T&A-An Interesting Speaker Design

T+A Solitaire
By John Atkinson • Posted: Jan 13, 2011 • Published: Jan 13, 2011



The German T+A brand is now being distributed in the US by Dynaudio North America and having only been aware of their electronic products, I was surprised when I went into the T+A room at CES to see a large pair of speakers, the Solitaire CWT2000s ($45,000/pair). However, "I have been designing speakers since the company started," explained T+A's Siegfreid "Siggi" Amft, seen here with his creation.
The speaker features an electrostatic tweeter, 45mm wide but mechanically split into three 15mm-wide sections. as the frequency increases, the crossover increasingly cuts off drive to the outer sections, maintaining lateral dispersion. Adjacent to the tweeter is an array of six 6" cone midrange units, with the higher frequencies mainly being handled by the central units, again to optimize dispersion. Two pairs of 10" woofers complete the driver complem3nt, one pair being mounted each side of the enclosure and driven in-phase so that their reactive forces cancel. The sealed-box alignment is said to give a –dB point of 37Hz. Two more, smaller, less expensive Solitaire models will be launched later in the year.

The T+A speakers were bring driven by T+A M10 hybrid monoblocks ($33,000/pair), which use a tube input stage capable of delivering the full output voltage required by the speakers, with then a solid-state current amplifier providing the necessary cone-controlling grunt.

Sounds like a good frequency to cut in a sub. Hey I don't make 'em I just report 'em.

"Imitation is the sincerest..." form of patent infringement. Is the wisdom electrostat or ribbon?

JV had this to say:
T+A showed its $45k Solitaire, which combines an electrostatic tweeter with six cone midranges in a line array and two side-mounted 10” woofers in a sealed enclosure. Believe it or not, the Solitaire produced the deepest bass I heard at the show. Unfortunately, that sensational bass did not mate up seamlessly with the Solitaire’s mids and treble. (It’s hard to mate ’stats with anything other than more ’stats.) This slight bass discontinuity might have been exacerbated by room or placement; whatever the reason it did darken the soundfield, although it didn’t keep timbres on cuts like “Cry Me A River” from being lovely nor did it reduce detail, which was exceptionally high, top to bottom. This is an interesting and ambitious speaker, which, though not wholly successful, did some things better than any other at the show.