STAND MOUNT SPEAKERS REFERENCE 3A DULCET WOJCIECH PACUŁA Translation: Krzysztof Kalinkowski

The loudspeakers Dulcet of the company Reference 3A are a further product, that reaches us not from a Polish distributor, but from abroad. However different from other instances, this time we received the product not from the manufacturer but from a foreign distributor. In this case it is quite simple, as: 1. the loudspeakers from Reference are not distributed in Poland and: 2. the mentioned distributor, the company Hi-Fi Studio is located in Czech Republic and many Polish clients reach it while searching for the Reference 3A products, Leben (which fantastic model CS-300 we tested some time ago) and Oyaide. In the last case the products can now be purchased in Poland. However for some clients it will be closer to Pansky Dvur, where the company has it's listening studio, than to Warsaw. And finally HIGH Fidelity OnLine” is an Internet magazine, and thus a supranational one.

The company web page does not tell much about the company's history, but some can be extrapolated while reading the large amount of the products reviews posted. And its history is somewhat twisted. During the thirty years much has happened, but probably most important were the happenings from late '80, when in Las Vegas the speakers MM became a big success. Their constructor, the Frenchman Daniel Dehay created a product, that sold as quickly as he was able to produce it. To speed-up the process he transferred manufacturing to Spain, what almost killed the company. So he transferred the company again, to Switzerland (that is when the company is registered under the name REFERENCE 3A), and the distribution company Divergent Technologiesbecomes interested in the product, takes care of the production and transfers it to Canada. Quite complicated, but it gives an idea of the complication of those speakers and their hidden potential.

We chose the model Dulcet for testing, the smallest and cheapest loudspeaker of the company, in the catalog that encloses only five products (not counting the company made stands). But also in this construction, Dehay realized his major ideas. First of all he took care of the time coherence of the speakers. That is the reason for the significantly sloped front baffle, where the tweeter and mid-woofer are mounted. This is supported by the electrical construction, as one of the characteristics of this construction is that the mid-woofer is fed with the signal directly from the amplifier terminals, without any cross-over in between. This guarantees an ideal phase response and best possible preservation of the musical signal. To make this happen a special speaker is needed, that will fall off to the top smoothly, allowing seamless transfer to the tweeter. The latter, again remembering about the phase coherence, in the speakers from Reference 3A is fed by a high-pass filter made with only two elements: a fantastic, oil (very large, similar are used in speakers made by another company, Totem; we tested the Model 1 Signature) capacitor and a resistor. That is the reason, that like the French BC Acoustique, the mid-woofers are of own make.

SOUND

And the sound of the speakers is significantly different than with most of the competition. It is most of all incredibly delicate and bases mostly (but this should not be any surprise) a beautiful midrange. Changing from the metal Seas mounted in the Dobermann from Harpia Acoustics to the soft dome of the same company from the Dulcet, some of the air and details disappear. Here one can clearly hear the difference between both technologies. However, most probably this kind of treble (characteristic for the whole line of the speakers) is needed to harmonize the speakers together. And this is the key for the sound of those speakers. Both drivers sound like one, although I tried, I could not find the place they were glued together, the seam between them. Incredible, how even, both in terms of timbre and dynamics, this speakers sound. Probably a more edgy, metal dome would not be capable to deliver something like that.

Anyway, the integration of the speakers is ideal and the loudspeaker sounds like wide range driver, this time really wide range, without cut edges. In effect this gives an uniform, coherent sound stage, with no clear division between the highs and lows. I am thinking about a situation, when while listening there is less hi-fi and more music. The sound of the Dulcet makes an organic whole, that opens a stable, believable window in front of the listener. This is helped a little by the slight withdrawal of the upper treble and lower midrange, but those elements can only be heard when we really want to analyze everything step by step.
The loudspeakers generate a splendid sound stage. It is not as big or as detailed as from the Harpia (the stage is one of the biggest assets of the latter big speakers), but on the other hand inside the window it is well saturated and very deep. This gives an illusion of complete disappearance of the speakers, even if we deal with not very well recorded discs like On an Island – David Gilmour (EMI, 55695, CCD), or IV - Seal (Warner Bros., 48614, CD). On the latter disc, the large, warm voice of the leader was reproduced with an extraordinary charisma, good vibrato and velvet – in general with keeping of good timbre. The voice is reproduced much further away than in the Harpia, but this is related to the deep stage and a further positioning of the stage elements. Already with those two discs it was visible, that the Dulcet sound best with small ensembles. And even if bigger or harder playing bands play with their native dynamics, then more pointing to Duke Ellington than Tool. The Dulcet are no masters of macrodynamic, and even if Da Capo, a more expensive model from Reference 3A, was mostly known from surprising bass and strong dynamics, then the physics cannot be circumvented, and the much smaller speaker of the Dulcet translates into worse performance in that area. Even more: although in the manual it is stated, that to drive this speakers a small tube amplifier should suffice, then my experience tells me otherwise. As I commonly use the 12 watt Leben CS-300 and the 27 watt Model 5 from Avantgarde Acoustic, and both designs are very successful, it was not a problem to test that assumption. The pointer was mainly the Leben, which had no problems driving the big Marcus of Harpia Acoustics, with the Dulcet it seemed to me a bit too incoherent. It was not about lacking bass control, but the feeling, that we do not use fully the scale of dynamics, that the speakers are able to provide – and that both in the micro and macro scale. Only connecting the tested amplifier Cambridge Audio Azur 740A, specified at 100W by 8Ω, and later the beautiful Bladelius Thor Mk. II (test in the August issue named The POWER of amplification – devoted only to amplifiers), which power is described at 165W (also at 8Ω) showed, that more power translates here directly to better clarity and definition of the sound. This is interesting, as with low power the sound was not bad. For many listeners that kind of presentation may be even more attractive, as no trace of sharpness, brightening could be spotted, as if everything was disconnected from the reign of the digit. I think however, that this presentation does not fully reflect the truth, because it is too pleasant, it unifies the sounds and brings it to the same denominator. A strong amplifier, on the other hand, did separate the dynamics and harmonic contents.

With that kind of amplifier, with larger acoustic ensembles, like from the beautifully re-mastered disc Penthouse Serenade - Nat „King” Cole (Capitol Jazz, 94504, SBM CD) the sound was very well arranged, fully freed from the speakers, and the timbre was strong, full of colors, saturated. The realization of the album helped of course, as did the re-master going in the direction of organic fullness, but the speakers helped to get all of this from the disc. Special attention must be paid to the upper midrange. In spite of the laid back upper treble the speakers can sound a bit bright, and this due to the strong presentation of the upper midrange. Maybe here the seam between the speakers can be heard, or maybe directional issues come to play, or the own resonance of the mid-woofer membrane (visibly the company tried to alleviate this by covering the speaker with some kind of a substance), anyway for example with the disc of Seal, with cheaper players his voice was accented as if it would be coming from the throat than from the diaphragm. So the connecting cables should be chosen carefully, as too quick ones can destroy everything. I think that Audioquest or the more expensive Wireworld could be recommended.

The Dulcet need high quality accompanying equipment. They will sound nice even with inexpensive electronics (an example can be the system Cambridge Audio 740, as well as the tested together with CA French electronics Carat), but the more expensive the system, the better the definition of the sound. The mid-woofer connected directly to the amplifier is a big asset, however the dynamics is over average in the micro scale, as with the macro the small speaker cannot surpass some things. This poses significant challenges for the electronics, as there nothing can be blamed on the cross-over and its destructive influence – as there ain't any here. This are just refined loudspeakers, that cannot do certain things, have the top and bottom a bit softened, but the elements they were designed for, meaning the directness and palpability of the sound are fantastic. And the finish – splendid!

DESCRIPTION

The loudspeakers Dulcet of the company Reference 3A are stand mount speakers in a bass-reflex cabinet. The latter is interestingly designed, as its output is in the top corner, and is quite long. This could be achieved because it is bent down, where it has enough place. The tweeter is a soft dome SEAS 27 TDC, connected to the terminals from WBT via a beautiful oil capacitor and a large resistor, also the van den Hul Sky-Line cable was used (a hybrid cable from a OFC copper braid and structural carbon fiber). The mid-woofer, with a beautifully looking cast casket and a epoxy resin coated polypropylene membrane, is the company's own design. A characteristic thing is a large, flat cut cylinder, placed in the center of that speaker, that is meant to be a phase corrector, but also a radiator for the speaker coil. This speaker is hooked-up to the terminals directly by means of the van den Hul CS 14 cable. This cable is made from OFC copper covered with a thick layer of silver and carbon fiber (look above). Interesting are the cramps connecting the terminals – there is no need to be wary about those – as those are the fantastic cramps from Cardas made from pure copper (not covered with gold). The terminals are not screwed directly to the back plate, but to a very nice, rigid (and that is all about that here) metal plate. The drivers are mounted on a sloped front baffle, that is supposed to mechanically even the speaker phase. The tweeter is not placed on the speaker axis, but with an offset, but – differently than in for example the Harpia – the speaker is to be placed more to the outside than to the middle. The enclosure is made from an especially prepared MDF sandwich in a technology called Vibra-Puck. In spite of the small dimensions, inside a wreath with holes is glued, so that it does not obstruct the air flow. The sides of the cabinet are covered with a material resembling felt. The whole has a glossy finish and just looks superb. It seems however, that to maximize the potential of the speakers and improve their looks even more, they should be purchased together with the dedicated stands.

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