Tower Speaker Reviews

This graph shows the quasi-anechoic (employing close-miking of all woofers) frequency response of the F50 L/R (purple trace), B15 subwoofer (blue trace), C50 center channel (green trace), and S30 surround (red trace). All passive loudspeakers were measured at a distance of 1 meter with a 2.83-volt input and scaled for display purposes.

The F50's listening-window response (a five-point average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal and vertical responses) measures +1.68/–1.45 decibels from 200 hertz to 10 kilohertz. The –3dB point is at 25 Hz, and the –6dB point is at 23 Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of 3.00 ohms at 273 Hz and a phase angle of –92.24 degrees at 40 Hz. Sensitivity averages 85.5 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz.

The C50's listening-window response measures +1.02/–1.93 dB from 200 Hz to 10 kHz. An average of axial and +/–15-degree horizontal responses measures +1.92/–2.22 dB from 200 Hz to 10 kHz. The –3dB point is at 85 Hz, and the –6dB point is at 64 Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of 2.97 ohms at 143 Hz and a phase angle of +22.68 degrees at 66 H z. Sensitivity averages 89.5 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz.

The S30's three-face averaged response in dipole mode measures +1.99/–3.09 dB from 200 Hz to 10 kHz. The –3dB point is at 92 Hz, and the –6dB point is at 75 Hz. Impedance reaches a minimum of 3.12 ohms at 190 Hz and a phase angle of –56.88 degrees at 111 Hz. Sensitivity averages 88.5 dB from 500 Hz to 2 kHz.

The B15's close-miked response, normalized to the average level from 40 to 80 Hz, indicates that the lower –3dB point is at 20 Hz and the –6dB point is at 18 Hz. The upper –3dB point is at 78 Hz with the low-pass filter set to on and the low-pass-frequency control set to 80.—AJ