Transmission line speakers


Who makes transmission line speakers now?
mcgarick
The Intuitive Design Summits also utilize a transmission line. They are more than worth the effort to seek out for an audition.
Though you almost never see it, TL loading is far more critical to the midrange than the low frequencies. The ability of such a design to let go of the notes is unrivaled by almost (I said, almost) any other loudspeaker design.

The medium - larger speakers in the Rega line feature TL loading of the low frequency drive units, and are some of the more underrated and overlooked products out there.

This opened a huge can of worms around here many years ago, but a purist would not consider a Von Schweikert design to be a TL. Instead, they're akin to what Bud Fried introduced as the "Line Tunnel", which is a stuffed, ported loudspeaker. Still, a most competent alignment, offering a lot of the performance of a TL with an even easier (and same low cost and ease of build) to implement design than a typical ported loudspeaker.

My own Fried (8" mid/woofer) A/6 and Fried (10" woofer) subwoofer feature the Line Tunnel. I find the A/6 are not ecliped by most anything built today under $5000.

One thing to keep in mind when dealing with true TL loading of the low frequencies is that almost no one gets it right. The two most common errors are undersizing the line and overstuffing it, the latter being the far more egregious fault. Better to not stuff at all as opposed to overstuffing. The end result being that they actually come across as bass shy and cold, as there is a pretty good sized dip in the mid/upper bass, even if they will play quite deep.

Still, once one has experienced the truly tuneful (and by that, I mean, the ability to discern musical low frequency notes as opposed to the typical and appropriately named "one note bass") low frequency response of a decent TL, it's never forgotten.
They aren't a TL? (http://www.vonschweikert.com/vrline/VR-10M.HTM) And the Frieds are a tapered, folded transmission line, which is almost identical to the design I've been using for woofers since 1980:(http://www.friedproducts.com/monitor7.html) I suppose some peoples' definitions may vary, but transmission lines CAN take various forms(even variously damped, aperiodic chambers; as long as the 1/4 wavelegth goal remains): (http://www.quarter-wave.com/TLs/TL_Anatomy.pdf)
I spent the better part of a decade building various DIY transmission lines (in SpeakerBuilder magazine issue #4 of 1986 you'll find one of my designs), and in my experience there's a tradeoff: Sufficient output from the end of the line to reinforce the deep bass also results in a cancellation notch in the upper bass at the frequency where the line's effecive length is equal to 1 wavelength (which puts the line's output 180 degrees out-of-phase with the direct sound).

You can see that notch in SoundStage's measurement of a transmission line speaker:

http://www.soundstagemagazine.com/measurements/pmc_gb1/

Fortunately notches are relatively inaudible, so it looks much worse on paper than it sounds. Most people won't even know it's there.

There are techniques for minimizing this notch, but they involve tradeoffs in other areas.

That being said, a good transmission line can be a magnificent-sounding loudspeaker system, especially in the midrange as Trelja notes.

Duke

dealer/manufacturer
And especially when properly used with planars, as they are innately faster than most other alignments.