Loudspeakers

Falcon Acoustics claims 89dB sensitivity for the Studio 30 but our measured pink noise and 'music' figures of 87.4dB and 86.8dB indicate that 87dB would be a more realistic figure. And the specified 8ohm nominal impedance is optimistic too. With a measured minimum modulus of 2.9ohm, the Studio 30 doesn't even really merit a 4ohm nominal rating, though this would still be more appropriate. Particularly as impedance phase angles are sufficiently high to drop the minimum EPDR (equivalent peak dissipation resistance) to a low 1.3ohm at 379Hz, with another dip to 1.7ohm - a more typical figure for a speaker of the Studio 30's ilk - at 96Hz. These figures indicate that the Studio 30 presents a less than benign amplifier load, requiring an amplifier happy to drive low impedances.

Its forward frequency response [Graph 1, above] is characterised by some excess energy around 1.5-2kHz, a hint of a 'BBC dip' through the presence band, and more excess energy in the extreme treble above 10kHz. But the response irregularities are small enough for one of the pair to achieve a creditable ±2.6dB response error, although the other does less well at ±3.7dB. Pair matching over the same 300Hz-20kHz range is a little poor at ±2.5dB but falls to a better ±1.3dB below 11kHz. Diffraction-corrected nearfield measurements showed the bass extension to be 57Hz (-6dB re. 200Hz) and the low-frequency response to be classic for a reflex-loaded loudspeaker: almost flat down to 70Hz with a steep 24dB/octave roll-off thereafter. The CSD waterfall [Graph 2, above] shows almost perfect behaviour through the treble: fast initial decay with only low-level resonances evident, most notably at around 6kHz. KH