Coincident Speaker Technology was established by Israel Blume in 1993 for the sole purpose of creating a superior loudspeaker. Mr. Blume was ultimately dissatisfied with every loudspeaker he had ever owned or listened to. From the Quad ESL 63 to the Martin Logans, to Wilson Watts and almost everything in between exhibited sonic weakness that proved to be in the long term unacceptable. 

VIDEOHIFI interviews Coincident Speaker's Israel Blume

Blume put his over twenty five years of audio and music experience to work to conceptualize a loudspeaker that would reproduce music with no obvious or distracting perversions. He understood quite well the inherent limitations of electrostatic designs, i.e. the need for a signal contaminating high voltage step up transformer, its low sensitivity and large size et al. At the same time virtually all dynamic systems possessed their own set of compromises, namely, slow transient speed, small image size, etc.

Therefore, a new loudspeaker combining the best sonic attributes of cones and electrostatics had to be created. A daunting task to say the least. The first loudspeaker designed by Blume was the Concentric Monitor and its companion subwoofer, the Super Bass Monitor.

What made this speaker unique was its cylindrical enclosure. Unlike conventional cabinets, the Monitor was constructed out of computer cut MDF concentric rings. The advantages of this design was that its structural strength was typically 15 times greater than a prism shaped enclosure and furthermore rigidity was equal at all points. The fact that the enclosure was round also meant that internal standing waves were dramatically reduced.

The Monitor also used the finest tweeter and woofer extant and in keeping with Blume's philosophy, the crossover was very pure and simple using only the finest tested components. Many audiophiles and reviewers such as Frank Doris of The Absolute Sound were of the opinion that the Monitor system was one of the finest loudspeakers ever produced. However, there were three factors Blume felt he had to address before he could find acceptance in the marketplace with his dream speaker. Firstly, it had to more accessible aesthetically (which many felt the cylindrical enclosure was not), secondly it had to be less expensive to build (the Monitor was exceptionally labor intensive) and finally the speaker had to able to be driven by single ended tube amplifiers (which the Monitor could not).

The result of two years of design work culminated in the development of the Troubador speaker. Using extensive computer modelling, Blume was able to duplicate the sonic properties of a cylindrical enclosure but with the use of non parallelled flat plane walls. The most significant advantage of this type of enclosure is the elimination of internal standing waves.

Three types of standing waves affect all previously manufactured loudspeaker enclosures. The first and most powerful is the axial standing wave. The axial wave involves only two enclosure walls that are parallel to one another. Next in order of strength is the tangential standing wave which involves four enclosure walls that are parallel to one another. This type of standing wave has only half the energy of an axial wave (3db down). The last and least powerful standing wave is the oblique which involves six enclosure walls and it has only one fourth the energy of the axial wave (6db down).

How do standing waves degrade the performance of loudspeakers? A sound wave has a positive portion starting at 0 degrees to 180 degrees and a negative portion starting at 180 degrees. If the positive portion of the wave (i.e. compression) meets the negative portion (i.e. rarefaction), then the waves will combine and will be out of phase relative to each other. Likewise, if the positive portion of the waves meets another positive portion of the wave then the waves are in phase (i.e. the waves reinforce each other) the sound will be inordinately loud (i.e. the high pressure zone). Likewise, at locations in the enclosure where the sound waves are out of phase (one being negative and the other being positive) the sound waves cancel each other out and no sound will be heard (a low or no pressure zone).

The sonic result is uneven, boomy or sucked out bass response. The patented (#2157518) AWE (asymmetrical wall enclosure) eliminates the sonically deleterious effects of standing waves.

In a further attempt to eliminate the sonic contamination of loudspeaker enclosures, Blume uses enclosure tuning techniques. Instead of using resonant enclosure materials and then attempt futilely to damp them out, all Coincident enclosures are constructed from inherently non resonant materials that need no damping. The enclosures are then tuned to a high fundamental resonant frequency that is sonically undetectable.

The culmination of this arduous, painstaking journey has yielded a series of loudspeakers that offer unprecedented performance in each price category. From the Triumph Extreme to the Pure Reference, Coincident speakers sound better and are better constructed than competing designs at the same price.

Designer Israel Blume has recently realized his goal of building a true reference speaker that encompasses all the criterion he initially enumerated. That speaker is named the Pure Reference Extreme. This speaker is the most musically authentic loudspeaker in existence. It is capable of reproducing the musical signal fed to it with such verisimiltude that even a short audition will demonstrate this claim.

 

Electronics - Coincident began designing and building amplifiers in 2001 with the introduction of the MP 300B SET mono blocks and the MIP 300B integrated version of the MP 300B. Both were highly acclaimed and offered build quality and performance unmatched by any other. An intense R & D program and countless hours of aural evaluation lead to the breakthrough M300B Frankenstein amplifiers in 2005. The design goal of the Frankensteins was to manufacture the finest amplifier in the world which meant it had to be a single ended 300B design. The fact that most commercially available loudspeakers were not able to be driven by the purest, low powered amplifiers was of no concern since all Coincident models were ideally suited to this mode of amplification and some other well designed speakers were as well. The Frankensteins were designed and manufactured with no cost restraints. The goal was simple- it had to be the purest, most transparent, neutral amplifying device in existence. While the goal was simple, the realization of it was not. It took over 3 years of intense research and development, numerous prototypes and literally thousands of hours of auditioning before the dream was achieved. The M300B Frankenstein amplifiers may sell for a relatively modest price but there is no competing amplifier that is better constructed or compares sonically at any price.

Dragons - While we freely acknowledge that the Frankensteins offer the purest sonic reproduction available, Coincident felt there was a need for a high power amplifier that was capable of driving any speaker no matter how difficult a load. However, not only must this amplifier be so capable it had to come as close to the sonic purity of our reference Frankensteins as possible. The result is the Dragons.They are constructed exactly as the Frankensteins using the same components, circuit philosophy and state of the art construction but instead of being single ended it uses a pair of the finest sounding high powered DHT tubes available, namely the 211 in a push pull operating mode. To approach the sound of the Frankensteins yet offer unlimited drive ability, the Dragons had to use DHT output tubes in push pull. The driver tube had to be DHT as well and none better than the 300B. The end result is an amplifier that sounds like a 500 watt brute yet with 95% of the Frankenstein's finesse.

Preamplifiers - While there is no shortage of Line Stages available, none were capable of offering the absolute transparency of the best passive units operating in the optimum systems. Because of this fact, Coincident recommended the avoidance of active line stages whenever possible. We then set out to overcome the deficiencies of existing active preamps because of the inherent advantages of these designs. The Statement Line Stage involve a total rethinking of preamp design. Existing circuit topologies have proven to be inadequate whether they were solid state or tube based. A completely new paradigm had to be created. At the heart of this new design was the 101D directly heated triode tube. It has been recognized as the most linear amplifying devise ever made. It was rarely if ever used for a variety of reasons:

1. Companies rarely think out of the box.

2. Its high resolution would reveal all colorations in a circuit.

3. It is prone to noise and microphonics.

To fully exploit the inherent superiority of the 101D, we knew it would take a state of the art design utilizing only the finest components executed to the highest standards. After years of reasearch and experimentation, the Statement Line Stage was born. The unit, outside of the tubes, is all transformer coupled, from the input, volume control and right through to the output. There are no capacitors in the signal path and the power supply is huge ( 41 lbs) . The end result is a line stage that is almost noiseless, not prone to hum and passes the musical signal with virtually no pervertion. It represents a sonic breakthrough since it now combines the best qualities of passive designs with the inherent advantages of an active preamp.

Phono Preamp - While many superb Phono preamps are available, the best units are stratospherically priced and there is still room for improvement. Coincident set out to create the finest Phono stage in existence that would be reliable, quiet and would be capable of mating with any moving coil cartridge. To become the best, only the finest components , like Teflon coupling caps, polypropylene power supply capacitors, enormous energy storage, discrete resistor volume pots and point to point wiring would do. No detail or expense was spared in the development of the Statement Phono. Sonically it has no peer at any price.

All Coincident components were created only when they exceeded the performance of competing products. While all were created without regard to cost constraints, Coincident offers the highest value of any manufacturer in high end audio. Do not be fooled by the reasonable prices. They are that way because of our efficiency, volume of sales and due to the fact that we operate on the lowest mark up structure in the industry.

The Coincident Sound

We are often asked, "What do Coincident Speakers sound like?" Our answer, "We try our hardest to make them sound like nothing". The theoretically perfect audio component would sound like nothing. It would simply transmit the signal it is being fed with no alteration, enhancement, subtraction or distortion. Our goal with all Coincident models is for them to pass as much musical information with the least possible coloration. Coincident speakers do not editorialize or attempt to glamorize the sound. For example, there is no intentional boosting of the midbass to provide the illusion of more bass, nor the rolling off of the high frequencies to make the resultant sonics more pleasing. Coincident Speakers are designed to be as musically accurate as possible. We attempt to create an open window on the musical event, with nothing interfering between the music and the listener. Consequently, Coincident Speakers are very revealing of the musical source, the room in which they are placed and the ancillary components used. It must be emphasized that high resolution DOES NOT connote low musicality. On the contrary, the better a component is at revealing the information it is sent, the more accurate and by definition, the more natural it will be since it will closer approximate the live music listening experience.

Those seeking to replicate the thrilling experience of listening to live music will greatly appreciate the "Coincident Sound." Our reference standard is live music and our goal is to get as close to the sound of real instruments playing in a real space, as present technology will permit.

Made in Canada

Coincident Speaker Technology is proud to still state that unlike the majority of current speaker companies (i.e. Revel, Aerial, Von Schweikert, Red Rose etc.) all its speaker models are designed and completely manufactured in Canada.

All the crossovers are meticulously hand soldered in Canada, matched to within 1% tolerances using the finest Canadian and American components. Coincident does not use poor quality Asian sourced crossovers that are pre built and cost a couple of dollars. The price of one capacitor used in a Coincident speaker crossover exceeds the cost of these entire crossovers that are finding there way into very expensive competing speakers.

All internal wiring is manufactured in Canada using American 6N copper. Only the finest Canadian dielectrics like polypropylene and air Teflon are used. Our wire sounds the best and is very expensive to manufacture and labor intensive to terminate. Other high end speaker companies use off shore cable that is sonically inferior and costs pennies.

All Coincident speaker enclosures are meticulously CNC and hand crafted at our facilities in Canada. Only the highest quality Canadian made hardwood MDF using furniture grade cherry wood veneer which is pressure applied on both sides of the board is utilized. Having our enclosures made in China, as most other speaker manufacturers, would save 80%-90% of the cost. However, we would not even think of doing this since the quality of workmanship simply does not compare. Inspect a Coincident enclosure with those made in China and the difference is painfully obvious. Coincident will never sacrifice quality for profits.

All the drivers of Coincident speakers are sourced from only state of the art manufacturers such as Scanspeak, Vifa and SEAS. Coincident does not use any Chinese manufactured drive units that are knock offs of the above noted brands. Many high end speaker companies no longer use the expensive, best sounding drive units made by these European companies, instead opting to use inferior sounding and incredibly cheap (costing as little as a couple of dollars) Chinese units that are almost visually identical. The consumer is fooled into believing he is buying an expensive speaker using Scanspeak drivers when in reality the drivers are very cheap poor quality units that only physically resemble those drivers.

Coincident Speaker Technology is committed to providing the high end audiophile with the finest value components in the world. Coincident, therefore, will NEVER sacrifice quality. No detail is considered too trivial if it enhances the sonics or build quality of our speakers. Coincident will never offer an inferior product in pursuit of greater profits. Therefore, never will any of our models use inferior components because they are inexpensive to purchase and will increase our profit margins at the expense of quality. Coincident components exist for only one purpose: to provide the discerning music lover with the finest sounding, best built products that above all else, enhances the musical experience.