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Laurence A. Borden & the horn tower of Teresonic Ingenium
June, 2006
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IN THE BEGINNING
Let me begin with what is now an oft-told tale. In the early days of audio, amplifiers were tube-based and
of low power. The speakers they powered were, by necessity, of high efficiency/sensitivity, often
incorporating horns. The introduction of the transistor dramatically changed the landscape as it became
possible to obtain higher power, and to do so relatively inexpensively. With the availability of higher
powered amps, speaker designers no longer had to be concerned with efficiency. Horns were slowly
replaced by conventional dynamic driver designs, which used multiple drivers and more complex
crossovers. The popularity of this approach is apparent from a quick visit to most any high-end audio
store, and by the success of brands such as B&W, Thiel, Wilson, etc.
However, as time passed, an increasing number of audiophiles became disappointed with this supposed
advance. While the new breed of speakers and amps had greater frequency range and lower distortion
than earlier designs, many listeners found that the former lacked the ability to communicate the emotional
content of the music. Thus began - - first in Japan and later in the United States and Europe -- a
resurgence of simplicity, as manifested by single-ended triode (“SET”) amps and high efficiency
speakers. The subject of this review, the Teresonic Ingenium loudspeaker, is a high efficiency speaker
utilizing a single driver (and thus no cross-over).
THE SPEAKERS
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Teresonic is a relatively new company which, presently, sells only
direct to the consumer. Their product line comprises two models, the
smaller Integrum and the larger Ingenium, each of which utilizes a
single Lowther driver. The Ingenium review samples come standard
with a Lowther DX3 driver, though the DX4 is available for additional
cost. While Lowthers are typically described as being full-range
drivers, they are not actually so in the sense that they do not cover the
entire range from 20 to 20,000 Hz. Accordingly, one must utilize an
appropriate cabinet to increase their output, especially at the lower
frequencies. Teresonic uses a modified transmission line design
which they refer to as ETQWT™ (Enhanced Tapered Quarter Wave
Transmission line), with Helmholtz resonators. Unlike many modern
speakers which aim for an absence of cabinet resonance, the
cabinet of the Ingenium is “tuned” like a musical instrument to
introduce its own resonances and overtones, and to cancel out some
unwanted peaks associated with the Lowther driver. As expected,
rapping on the side reveals a resonant cabinet.
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Teresonic Integrum
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THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN TWO POINTS...
The original plan was for me to review the smaller Integrum. Once en route, Teresonic provided me with
the tracking number so I would know when to expect delivery. When the speakers didn’t arrive as
scheduled I contacted the courier and was assured that they would arrive the next day. To make a long
story short, this episode repeated itself daily for almost two weeks, at which point the carrier
acknowledged that one of the two packages was missing. After still more calls I learned that they had
found the missing package but that it had been damaged. Back to the manufacturer they went. Mike
Zivkovic at Teresonic quickly dispatched a brand new set of speakers to me, this time a pair of Ingeniums
to make up for the aggravation (which of course, was not his fault). The Ingeniums arrived promptly. I was
delighted to see and learn that Teresonic packs their speakers in specially constructed crates (one
speaker per crate). How the carrier managed to damage one of them (in the first shipment) will remain
one of life’s mysteries. Within the crates the speakers are further protected against scratches by a
material sack, and the speaker wires come in beautiful wood boxes. All-in-all, packaging is handled
extremely professionally.
Unfortunately, upon unpacking the speakers and setting them up, it was immediately apparent that one of
the drivers was damaged as it emitted a terrible buzzing sound. Because of their very high tolerances, it is
not uncommon for the Lowther’s voice coil to become misaligned. I tried to realign it (with the help of friend
and audio dealer who is quite familiar with Lowthers), but the driver continued to misbehave, so Teresonic
sent me a brand new matched pair of drivers. Kudos to Mike for keeping such a cool head during these
mishaps. The drivers were easy to install, and have thankfully performed without incident. If this proves to
be a recurring problem, the folks at Teresonic might want to consider shipping the Lowthers separately
from the speakers and letting the customers install them.
LOOKS DO COUNT
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I pride myself on choosing audio components for the way they sound,
not the way they look. In fact, some of the best components I have
owned have been rather mundane looking. That said, the Ingeniums
are downright gorgeous, and it is difficult to not be smitten by them.
The fit n’ finish is world class, and their shape is everything I am not -
- tall and slim, with beautiful flowing lines. I imagine they will win
admiring glances in any setting. The front face is magnificent
rosewood, while the sides are black.
The Ingeniums are 73” tall, 10” wide and 20” deep. They form a
gentle “S” with the driver mounted approximately in the middle of the
vertical axis, on the front convexity. The transmission line opens at
the bottom front. The binding posts are on the back opposite the
drivers; and are thus some distance from the floor. This geometry
must be taken into account when calculating the required length of
speaker wire. Speaking of speaker wire, I used both my reference
Stealth Audio MLT hybrid wire, as well as Teresonic’s own Clarison
speaker cables for this review. With a sensitivity of greater than 100
dB, the Ingeniums will of course be quite sensitive to extraneous
noise. With both brands of speaker wire, I had only the slightest hiss
through the speakers, which was inaudible from the seating position.
Positioning the speakers was a trade-off between bass response
and soundstage depth. In their final position, the front face of the
Lowther was 51” from the front wall, and 38” from the side wall. The
centers of the speakers were approximately 8 feet apart, and I sat 8-
10 feet away from the speakers (measured on the diagonal). I
preferred them with no toe-in.
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THE SOUND
As noted above, the review speakers had brand new Lowthers. If ever there was an audio component that
required extensive break-in, it is the Lowther driver. Right out of the box, the sound was awful. As in
dreadful. As in “what-the-heck-is wrong with these things?” Think thin and screechy. But with time, things
changed dramatically, all for the better. As of this writing I have played them for a few hundred hours, and it
is unlikely that the Lowthers are yet completely broken in. Anyone who buys these speakers should keep
in mind the long break-in, lest you jump to an incorrect conclusion.
Considering that the Ingeniums use but a single driver and lack a cross-over, it is hardly surprising that
their sonics reflect the characteristics of that driver, for better and for worse. The Ingenium’s strong points
are considerable and can be summed up in a just a few words. Speed. Palpability. Coherence. Lowther
drivers are praised the world over for their startling midrange, and the Ingeniums exhibit this property to its
fullest. To listen to the Ingeniums is to be reminded of just how compromised many (most?) speakers are
in the all-important midrange. Let’s start with speed.
Audiophiles often speak of dynamics, which refers to the range between the softest passage and the
loudest. While frequency range of the speaker obviously has an impact, so does the ability of the speaker
to respond quickly to dynamic changes. In fact, I feel that speed is arguably more important; given the
choice, I would choose a fast speaker with limited frequency range over a fuller-range but slower one. In
considering dynamics, it is useful to distinguish between macrodynamics and microdynamics. The former
refers to the change in volume from a soft passage to a loud one, whereas the latter refers to the structure
of an individual note: its rise, sustenance and decay. Whereas macrodynamics are more ear-catching,
microdynamic structure is equally important to realistic musical reproduction. Far too many systems are
simply too sluggish to properly reproduce a note. The Ingeniums, on the other hand, are lightning-fast. Be
it the pluck of a string, the thwack of a stick, or the breath into a horn, the Ingeniums reproduce the sound
with startling realism, imbuing the music with life and energy. By comparison, many other speakers seem
dull and lifeless.
Which brings us to palpability and coherence. A problem facing any designer of multi-driver speakers is
that of driver integration. Some designers succeed admirably; others fail miserably, while most fall
between these two extremes. In the worst cases, the discontinuity between drivers is readily apparent due
to different tonalities and/or dispersion. In the best of cases, it is barely noticeable - - until one listens to a
single driver speaker such as the Ingenium. Through the Ingeniums, music is reproduced as a coherent
whole, rather than as a bunch of pieces being fit together. We have all experienced live music in which the
band is “tight.” We have similarly heard performances in which the various performers just didn’t seem to
be on the same wavelength (pun intended). It is my belief that what accounts for this disparity relates to
timing. When a band is tight, the musicians are playing in perfect unison, and often seem as though they
can read each other’s minds. While I am loathe to make too strong a comparison between live music and
that which is recorded and reproduced, I feel that the analogy is reasonable. Music played back through
the Ingeniums is akin to hearing a tight band - - all the parts seem properly connected. In conjunction with
their speed, this property made the music sound more life-like than with virtually any other speaker I have
heard. High praise indeed! One could almost see the musicians smiling as they played off one another;
some times harmonizing perfectly, other times intentionally slightly off beat, and still other times with
perhaps a bit of one-upmanship. I cannot over-emphasize that this is not just about correct tonality, or
harmonic lushness, but something far more intrinsic to the music. As with pornography, when you hear it,
you know it. And once heard, one immediately understands why designers of crossover-less, single driver
speakers are so adamant about the importance of this approach.
Of course, the Ingeniums allowed me to hear very deeply into the music. This was not the kind of treble
highlighting that certain speakers display but rather, an incredible portrayal of the instrument’s harmonics.
When listening in particular to string instruments, I had a greater sense of the body of the instrument than
with most other speakers.
As mentioned above, Lowthers greatest strength is in the midrange. The human voice falls predominantly
in this frequency range, and through the Ingeniums it is magnificent. Listening to well recorded vocal
recordings through the Ingeniums was always a treat. They were at once dynamic, full-bodied, and vivid;
truly a sublime experience.
The soundstage produced by the Ingeniums was of reasonable width and depth. Where the Ingeniums
excelled was in the layering of the instruments. This was not the kind of phony imaging in which one can
draw imaginary lines around the instruments. Rather, it was more a sense of each instrument occupying
its own sonic space. This too added to the realism.
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Are the Ingeniums perfect? Of
course not, no speaker is. Their
weaknesses are in two main areas.
First, although Teresonic lists the
specifications of the Integrum as
30Hz-22kHz ± 3dB, my ears tell me
that the frequency response was
considerably narrower in my room.
(The transmission line is, I believe,
tuned to 35 Hz.) The high
frequencies did not the air and
sparkle I am used to from, for
example, my reference Horning
Agathon Ultimates (which have a
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this problem. The lack of lower
frequency energy was more of a
problem, making some recordings
sounding a bit thin. While this is
obviously highly room-dependent,
purchasers of the Ingeniums should
consider augmenting the bass with
a subwoofer. I should point out that
this is the case with other
well-regarded single driver
speakers, for example, those from
Beauhorn, Cain & Cain, or Rethm.
The second problem is that despite
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tweeter), nor did the bas go
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the designer’s best efforts, the
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particularly low. The lack of high
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Ingeniums retained some of the
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frequencies, while noticeable, did
not bother me a great deal. (I
believe that the output of the DX3
drops off dramatically above about
13,500 Hz.) Substitution of the DX3
by the DX4 should somewhat lessen
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“Lowther shout.” This manifests as
an unpleasant peakiness, the
degree of which varies with
recording and type of music. This
was somewhat ameliorated by use
of the optional phase equalizer,
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which I used for most of my listening. Not surprisingly, the shout is more apparent with digital recordings
than with those on vinyl, and with electronically amplified music - say, rock and roll- than with acoustic
music such as blues and other small ensembles. In fairness, there are a number of caveats that must be
mentioned.
First and perhaps most important, as mentioned above I doubt that the Lowthers are yet fully broken in. It
is well known that as the drivers break in, the shout diminishes. Second, individuals differ considerably in
their perception of and sensitivity to high frequency distortion; I happen to be exquisitely sensitive. Third,
my amplifiers, the Tube Distinctions Soul monoblocks, which use parallel single-ended KT88s for the
output, are quite revealing. Pairing the Ingeniums with a warmer sounding SET amp will undoubtedly
diminish the shout, albeit at the expense of some clarity and frequency extension. Fourth, for
pyschoacoustic reasons, increasing the bass with a subwoofer will tend to make the shout less apparent.
As such, the shout I experienced should not be deemed a deal-breaker and in fact, may prove to be at
most a minor weakness.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
Unlike woolen winter hats, when it comes to speakers, one size does not fit all. Much as we would like to
pretend otherwise, no speaker does it all. Not only must one take into account the relative physical sizes
of the speaker and room, other factors such as musical taste and sonic priorities must be considered. For
example, while very large speakers such as the Nola Grand Exotica or the Dali Megalines excel at
reproducing orchestral music in all their splendor, they are less adept at conveying the subtleties of softer
musical pieces. In contrast, a speaker such as the venerable Quad 57 is amongst the best ever made in
reproducing smaller ensembles, but is simply incapable of the larger SPLs and frequency range of more
majestic pieces. The Ingeniums are closer to the Quad in this regard. They provide exquisite reproduction
of vocals and acoustic music, be it folk, jazz or chamber. With such music, the realism they provide is
uncanny, and superior to that of many speakers on the market.
The Ingeniums provide an emotional connection to the music that truly must be heard to be believed. On
the other hand, because of their somewhat limited frequency range, and a bit of edginess as discussed
above, they are less suited to electronic music such as hard rock. Fortunately, it is unlikely that those who
prefer such music would opt for a single-driver speaker.
Their retail price of approximately $9,000 (not counting a subwoofer) is hardly insignificant, and many
excellent speakers are available at this price point (or lower). That said, the Ingeniums bring to bear the
great strengths of the Lowther driver in a stunning package, and will provide hours of listening pleasure for
those whose tastes are aligned with their design goals. Now that they are on the way back to the
manufacturer, I will most assuredly miss them.
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Some of the Music Used in the Evaluation of the Teresonic Ingeniums
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Clifford Jordan Quartet, :Live at Ethyl’s”
(Mapleshade MS 56292)
Count Basie & His Orchestra, “88 Basie
Street,” (JVCXR -0021-2)
Blues Guitars for the Homeless, “Strike a
Deep Chord”
Ella Fitzgerald, “The Cole Porter Songbook,
Volume One (Verve 821 989-2)
Jorma Kaukonen, “Blue Country Heart,”
(Columbia 9699-86394-2 3)
Jimmy Raney, “Solo” (Prevue Classic records(
CD PR 8; 6 01704-0008-2 4)
Corey Harris, “Fish Ain’t Bitin’ (ALCD 4850; 0
14551-4850-2 5)
Gregg Field, “The Art of Swing,” (Lauren
Records DZS-172; 0 10963 01722 9)
Steve Earle, “Train a Comin’”(Winter Harvest
WH 3302, 7 91337 33022 8)
Rubinstein, “The Chopin Ballads & Scherzos
(Living Stereo SCAD, BMG 82876-61396-2)
Benny Goodman, Stompin’ at the Savoy” (BMG
7863-61067-2)
Allman Brothers Band, “Live at the Fillmore”
(Capricon SD2-802)
Gene Krupa Quartet, Max Roach/Clifford
Brown Quintet (JG 633)
The Tony Bennett Bill Evans Album (Fantasy F-
9489)
Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, “Texas
Flood” (CBS 7464-38734-1)
The Who, “Who’s Next” (MCA-2023)
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Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 (Warner Brothers 0
7599-26324-1 06)
Blues Breakers, John Mayall and Eric Clapton
(London Records LC50009)
John Lee Hooker, “The Folk Blues of John
Lee Hooker” (Fantasy CH 282; 0 29617 12821
6)
Lightnin’ Hopkins, “Goin’ Away” (Analogue
Productions APB014)
Bille Holiday, “Strange Fruit” (Atlantic 5D1614)
Bob Dylan, “Blonde on Blonde” (Columbia
C2S841)
Derek and the Dominoes, “Layla” (RSO
Records Rs-2-3801)
Led Zeppelin (Atlantic SD 8216)
Big Brother & the Holding Company, “Cheap
Thrills” (Columbia PC 9700)
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MANUFACTURER'S COMMENT:
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Many Lowther fans have drivers that are already broken-in. We
are pleased to announce that both Integrum and Ingenium
models are now available with or without drivers. Email to
mike@teresonic.com for pricing.
Speaker break-in is a necessity for a number of reasons, but
the bottom line is sonic improvement. The resonant frequency
of the driver stabilizes at the specified value which is critical for
proper functioning of the Teresonic design. Teresonic’s unique
dual-tuned design actively contributes to the overall sonic
experience unlike many other manufacturers who use cabinetry
as a passive element housing multiple drivers. That’s also why
the music instrument-like shape of Teresonic speakers is an
essential design element. The aesthetics of the “…stunning
package” doesn’t hurt either.
The resonant frequency of drivers out of the box is usually much
higher than Lowther’s specified 36Hz, sometimes over 50Hz,
and stabilizes after 200-300 hours of use. Some Teresonic
customers report hearing a sadden sound improvement,
describing it as a “snap-in”, when the drivers reach their
specified resonant frequency enabling the acoustic chamber in
the cabinet to kick-in and reveal all of the beauty of the
Teresonic sound that the reviewer describes as “…the music
sound more life-like than with virtually any other speaker I have
heard.”
The speaker review process is a nontrivial exercise: involved,
expensive, and often, months long. As a manufacturer, we take
reviews very seriously and appreciate a knowledgeable and
highly professional reviewer like Larry Borden. We hope that
dagogo.com readers will be able to learn from his vast
audiophile experience and this excellent article - as we did.
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DAGOGO© 2006
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