Dutch & Dutch 8c Active Speakers

You start by measuring the distance from each speaker to the front wall and the nearest side wall. Enter those measurements into the included Dutch & Dutch Ascend app and the speakers will adjust their output to compensate for their position, relative to the walls. That will get you most of the way there.

Each speaker also has built-in parametric EQ filters. Using a calibrated microphone like the miniDSP UMIK-1 and Room EQ Wizard measurement software running on your PC or Mac, you can measure each speaker’s in-room response and design a set of filters to compensate for the negative effects of your room’s acoustics.

Finally, you have shelving filters for the treble, bass and sub bass and another set of parametric EQ filters which can optionally be applied to both speakers. You can adjust these to taste to implement your preferred tone curve.

You can save multiple sets of parametric EQ filters, tone curves and other settings to presets and easily switch between them, whenever you like. Sensitive to sibilants? Add a filter around 4-6 kHz to bring them down by a few dB. Need a night-time mode with equal loudness compensation for low level listening? Just add some more bass and sub bass and a fraction more treble to your regular daytime listening curve.

If this all sounds a bit complicated then do not worry. We can guide you through the entire process or even do it for you.

AES supports a daisy chaining topology. Set each speaker’s XLR input to AES mode and run an AES cable from your source to the input on the nearest speaker. Then run a second AES cable from the “thru” XLR output on the first speaker to the input on the second speaker. Finally, install the provided AES terminator in the “thru” socket on the last speaker in the chain.

Yes. Dense concrete, stone and brick are ideal, but glass and plasterboard are fine too as long as the material is solid, sturdy and has enough thickness to prevent resonances from the bass energy that is bounced off the surface by the boundary coupled subwoofers.

Yes, as long as you make sure that the sides of the 8c are not blocked by any obstacles closer than 30 cms (1 foot) to the cabinet and the back of the cabinet is a minimum of 10 cms from the wall behind.

Absolutely! The app allows you to optimise the speakers according to your specific situation. You can for example filter out room modes and compensate for overdamped frequencies.

Dutch & Dutch 8c speakers perform best when they are placed relatively close to the front wall (the wall behind the speakers). 10 to 50 cm will give you the best performance. You can use the app to select the distance to the front wall and the nearest side wall, and the speakers will adjust their output accordingly. This will give you the best listening experience possible.

The 8c was originally designed for domestic use with the vision that good, musical sound could be combined with ease of use and contemporary app control. The benefits of its cardioid dispersion pattern, perfect linearity and powerful room integration features were quickly recognised and adopted by studio engineers, who previously had to build the room around their loudspeakers.

The 8c can stream music over the network from a Roon Core server or via Spotify Connect. The 8c can also be connected to either an AES digital or balanced analogue source. Each speaker includes a male XLR input for this purpose. You can alter the configuration of the XLR input using the Ascend companion app or the button on the back panel of each 8c speaker. The 8c has two balanced analogue input modes to provide compatibility with both consumer and professional audio equipment. Consumer grade equipment with a relatively low output voltage usually works best with the high gain setting. Professional equipment with a higher output voltage usually works best with the low gain setting. The AES digital input setting is for use with digital sources with a balanced output, AES3 or AES/EBU.

Unbalanced analogue sources can be used with the 8c, but care should be taken over the quality and construction of cables, to avoid introducing hum or noise. Dutch & Dutch recommends that balanced sources be used in order to obtain optimal sound quality. Coaxial digital S/PDIF sources can be used with the 8c. Use an impedance transformer to adapt the 75 ohm characteristic impedance of the coaxial line to the 110 ohm impedance required by AES.

We can provide cables, adapters and impedance transformers to fit pretty much any requirement.

The normal setting is linear phase mode. In linear phase mode, the 8c uses a finite impulse response (FIR) filter that corrects the phase distortion caused by the Linkwitz-Riley 4th order crossovers at 100 Hz and 1,250 Hz, thereby linearising the phase response. This gives the 8cs exceptional transient response and impulse response. The Linkwitz-Riley crossover delays some frequencies more than others and the FIR filter adds a bit of delay to all but the ‘slowest’ frequencies, such that all frequencies have the same amount of delay and thus arrive at the listener’s ears at the exact same moment. In linear phase mode, the 8cs have a latency of around 33.2 ms. Use this mode when latency is not an issue, such as listening to music in a domestic situation, during mixing or mastering. Usually, the linear phase mode works well with movies too, because latency is less than a single frame in a movie.

When in low latency mode, the 8cs do not have a flat phase response. The latency is reduced to about 3.1 ms. Use this setting for live tracking and perhaps if lower latency is required for integration with other speakers in a home theatre system.

The audible difference between linear phase mode and the uncorrected phase response of low latency mode is subtle but worthwhile.

The warranty covers defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 3 years.

Your Dutch & Dutch 8c Active Speakers will normally be delivered in 1 week.

Delivery is free on orders over £100. We deliver anywhere in the UK using premium tracked delivery services from DPD Local, UPS, TNT and Royal Mail.

When you by a product from us, you will have 30 days to decide whether or not you want to keep it. If you decide to return it for any reason, even if you just changed your mind, it will not cost you a penny. Just let us know that you want to return it and we will take care of the rest.

We will agree a collection date with you and send you a pre-paid shipping label for the return trip. You can have full refund or you can try something else instead. It is up to you. All we ask is that you take good care of the product, along with any accessories and packaging, while you are deciding whether or not to keep it.

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