DCM TP160S Bookshelf Speaker Deals

[Pogre]

I'm thinking about doing an Audyssey setup with the DCMs since I can save multiple curves with the editor app now. I could do it with all of my speakers actually now that I think about it. It'd be fun to listen to them all again with their own room eq'ing.

 

[Kvn_Walker]

Darn I did it in the dark. Yes 13 inches. They really look like an old PC with the grills on.

Yeah I always had 2 extra inches in the dark too.

 

[zieglj01]

Here are measurements by Dennis of the DCM TP160S speakers with his resistor mod -- we have also asked him to post the before mod measurements.

New Budget Speaker Choice

www.avsforum.com

 

[slipperybidness]

Can someone who has bought a TFE60C double check?
I got a TFE60C where the tweeter was loose inside the cabinet (rough handling).
The replacement they sent me was obviously an open box unit and I think it is ls defective.
I see they no longer have stock of these.
What is happening (based on resting my finger on the drivers) is the left mid-woof is playing mid and low frequencies, but the right mid-woof is either playing only bass or is (more likely) dead and just producing sympathetic bass vibrations from the other driver in the sealed cabinet (like a passive radiator).
The DCM website presents it as a two way speakers, however, on rare occasion I have seem companies spec a 2-1/2-way speaker (where one driver is a mid-woof and the other is crossed much lower to be only a woofer) as a 2-way.
So I am asking anyone who has one of these to please listen and see if the mid-range sounds are coming from both of the 6.5" drivers or just the one on the left. It is pretty obvious that one side is not producing mid frequencies if you put your ear about 6" in front of the drivers (I does not need to be loud in the least)!
Thanks for your help!

TFE60C is a 2-way design with passive radiator. TP160C is the same config.

Check the specs directly from DCM web page

File not found

So, that seems normal to me, right? I'm a bit intrigued by this design! We see all these complaints about the non-ideal horizontal center channel, and I'm curious if this is a way around those problems. I have only hooked up my CCs to be sure they work, I don't have the real estate for them in my current configuration.

It is also tuned using a 6.5" passive radiator to ensure low frequency response that is accurate and realistic.

 

[KEW]

Thanks!
I deleted my post because I started taking it apart (looking for loose wires) only to find no terminals and a "0 Watt" label on the back of the "dead" driver, so my bad assumption that it was an MTM design.
Makes sense as this is not a ported speaker so a PR will help the bass!
Nothing sounds wrong!
Thanks again.
If I had seen your response I would not have deleted mine!

 

[slipperybidness]

Thanks!
I deleted my post because I started taking it apart (looking for loose wires) only to find no terminals and a "0 Watt" label on the back of the "dead" driver, so my bad assumption that it was an MTM design.
Makes sense as this is not a ported speaker so a PR will help the bass!
Nothing sounds wrong!
Thanks again.
If I had seen your response I would not have deleted mine!

Gotcha. I will leave it there in case anyone else has the same questions.

Like I say...I am intrigued!

I have never seen a CC like this. More or less a BS on it's side, but looks like a "normal" CC. I am certain they had a good justification for this.

 

[Truthslayer]

Yeah I always had 2 extra inches in the dark too.

I knew this was you the minute I seen your post.

 

[afterlife2]

Hooked up the DCM TP160S in a small room and the bass is a big surprise. The bass is tight, but I can also feel it on the floor. Impressive to say the least. The Onkyo 8 inch Subwoofer I bought for that room will be used for other purposes or Craigslist.

 

[zieglj01]

Hooked up the DCM TP160S in a small room and the bass is a big surprise. The bass is tight, but I can also feel it on the floor. Impressive to say the least. The Onkyo 8 inch Subwoofer I bought for that room will be used for other purposes or Craigslist.

Cool

 

[zieglj01]

Another good report on the DCM speakers

New Budget Speaker Choice

www.avsforum.com

 

[Alex2507]

I figured out the riddle. You're the man ... from TN.

 

[afterlife2]

Hey Z and Kew just curious what is your top five speakers you've heard thus far?

 

[KEW]

Hey Z and Kew just curious what is your top five speakers you've heard thus far?

I'm glad that you didn't ask me to rank them because that is very difficult among speakers that have such good quality sound!
Focal Solo6 Be, Focal Twin6 Be, and Focal Electra 1028 Be (I am grouping these as one because they essentially have the same sound character to the extent that I have heard them).
Philharmonic Audio Phil3/BMR
Martin Logan Vista (electrostatic)
Canton Ventos

I will stop with those "four" because there is a bigger gap before the next one down.

I have also heard and been impressed by current TOTL models of Klipsch, Wilson Audio, higher level ML e'stats, Vandersteen. I'm sure there are others, but just hearing them in a store display (which is at least 20 minutes from my home), I cannot say that they are better or worse, only that they were very good! Logic would dictate that some of these are likely better than what I have at home, but I do not expect to hear the difference unless they are in the same room at the same time. That is one reason that I am content with the speakers I have!

I am still waiting for that blow-me-away-sounds-like-the-real-thing experience. I have to wonder if the JBL M2 might get me there, but at $20,000/pr I'm not sure it is in my interest to find out!

That said, I really enjoy setting up a speaker like the TFE100 (knowing that I paid less than $250 for it) and living with it for a couple of months just cause I am weird that way!

 

[davidscott]

I'm glad that you didn't ask me to rank them because that is very difficult among speakers that have such good quality sound!
Focal Solo6 Be, Focal Twin6 Be, and Focal Electra 1028 Be (I am grouping these as one because they essentially have the same sound character to the extent that I have heard them).
Philharmonic Audio Phil3/BMR
Martin Logan Vista (electrostatic)
Canton Ventos

I will stop with those "four" because there is a bigger gap before the next one down.

I have also heard and been impressed by current TOTL models of Klipsch, Wilson Audio, higher level ML e'stats, Vandersteen. I'm sure there are others, but just hearing them in a store display (which is at least 20 minutes from my home), I cannot say that they are better or worse, only that they were very good! Logic would dictate that some of these are likely better than what I have at home, but I do not expect to hear the difference unless they are in the same room at the same time. That is one reason that I am content with the speakers I have!

I am still waiting for that blow-me-away-sounds-like-the-real-thing experience. I have to wonder if the JBL M2 might get me there, but at $20,000/pr I'm not sure it is in my interest to find out!

That said, I really enjoy setting up a speaker like the TFE100 (knowing that I paid less than $250 for it) and living with it for a couple of months just cause I am weird that way!

Higher end Magnepans can sound very realistic with vocals and acoustics. Pianos sound excellent also. Best speakers I ever heard were 4 TOTL Maggies with a high end TT and cart in 1980 or so but that was a long time ago. Best sounding speakers I ever owned were DCM Time Windows in the 80s and 90s.

 

[Pogre]

I'm thinking about doing an Audyssey setup with the DCMs since I can save multiple curves with the editor app now. I could do it with all of my speakers actually now that I think about it. It'd be fun to listen to them all again with their own room eq'ing.

I'm glad that you didn't ask me to rank them because that is very difficult among speakers that have such good quality sound!
Focal Solo6 Be, Focal Twin6 Be, and Focal Electra 1028 Be (I am grouping these as one because they essentially have the same sound character to the extent that I have heard them).
Philharmonic Audio Phil3/BMR
Martin Logan Vista (electrostatic)
Canton Ventos

I will stop with those "four" because there is a bigger gap before the next one down.

I have also heard and been impressed by current TOTL models of Klipsch, Wilson Audio, higher level ML e'stats, Vandersteen. I'm sure there are others, but just hearing them in a store display (which is at least 20 minutes from my home), I cannot say that they are better or worse, only that they were very good! Logic would dictate that some of these are likely better than what I have at home, but I do not expect to hear the difference unless they are in the same room at the same time. That is one reason that I am content with the speakers I have!

I am still waiting for that blow-me-away-sounds-like-the-real-thing experience. I have to wonder if the JBL M2 might get me there, but at $20,000/pr I'm not sure it is in my interest to find out!

That said, I really enjoy setting up a speaker like the TFE100 (knowing that I paid less than $250 for it) and living with it for a couple of months just cause I am weird that way!

I did end up doing the above and must say I was really pleased with the results. This last Sunday I loaded the calibration, set them up and spend the day listening to them, trying different crossover settings, etc., and really enjoyed them. The bargain I got for them just makes it that much more fun! Surprisingly, I found that they did pretty okay with 80 hz crossover, but ultimately went a little higher.

I cranked them up too and had those woofers moving pretty good. They never bottomed out or lost their composure even at some spirited levels. I still prefer my Ultras' tweeter over the TP tho. They just seem smoother and dare I say... "have more sparkle and air".

 

[alwaysflatulent]

not to side track the main subject, but i was trying to recommend the tfe 100s for my friend but he did some research and found the nakamichi shockwafe 7.2 setup more appealing. i know its no apples to apples comparison but what do you guys think about the nakamichi?

 

[Pogre]

not to side track the main subject, but i was trying to recommend the tfe 100s for my friend but he did some research and found the nakamichi shockwafe 7.2 setup more appealing. i know its no apples to apples comparison but what do you guys think about the nakamichi?

I think your friend made a big mistake, but if the soundbar form factor is more important than sound quality...

 

[KEW]

Higher end Magnepans can sound very realistic with vocals and acoustics. Pianos sound excellent also. Best speakers I ever heard were 4 TOTL Maggies with a high end TT and cart in 1980 or so but that was a long time ago. Best sounding speakers I ever owned were DCM Time Windows in the 80s and 90s.

As part of this DCM adventure, I actually bought a pair of Time Window 10A's for $300. It was a bit of a gamble, but turned out they are in great shape! I felt it was a good deal as they sound pretty fine and are so unique in their design!!!
While they are well balanced speakers, the one flaw (for me) is the soft dome tweeters just don't handle struck metal/harmonics (like orchestral chimes) the way Be/ribbons/ceramic tweeters do. But in the time window of 80's and 90's, they are very impressive ... especially given they were reasonably priced. It is easy to understand how they developed the following they did.
I don't have the means to properly package them for shipping, but if you are not too far away from GA and would like to buy them, we could meet, or, if you are close and just want to come see/revisit how they sound, come on over!

 

[alwaysflatulent]

I think your friend made a big mistake, but if the soundbar form factor is more important than sound quality...

He hasn’t yet but I tried telling him form factor isn’t important. I offered him to listen to my TP-260s which I absolutely adore before he made a final decision. Not sure if he’s going to do that but I really am not an expert on speakers or sound bars so I don’t want to step into the compare game.


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[zieglj01]

Hey Z and Kew just curious what is your top five speakers you've heard thus far?

I will just do my favorite 7 that I have owned

1. MB Quart Vera 05

2. Revel Performa3 M105

3. Boston VS 260

4. Tied -
Energy Connoisseur C-2
Boston E60 (one of the best measured from 200 hz to 10 khz)

5. Snell K7

6. DCM TFE 60