Austrian loudspeaker manufacturer Trenner & Friedl has a thing for coaxial drivers. They’re used in at least three of the company’s eight loudspeaker models, including the diminutive Sun bookshelf speaker and the large floorstanding Taliesin. In these models, T&F eschew more conventional stacked drivers for a putatively time-aligned, wide-frequency range coaxial design.

I first encountered T&F’s approach when I reviewed the above-mentioned Sun, which proved to be the best small loudspeaker experience I’ve ever had. And I do mean small, as in 8.25″ high by 6.25″ wide by 5.5″ deep and weighing a scant 7lb.… Read the full article

It is said that while any competent engineer can design a superb loudspeaker if allowed an unlimited bill of materials, the true test is being able to produce a great-sounding, budget-priced speaker out of parts that cost a mere handful of dollars. With PSB’s Alpha series of bookshelf speakers, Canadian engineer Paul Barton has illustrated this truism many times over the years.

The first PSB Alpha was reviewed for Stereophile by Jack English in July 1992. A modest-looking two-way priced at just $199/pair, it combined a reflex-loaded 6.5″ woofer using a plastic-doped paper cone with a 0.5″ plastic-dome tweeter.… Read the full article