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TDL RTL 3
Reflex Transmission Line Speakers
First and foremost, this is a speaker that is not for the faint hearted. They are quite a large speaker and have monstrous bass that can sometimes overwhelm the listener.
With regards to the amplifier, although the paperwork from the manufacturer states that a power level in excess of 20 watts is enough, personally I would recommend that you run them with no less than 60-80 watts to avoid damaging the drivers (I have lost count of the number of emails from people wanting to track down replacement drivers after frying the voice coils due to under-powered amplifiers). If at all possible run bi-amped. Oh, and do connect the spikes as the bass will be unmanageable if you neglect to do this.
Having said all that, these are a very nice floor standing speaker both aesthetically and in their rich sound. Mine are in a Rosewood Veneer finish and have a Black Ash plinth with spikes for isolation.
Because they have been designed as a Reflex Transmission Line design, they do tend to favor the bass end of the spectrum. This makes them ideal for rock and pop music. Jazz music, as always is a dream.
Room positioning is not particularly critical and they can more or less bet connected up and forgotten about. The RTL3 performs at it best when situated in a larger room.
The RTL3's have three drivers each, two Bass Units and one Tweeter. The Two Bass units within these 'Reflex Transmission Line' loudspeakers further enhance bass performance, contributing to increased sensitivity and additional power handling. They are also Bi-wirable/Bi-ampable and sound at their best when bi-amped. Indeed, they possess the ability to accurately portray the original performance at realistic sound levels, especially when being driven by a powerful amplification system.
They do sound a bit raucous on the Bass at times but I tamed mine with a neutral Pre-Amp and a decent set of speaker cables. The midband can on occasion's sometimes sound a bit sucked in but the sound soon grew on me.
I personally owned and used a pair of TDL RTL3's for 18 months now and was most impressed with their performance. I was driving them with an AUDIOLAB 8000C Pre-Amp and 4 x ROTEL RB970 Power-Amps with QED Silver 12 Cable. My main source at that point was a RDD/RDP980 Transport & DAC from ROTEL.
The following URL has lots of good information on modifying the RTL3 http://www.1388.com/articles/tdl/
System Reflex Transmission Line Loading floorstanding Drive Units Bass Units Two 172 mm loaded polypropylene cone with forward roll rubber surround and phase plug - long throw double wound coil with bump back magnet yoke Tweeter 25 mm soft dome ferro fluid cooled Crossover Electrical 2 way second order network at 2.5 kHz - Biwired Frequency Range 20 Hz - 20 kHz Sensitivity 90 dB at 1 Metre for 1 Watt Input Impedance 8 Ohm nominal Amplifier Requirements 20 - 120 Watt Per channel Dimensions 888 mm High (plus spikes) x 200 mm Wide x 375 mm Deep (BIG SUCKERS!)
Finish Black Ash or Rosewood Weight 21 Kg each (Packed)
Mick Evans 1999
-2000Last updated 11 July 2000
e-mail kevlar@kevlar.karoo.co.uk
