Reference 3A Dulcet Review, by Derek Stewart.
Disclaimer: I run a small audio business out of my home, and Reference 3A is one of the brands that I carry.
I first heard of the Dulcets about a year ago, when I first started selling Reference 3A speakers. At that time, I had just been blown away by the clarity, detail, and disappearing act performed by the MM de Capo i's. I liked the de Capos so much I promptly put my Sonus Faber Grand Pianos up for sale and didn’t look back.
I was eagerly awaiting my pair of Dulcets for months and drove the distributor crazy asking for updates. They finally arrived a couple of weeks ago, after their official debut at the CES show. Upon opening the box, I saw exactly what Diane (at Divergent Technologies) had described. They were “like little jewels.” The colour is better than the pictures on their website. The wood grain comes through very nicely, which is hard to see in the web pictures. The tweeters and the connections on the rear appear to be the same models used in the MM de Capo i (Though I can’t say for sure). I am told the voice coil, phase plug, and magnet are the same as the MM de Capo i also. Apparently the magnet had to be filed down somewhat to fit into the cabinet.
Like any eager audiophile, I ignored the break-in procedure and sat down for some listening. The speakers were still cold to the touch from their trip across Canada, to my place in Vancouver. I hooked them up and hit play on my SACD player. I was immediately taken by the size of the sound. Physically, the Dulcets look tiny when sitting beside the MM de Capos, but their soundstage did not reflect the small size of the cabinet. This first listening session lasted only about 30 minutes, as it was time for bed, but I slept knowing that the Dulcets were likely going to live up to my expectations. I put my pink noise break-in CD on repeat and let the Dulcets break in for the next 4 days.
For the first serious listening session, I set the Dulcets on a pair of 28” Atlantis “Pro” stands, filled with sand. The listening seat was placed in the recommend triangle location, with the speakers 35” from the sidewalls and 50” from the rear wall. The room dimensions are approximately 18’ long, by 13’ wide, by 7’ high.
The rest of the system was as follows:
Source - Shanling SCD-S200 SACD player
Preamp – Linar Audio Model 2 (from the guy who started SimAudio)
Amplifier – Linar Audio 250i (150+ watts per channel)
Interconnects – Acoustic Zen Silver Reference and WOW
Speaker Cables – Acoustic Zen Hologram (with Satori Jumpers, not the stock Cardas jumpers)
The first disc played was Moodsville, from Bennie Wallace (Groovenote SACD). This disc has a very lush, warm tone, with lots of raspiness in the saxophone. The Dulcets delivered those traits with a very full and powerful soundstage. The high frequencies and midrange sound very much like the MM de Capo i. The open and airy sense is almost identical. The soundstage is very deep, though maybe not as deep as the de Capos. I could hear all the “reedy” sounds in the saxophone that I expected, with lots of “meat” to the sound. The only drawback at this point was that the sound was still a bit tight (i.e. more break-in needed). A slight increase in volume cured this. The Dulcets clearly need more power to obtain decent listening volumes than the de Capos. The equivalent volume setting for the Dulcets would have me running for cover with the de Capos.
After another day of break-in at elevated volume levels, I again sat down with the Dulcets. The first disc played was Muddy Waters “Folk Singer” in SACD. A fantastic recording that came through with tone of emotion. The Dulcets were powerful, dynamic, and deep. The stand-up bass sounded so realistic that I checked to see if I had left my subwoofer on (I sometimes use a James Loudspeaker EMB1000 with my de Capos). No sub, but awesome bass extension. I should note that the bass response is clearly improved if you are sitting right at the perfect triangle position or closer to the Dulcets. Farther out from that position, the lowest frequencies quickly drop off, but the sound is still fantastic. The vocals were solid, accurate, and filled with detail. When the track “Good Morning Little School Girl” came on, the room was filled with sound. These little speakers really outperform their size.
The next disc I played was Dead Can Dance’s “Toward the Within.” This is a great live recording that gives a clear sense of volume and ambience in the theatre. I think this disc really showed the true potential of the Dulcets. I found myself not caring about the usual strengths and weaknesses of speakers. I got totally lost in the music, and with my eyes closed, envisioned a Dead Can Dance show I attended in Vancouver about 8 years ago. The soundstage was entirely realistic, with no hint of where the speakers were located. The large percussion used on stage came across as though I was there. The dynamics of the live performance, from the soft flute solo to the frantic pace of “Cantara”, were delivered in such a manner that I re-lived the live performance I had seen. Lisa Gerard’s beautiful voice came cutting through all the instruments, giving layer upon layer of sound, spread across the stage.
After the Dead Can Dance performance, I wanted to see just how powerful the Dulcets could be. I played a couple of electronic music discs. The first was Amon Tobin’s “Bricolage” which is a mixture of jazz samples, heavy beats, and various distorted noises. I have tried this disc with the MM de Capos in the past with mixed results. There is some very deep electronic bass, as well as very scratchy artificial electronic noises. These scratchy noises can be a bit painful with the MM de Capos, but were quite different with the Dulcets. The Dulcets seem to be a bit more forgiving of bright, distorted noises. I suppose this could be a strong point or a weakness, depending on how you look at it. In this case, it was a strong point as it allowed me to listen to some fairly obnoxious electronic music without causing my ears to bleed. To put it bluntly, these little speakers Rock. The only area where I noticed a weakness was in the very lowest notes. Amon Tobin likes to use some extremely low frequencies that rumble the foundations (< 40 Hz). With a subwoofer, these notes are felt. With the Dulcets, I could barely detect them.
Higher bass notes are quite strong however, as I found out when I played “Dirty Dancing” by Swayzak. Dirty Dancing is an album done in a sort of retro industrial-dance style: lots of synthesizer, pounding bass, and vocal effects. The “nightclub” feel came across fairly well with the Dulcets, but there was a lack of real in-your-face power. I have been able to obtain truly saturating sound/bass levels when using the MM de Capos and the James subwoofer, so much so that it could rival many nightclubs for volume. The Dulcets are clearly not designed for this sort of thing, but I figured it was my duty to find out what their limits were. They performed very well, given their size.
Wanting to revert back to my somewhat refined self, I next played Tafelmusik’s “A baroque Feast”. This is a collection of Baroque Classical music performed by a Toronto orchestra that uses period instruments, and recorded in a church. They are known around the world for the fantastic performances of music by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, and the other great Baroque masters. The Dulcets did a great job of delivering the texture of the instruments. The instruments played include Cello, Violin, Oboe, Bassoon, and Harpsichord, each of which has its own unique frequency range and personality. The Dulcets articulated these characteristics in the manner to what I have become accustomed with the MM de Capos. There is inner detail unique to each Cello, rasp when the bows are drawn, and the sense of resonance in the instruments’ bodies. The Oboe stood out strongly, with pinpoint accuracy in the soundstage. The bassoon was powerful, yet still in the background. The only real fault I noticed was that the sense of “largeness” was somewhat diminished during the quiet periods. (Compared to the de Capo i). The Dulcets may simply require a bit more volume or power to deliver the goods.
After a couple of days of listening with the Solid State Linar amplifier, I tried my Shanling SP-80 mono-blocks (50 watts EL34, push/pull).
The sound was very similar in most respects except the soundstage. The Shanling amplifiers, while not as fast and detailed as the Linar, deliver a deeper soundstage and put the listener further back in the audience. The overall performance of the Dulcets did not suffer at this lower power level, but I don’t think you would want to run these speakers with the very small SET amps. The SP-80’s are the lowest powered amp I have, so I cannot offer any comments in that respect.
Overall, the Reference 3A Dulcet speakers are quite amazing. They really do sound larger than many floor-standing speakers and yet still deliver most of the refinement that MM de Capo owners are accustomed to. They may not be for the SET crowd, but can really rock with 50 watts. Anyone looking for a small speaker with a large sound really needs to hear these before forking over his or her hard-earned cash.
Feel free to ask any questions you might have about the Dulcets or the way I have them set up. I don’t check the forum very often, so it might be best to send me an e-mail if you post a question that needs responding. If you live in the Vancouver area, give me a shout and we can arrange a time for you to hear them.
Regards,
Derek Stewart
Natural Frequency Audio
Vancouver, BC
Phone: 604-258-7995
Mobile: 604-897-7996
info@nfaudio.com
www.nfaudio.com[/b]
