The cabinet

The design of the cabinet plays a very important role in the overall performance of the loudspeaker system, as it determines the parameters of freedom from resonance, cabinet sound, bass reproduction, imaging properties and radiation characteristics in the mid-range and treble areas.

The cabinets of the TCI series are amongst the most complex available on the market. The sides, back panels, baffles and front covers are manufactured using moulded laminated wood, while the internal sound ducts are made of high-strength MDF board.

Laminated wood is the ideal constructional material for loudspeaker cabinets. The moulded timber panels are produced in one of Europe’s most modern factories, and consist of 9 to 11 layers of beech veneer around 2 mm thick, laminated in a cross-grain pattern, and bonded under pressure, heat and micro-wave energy in three-dimensional moulds.

The side panels, the curved back panel, the baffle, and the cambered front cover are designed to exclude completely the possibility of resonance, standing waves and cabinet sound. The shape of the cabinet combined with the exceptionally stiff material with its extreme bending strength effectively eliminates these problems, which have always been the Achilles’ heel of cabinet design. The complex internal sound ducts provide further stiffening of the cabinet.

The result in the listening room is that the speakers’ bass reproduction is absolutely clean, clear and precise even at very high levels.The cabinets taper towards the rear, and the moulded wood technology provides the internal space for long, folded transmission lines, whose sound ducts further stiffen the whole cabinet; these features provide an extremely low bottom limit frequency. Thespeakers feature very narrow baffles which ensure optimum radiation characteristics and phase qualities at all frequencies.

The transition area between the mid-range driver and the treble unit is smoothly modelled and recessed towards the tweeter, with the aim of achieving perfect radiation characteristics in this critical transitional area, and of optimising the group delay of the mid-range and treble units. That is why the baffle is as narrow as possible where the treble unit is located.