Stereophile: Escalante Design’s The Freemont

"Now that's real room lock," I exclaimed, listening to the deep pedal organ notes from John Mark’s recording of James Bustard playing Herbert Howell’s Master Tallis’ Testament, recorded at the Church of St. Stevens in Providence, Rhode Island. Tierry Budge's new loudspeaker, the floorstanding, two-way, Pearlized White, $18,990/pair speaker played the pipe organ pedal chords with thunder and power when driven by the VTL S-400 amplifier and the new dCS digital front-end on one of the Sound By Singer rooms. The speaker's large enclosure holds both an external 12" woofer and an internal 12" driver, which allows Budge to rate the speaker's response down to an impressive 18Hz. Budge claims the internal 12" minimizes group delay, reducing the driver's rise time from its nominal 500ms to 55ms. The tweeter is soft-dome, ring radiator made by Scan Speak.

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Reader Comments

Posted Sun May13, 2007, 10:35 AM — By Zombie

What is the "new dCS front end"?

Posted Mon May14, 2007, 9:31 AM — By Wes Phillips

BTW, what looks like the dust cap on the big woofer is the midrange transducer. The Fremont, as I understand it, is a three-way.

Posted Thu May17, 2007, 11:10 AM — By Tierry Budge

Another BTW...First of all, Fremont is spelled with one "e" (typical misreading...not that big of a deal.) However, the "rise time" of a typical 12" woofer is 5000uS (or more) whereas, in this loading, the rise time is 55uS...almost 100 times faster! (There is also an internal 12" woofer that takes the 18-80 Hz range...making it function more like a 4-way.) Tierry Budge

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