new 10BG76 woofer from B&C Speakers, naturally targeting professional sound reinforcement applications. This new high-powered driver from the Italian pro sound OEM (which now also owns Eighteen Sound, Ciare, and Eminence) is listed as a 10” subwoofer, which in pro sound suggests a low-frequency response somewhere in the 40Hz to 50Hz range. The 10BG76 is part of a line of pro sound transducers that all have butyl surrounds and feature proprietary cast aluminum frames with rectangular vent holes in the area below the spider mounting shelf for enhanced voice coil cooling. Additional cooling is provided by a large 36mm diameter flared vent located on the top of the black cast aluminum return cup located on the back side of the motor assembly.
The cone assembly for the 10BG76 woofer consists of a modestly curvilinear paper cone with TWP waterproof coating on both sides, along with a 4” diameter coated convex paper dust cap. Compliance is supplied by a single roll butyl surround and a dual silicone 6” diameter flat spider. The B&C Speakers 10BG76 motor design features a neodymium ring magnet structure with a black return cup and a T-shaped pole piece, a 3” diameter voice coil wound with round copper wire on a non-conducting glass fiber former with the lead wires woven into the spider. The rated power handling for this transducer is 500W (1000W continuous), making the 10BG76 the second highest power handling 10” in the B&C Speakers line-up.
Voice Coil closes with its Industry Watch section, where we learn about the latest AudioConnect 8x8 Audio Measurement Interface from Listen, Inc. This is the company’s first 8-in, 8-out audio measurement interface, designed specifically for use in the lab, in the field (automotive being an obvious area), or production line, and uniquely scalable to 32 synchronized channels over a single USB-C cable. Among other notes, the section also discusses new OEM transducers from Faital Pro, and the latest activities for the ALTI Association, preparing for CES 2025 in Las Vegas, NV.
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