What would speakers sound like if they had the acoustic quality found in high-end guitar construction? Those with $2,000 in their pockets will be able to find out via the new Onkyo D-TK10 speakers. These 200-watt speakers, which are limited to just fifty pairs a month due to the reportedly labor-intensive assembly process, were designed jointly with guitar manufacturer Takamine. Insteadof the old standard “inert-box acoustics of conventional speaker cabinetry”, as described by Onkyo, the D-TK10 speakers have a “freely vibrating thin-wall enclosure” which harnesses sounds normally absorbed within through “strategic placement of struts, stringers and thickness variations”.
Image Courtesy of Onkyo The end result of this rather unique speaker design is what Onkyo says is deliverance of “a much fuller and richer sonic character”. The D-TK10, ofwhich development was first worked on in 2003, has a bass-reflex cabinet which is constructed with mahogany as part of a three-layer laminate and offers an internal bracing system to help with propercabinet vibration. The speaker’s four-inch cone woofer sports a lightweight and rigid Onkyo created monocoque diaphragm, which the manufacturer says helps “prevent driver breakup even athigh excursions”. Joining the four-inch cone woofer is a one-inch ring-drive tweeter capable of getting flat frequency response upwards of 100 kHz. The speakers’ construction alsoincludes gold-plated binding posts and magnetic shielding. Technical specifications of the D-TK10 include 4 ohms nominal impedance, a crossover frequency of 3.5 kHz and a sensitivity of 80 db/W/m. More details on the Onkyo D-TK10 speakers can be found at Onkyo’s Web site.
