The studio monitors from Dutch & Dutch use a very clever acoustical concept – reducing the need for room treatment!
Dutch & Dutch – studio monitors for literally every room
Dutch & Dutch is a small and young company. Nevertheless, many engineers and producers buy their only product, the active studio monitor Dutch & Dutch 8c. D&D did nothing less than rethinking the concept of a loudspeaker. And frankly: quite successfully!
A typical loudspeaker does not radiate into one specific direction. The lower the frequency, the more a sound source emits in a radial pattern. But even higher frequencies will be spread in different angles and reflect at ceilings, floors and walls. This being the case, a significant amount of sound reaching your ears are affected by he room itself. In acoustically not perfectly treated rooms, this is a problem. Comb filtering is just one issue here.
A closed cabinet would be an omni pattern, an unmounted driver is bipolar (figure of eight). Dutch & Dutch invented a loudspeaker system that is truely directional. A Dutch & Dutch is a front fire speaker! Side vents for the midrange speaker chassis make the sound emitted to it's rear cancel out sound coming from the front. This creates a cardioid. The system works quite similar to a microphone cardioid capsule, just the other way 'round! The tweeter sits in a deep, matching waveguide, meeting the same figure as the lower speaker at the front. For high frequencies, it is easier to act as if sound reacts a bit like light („ray acoustics“).
→ A Dutch & Dutch speaker can be placed in any room without triggering it's bad influences on the sound. D&D claim to „make the room disappear“. This works not only „quite well“ but to an impressive extent!
While avoiding triggering room relfections where possible, the Dutch & Dutch 8c uses an interesting approach for the low frequencies. The two woofers are mounted on the backside of the 8c. They couple to the wall if placed close to it. This leads to the wall behind the speakers being used for playback. Again, it is a microphone principle in reverse: A pressure zone microphone uses a surface to increase sensitivity. A Dutch & Dutch 8c speaker uses a surface to increase efficiency! There are two benefits:
•Not much space to place loudspeakers away from walls? No problem!
The times when loudspeakers dictate where your mixer, your DAW monitors and your chair have to be put, are over. One, two or even three meters from the walls do limit your possibilities. Dutch & Dutch 8c can happily sit some ten centimetres from the wall!
•Subwo… Sub what?
The bass playback is really impressive and accurate. There s definitely no need for a subwoofer even in quite large rooms. An the problems that use to come along with subwoofers. But of course you can install a subwoofer if you really want to.
Well, since a danish and a belgian person decided to build loudspe… ok, just kidding: The company is of course in The Netherlands, in Capelle aan den Ijssel, which is close to Rotterdam. 8c are of course Made in The Netherlands.
If you ask for the naming of the Dutch & Dutch speaker 8c: The 8 stands for the diameters of the double woofers and the midrange driver, the small c for cardioid – the dispersion pattern.
Besides the clever acoustical concept, the 8c is a potent studio monitor
In addition to their clever acoustical concept, the Dutch & Dutch 8c speakers are armed to the teeth with what you would expect from a high class studio monitor. First of all, the sheer power of 1000 Watts per speaker should not be underestimated.
The 8c connects to analog XLR and AES3 (up to 192 kHz). Furthermore, it features a DSP with lots of functions. You can dial in the distance to the back wall and use several filters. Via Room EQ Wizard, the monitor can be measured and set up.
| Housing | Solid Oak | MDF |
| Baffle Colours | White or Black | Black |
| Body Colours | Wood, white or Black | Black |
| Mounting | None | M10 Threads for brackets. |
Sure, a first glance on the price tag might make you wonder. First of all please keep in mind, that the 8c are not 2-way-systems, as there are two woofers on the back. The speakers are powered, offer lots of „connections and corrections“ and weigh a whopping 26 kilograms per unit.
And keep in mind a pair of Dutch & Dutch loudspeakers are able to save you a lot of expenses on room acoustics. And in „good“ rooms, the outcomes are even better.