Reviewers: Marja & Henk
Financial Interests: click here
Sources: PS Audio PWT; Dr. Feickert Blackbird MKII/DFA 1o5/Zu DL-103; Phasure XX-PC;
DAC: Phasure NOS1 DAC; T+A DAC8 [loaner]; Mytek Brooklyn [loaner]
Streaming sources: XXHighEnd; iTunes; Devialet AIR; La Rosita Beta; Qobuz Desktop, Tidal Desktop; Sound Galleries SGM 2015 [loaner];
Preamp/integrated/power: Audio Note Meishu with WE 300B (or AVVT, JJ, KR Audio 300B output tubes); dual Devialet D-Premier; PTP Audio Blok 20; Hypex Ncore 1200 based monoblocks; Trafomatic Kaivalya; Trafomatic Reference One; Trafomatic Reference Phono One; Music First Passive Magnetic;
Speakers: Avantgarde Acoustic Duo Omega; Arcadian Audio Pnoe; Podium Sound One; WLM Sub 12; Sounddeco Alpha F3; dual Zu Submisson MKII; Soltanus Virtuoso ESL; Dutch & Dutch 8c [in for review]
Cables: complete loom of ASI LiveLine cables; full loom of Crystal Cable cables; full loom of Nanotec Golden Strada; Audiomica Pearl Consequence interconnect; Audiomica Pebble Consequence;
Power line conditioning: PS Audio Powerplant Premier; PS Audio Humbuster III; IsoTek Evo 3 Syncro; AudioMica Allbit Consequence
Equipment racks: Solid Tech and ASI amplifier and TT shelf
Indispensable accessories: Furutech DeMag; ClearAudio Double Matrix; Franc Audio Ceramic Disc Classic; Shakti Stones;; Kemp polarity checker; Akiko Audio Corelli
Online Music purveyors: qobuz.com, tidal.com, bandcamp.com, amazon.co.uk 
Room treatment: Acoustic System International resonators, sugar cubes, diffusers
Room size: ca. 14.50 x 7.50m with a ceiling height of 3.50m, brick walls, wooden flooring upstairs, ca 7 x 5m with a ceiling height of 3.50m, brick walls and concrete floor downstairs.
Price: €9'950/pr


Double Dutch is a real sport, not just kiddie rope skipping. Double dutch is believed to have first been played by Dutch settlers along the Hudson River. According to a history of the game written by David A. Walker, a former New York City police sergeant who was one of its biggest advocates for more than three decades, it was later given the name 'double dutch' by the British. Double dutch once thrived in the city's neighbourhoods, with children singing rhymes while turning ropes and jumping along sidewalks during World War II. This from a NYT article.

The team.

Rope skip forward to 2017 and Holland. Here we find loudspeaker manufacture Dutch & Dutch. Founded originally to cater to the professional market with products under the Pro Fidelity brand by aiming at clubs and such, one characteristic of their speakers was strong directivity of 100° across the entire bandwidth. This bounces less sound off the dance floor. Next to marketing their Pro Fidelity speakers, Dutch & Dutch continued R&D work for third parties. One client wanted an object-based 3D sound system. With object-based 3D rendering, sound is no longer trapped in two or even more channels. Each distinguishable sound can be designated as an object to be treated individually. For example, one can watch and listen to a tennis match in object-based 3D sound. One of the players grunts. With the soundtrack objectivated, you can turn down just the offending grunter.


Another option is moving a sound object through the room like a guided aural drone. For that the R&D team at Dutch & Dutch designed the algorithm, electronics and virtual studio technology aka VST plugin. The sound system itself can consist of as many loudspeakers as a space can support. Meanwhile Dutch & Dutch also worked on their own tech: acoustic cardioid and electric cardioid subwoofers, active speakers, DSP filters, computer embedding in loudspeakers, network and internet connectivity and all manner of software to make things work and work together. For the folks at Dutch & Dutch, these are the tech sectors which will write the future of pro as well as consumer audio; including our own high-end niche. A partner of the earlier mentioned American customer listened to the system, was impressed and asked whether he could have something similar though smaller for his studio where he produces for Disney Studios. Dutch & Dutch said that his request was feasible with even better sound quality. That was the beginning of today's 8c project.


While developing it, the focus shifted from pure pro to pro and hifi as long as the owner of the 8c is a pure music lover. Dutch & Dutch turned to science to develop their new speaker system. Floyd Toole was their main inspiration and his Sound Reproduction was read cover to cover multiple times. For the interested, watch this video for an example why our Dutchies turned to Toole. More inspiration was found at Dutch company Grimm. Their use of DSP filtering, fully active designs with multiple amps, inverse all-pass filters for phase behaviour and splendid directivity culminated in the Grimm LS1 series, a great loudspeaker to aim at. Based on lessons learnt from Dr. Toole, Dutch & Dutch defined seven principles which their final design had to address. These are Direct Sound, Early Reflections, Late Reflections, the Time Domain, Distortion, Room Interaction and Direct versus Indirect sound. Each principle is elaborated upon below as part of a white paper which acoustics designer Martijn Mensink still worked on when we wrote this.


Direct sound:

• The frequency response is flat with neutral balance; the speaker is not an editor of the sound.
• The loudspeaker covers the full bandwidth; bass extension is very important for emotional listener engagement.
• The overall frequency response is smooth, the driver response is smooth with minimized diffraction. The combination results in a non-fatiguing sound with audible micro detail.
• The loudspeaker is devoid of resonances or stored energy. Drivers are pistonic in a semi-open midrange enclosure. The entire enclosure is solid. Together this results in a neutral sound without any specific frequencies being dominant.
• Constant frequency response in a practical listening window is provided by means of a cardioid midrange and tweeter with constant directivity waveguide. The result is imaging precision with a wide sweet spot and natural tonal balance.