Articulate, detailed, breath-taking treble Phenomenal transients Excellent sound staging Good, natural midrange reproduction Taut, controlled upper-bass Aesthetically pleasing

Tricky load - requires good amplification i.e. POWER Require serious effort in setting up to get best effects A little too relaxed for some Bass can be a little woolly with fast moving dance/ rock NOT slammers Comparatively big speakers More bang for your buck elsewhere

The TDL T-Line 2 comprises of a 150mm Mid/Bass driver and dome tweeter enclosed in a transmission line cabinet, measuring 200mm x 220mm x 750mm. The first thing one notices about these speakers is that they are big. This is a product of the Transmission line cabinet design that makes for an increased bass extension. Lamentably, this bass extension comes at the expense of roll-off. The TL2s will plumb down to 35Hz but the frequency roll off is about 9dB per octave which is rather steep. The labyrinth ports are positioned at base of the cabinets, forward firing. As is often the case, big usually means heavy and these loudspeakers weigh in at around the 17kg mark each. This said, they don’t look too cumbersome in one’s home. Both cabinets have matched book leaf fronts in beautiful dark cherry (that continues to darken with age), and all the drivers etc. are matt black, which may not be the most exciting of finishes but has the advantage of being fairly unobtrusive. These can be obscured with removable black grills. Connections are made via the rear with good, sturdy 4mm gold platted binding posts, providing separate connections for bass and treble. These are connected with gold plated jumpers for ‘regular’ use. Claiming that ones electronics effects the speaker output is stating the obvious, but the speakers do need to be paired with some quality electronics. This isn’t the usual “this is how good they are guff…”, but rather a realistic approach to the load the speakers provide to one’s amplifier. I will be brutally honest here. The TL2s are a TRICKY load. They need serious current to sing. If you want to get anywhere near the actual sound quality of the TL2s are capable of producing you will need a good amplifier capable producing and sustaining a high current output. For best results I recommend Bi-amping these speakers. Amplifiers that work extremely well are Arcam, NAD & Musical Fidelity. When I originally bought these speakers I was driving them from a Marantz PM-66 KI Sig. The detail was overwhelming and beautiful but the bass just wasn’t there. Reason – the Marantz uses tiny little Caps in it’s power supply that simply cannot keep up with the requirements of the speakers. The NAD C340, whilst rated at the same 50W as the Marantz, can make these babies shift some AIR! These are speakers built around the human voice and this is where they excel. Opera, Classical, Jazz and Acoustic recordings will astound you with the realism of the sound stage and you will see why Transmission line designs are favoured for classic music. The midband integrates superbly into the treble, despite a fairly straight forward crossover design. The presentation is fairly laid back, relaxed rather than lacking. These were designed to be used for long periods and I can report that the sound is nowhere near fatiguing (in fact I’m beginning to find that the midband needs lifting forward a little – I think this is my atrophying hearing rather than the speakers). The TL2s do a nice job of scale and will keep a coherent symphonic picture to a rather loud volume. They don’t do LOUD, these are Hi-fi not PA; but one could very readily come to loggerheads with one’s neighbours if restraint is not exercised. The TL2s are not ‘Rockers’ speakers. The sound is a too refined for that. It lacks the bite and attack that gives rock/ techno its energy. It’s kind of like asking Maria Callas to sing the theme from the Friends sitcom. These speakers aren’t too MP3 friendly either. If your recordings are under 160kbs, the revealing treble is going to make you swear off digital compression forever. Likewise, the same applies for poor quality recordings. Never play early CDs through these speakers. Not a nice sound (imagine a transistor radio inside a cello). Interestingly, the ‘Bleep techno’ produced in the early nineties by labels such as Warp translates really well as does a lot of the Electronic music of the seventies. These are speakers for medium sized rooms. Install them in too small a room and there is no room for them to breath. Larger rooms benefit from excellent sound staging but may require a subwoofer to reinforce the first two octaves. Whatever room you use these speakers in I suggest taking as much time as you can to get the set-up right. This is critical. Floors make a massive difference to these speakers. Another obvious claim, but the effect is much more marked with these loudspeakers. I converted my sitting room from carpets to hardwood flooring and spent hours adjusting my speakers to compensate for a 100% improvement in low frequency performance. SUMMARY Excellent, attractive speakers with a few minor flaws that are easily compensated for. Will appeal to Classical/ Opera/ Acoustic buffs. Make NO mistake: You will have to build your amplification around these speakers. The TDL range is no longer manufactured and are now becoming quite collectable.

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Too many to mention... At this price (Pounds sterling), some serious consideration is required. See these going cheap on eBay and you would be mad not to consider it. I hope this has been objective folks =)

Clear

Maybe to little bass

I bought them real cheap (I think), about 700$. Normal price is about 1000$. Therefor I'm really satisfied. Very HIFI-sound and nice deep bass. Very low impedans, which is good for weaker amps (as my h/k 620). Maybe to little bass for bigger rooms, but for my small room it's excellent.
I need to upgrade my CD to get out the most of it, but I'll keep these spek. for a long while. If you get a cutoff price like me, BUY! Otherwise listen and compere with others. These maybe aren't fit for Hardrock, more classical-style.

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Various cheap Speakers

Hi!
This is my review of the TDL T-Line 2 loudspeaker!
I own a HarmanKardon AVR 45 with 4x T-Line 2 speakers, one TDL center speaker, one mirage 100i subwoofer (I have ordered a Audiopro B1.39 Live subwoffer because the mirage didn't quite produce the goods so to speak) I play CD's on my Sony 715 DVD player!

The T-Line 2 is a really great speaker, one I think is very good if you listen to music that isn't techno/hardcore/and so on. For music like Enigma and clasic it's really great!

It can produce deep bas, unfortunatly not the sort of bas that makes your bones rattle ;)
It is enough to make it a really allaround speaker, but as I said earlier it's not the sort of speaker the you'd buy if you play hardcore and want the speaker to pump out large bas snappy!
The high notes are clear and some times to high (could be because I have noname speaker cabels) I think!

Please mail me with coments
Mike