Most of our readers recognize me as the narrator behind the curtain. For about 25 years I have been writing for Voice Coil and all the other publications that the late Ed Dell founded and which are now combined in audioXpress, and published by KCK Media Corp. In the audio industry, we all need accurate information to make our decisions and to not be blindsided. While most of our readers are essentially technology-oriented, in order to avoid business pitfalls we must also offer a broader view, the 35,000-foot view that is SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

I have seen many great ideas from engineers, inventors, and entrepreneurs but sometimes they reach beyond their own or their team’s capabilities, and need a strategic partner that can contribute technical support, or industrial design, or branding and distribution channels, or simple business sense. Sometimes the idea is too early for the technology infrastructure or the market’s appetite. The first soundbar was launched back in 2008 by Soundmatters from an idea by the late Dr. Godehard Guenther. But consumers didn’t know what a soundbar was or why they would need one, and only years later did today's market leaders create the soundbar product category. Now, consumers understand what it is, why they need it, and they ask for it - while the integrated AV receiver is fading into a boutique market position.

Startups with great ideas must line up their ducks - understand the market timing, figure out how to obtain the right funding, the appropriate factory partner, and how they will sell through to the end-customer. Startup incubators have sprung up all over the place, but when you work with several inexperienced companies at once, the result is often unsuccessful.

This OTL tube amplifier project is the topic of many forum threads, in particular in DIYaudio.com, where countless of builders from all over the world have exchanged experiences about building, testing, and modifying this design. Tim Mellow, the author, and his company Mellow Acoustics, currently focus on electrostatic speaker designs - and would hardly have guessed the enormous impact that his article would have since it was published in audioXpress. More than a decade since the original publication, many readers still actively search for information and share the schematics, and one of the reasons for the following is directly related to the fascination for tube amplification and OTL topologies. Tim Mellow's design explores a different output stage using a novel combination of local feedback and current drive in order to achieve good symmetry and cancellation of even harmonics. It was about time to make the original text available online for everyone. This article was originally published in audioXpress, February 2010.  Read the Full Article Now Available Here

This Test Bench article characterizes the BWX-6501 Midbass driver from MISCO’s Bold North Audio Line. MISCO (Minneapolis Speaker Co.) is the oldest OEM driver manufacturer in the US, founded in 1949, and Bold North Audio is its new brand, launched in 2019 with a nearly exact replacement woofer for the ubiquitous Yamaha NS10 studio monitor, the 6.5” MS-10W featured in the February 2019 issue of Voice Coil. The Bold North lineup was recently expanded to include two new 6.5” XBL2 motor woofers. The BWX-6501 and the BWX-6502, are two high performance 6.5" high excursion woofers with an XBL2 motor design and 10mm linear Xmax. These new models are all designed and manufactured in MISCO’s own facility in St. Paul, MN. Both are fully Klippel verified and feature dual inside-outside copper shorting rings in the motor to greatly reduce distortion. The BWX-6501 design allows for a wide range of crossover points and responds from 40Hz to 4kHz for midbass applications. This article was originally published in Voice Coil, December 2020.  Read the Full Article Now Available Here