Rosinanté Dulcinea Loudspeaker Follow Up and Ric Cummins Jaden Cables

Dulcinea:
Tweeter: 25 mm inverted dome
Mid/Woofer: 2 × 5 inch cast basket polyglass cone 
Frequency Response: 35 Hz to 22 kHz
Impedance: 8 ohms
Dimensions: 21.5″ H × 9.5″ W × 20″ D
Sensitivity: 91 dB
Price: $6,200 with stands

Jaden Cables:
30 inch interconnect RCA (single-ended) $600
8-foot speaker cable: $1035

Address:
Rosinanté
Box 612, 602 Acorn
Eudora, KS 66025
Telephone: 785-542-3922
Website: www.roomlens.com

Several months ago during a conversation with Clement Perry, I made a comment about how I prefer a larger floor standing speaker over smaller stand mounted monitors. I always felt that monitors could offer excellent midrange and high frequency response, but they seemed to fall short on the mid and lower bass frequencies. Clement responded to my comment with a smile as he told me he had a speaker that I must hear. At this point, I knew my perception of smaller speakers was about to be altered. Clement arrived one week later with the mysterious speakers that I needed to hear, and which I immediately recognized. He brought me a pair of Rosinanté Dulcinea monitors. I was so impressed by them that I decided to write this follow-up to his original review.

As Clement stated in his Dulcinea review, given their size, these are large mini-monitors. Though smaller than most floor standing loudspeakers, they are larger than most other monitors. One especially nice feature is the Rosinanté Dark Matter stands that are included. These stands are designed to isolate the speakers fromthe floor, as opposed to many speaker stands that try to unite the speaker to the floor. 

I was initially surprised by the Dulcinea’s weight as we unpacked them and connected them to the BVaudio A300S integrated amplifier. Then I realized that the mass of these speakers comes from their specially designed cabinet. Their cabinets are designed to separate the interior sound chamber from the exterior cabinet that provides the speakers physical foundation. Special isolation material is used to separate the two components of the speaker’s cabinet. The interior chamber is designed to eliminate all corners and parallel surfaces. This design directs the back wave of the speaker out through the rear baffle efficiently, thereby reducing internal pressure buildup. The front baffle of the Dulcinea utilizes the Rosinanté Dark Matter to isolate the two 5-inch mid/bass drivers and the 1-inch tweeter. The Dark Matter is said to eliminate mechanical vibrations and noise caused by the physical movement of the drivers by diffracting the sound wave into smaller waves that will ultimately cancel themselves out. I was surprised to find only a single pair of 5-way binding posts located on the rear of this speaker as most speakers provide the options for biwiring or biamping. However, I did appreciate that these speakers are internally shielded and could be easily placed on either side of a television, which, though an undocumented feature, I find to be a big bonus.

This pair already had many hours of music already logged, so they did not require any break-in period; they were able to reveal their true sonic attributes immediately. Dynamics, detail, tight low frequency response and a low noise floor summarize these speakers’ strengths. The Dulcinea’s have the ability to articulate the smallest detail with precision inside a well-defined soundstage. I was surprised by the level of bass response these speaker offer, considering both the cabinet and low frequency driver size. Bass was tight and articulate, especially when listening to upright bass, with every pluck of the string revealed. Rated at almost 92 dB efficiency, the Dulcinea’s are very sensitive – and extremely stable – providing excellent dynamic range and control. While they don’t vibrate pictures off the wall, their small driver configuration provides fast response to transients with plenty of low frequency punch.

Most of all, I was taken away by the clean and natural sounding midrange. These speakers really excel with instruments such as piano, guitar, acoustic bass and stings. The Dulcinea’s, combined with the BVaudio A300S, proved to be a very realistic sounding combination. The powerful dynamic range is very impressive. Transients are handled with excellent control, providing a life-like and natural sound. On recordings with blasting brass instruments, I found the sound to be slightly bright. I attribute this to my belief that neither product colors or warms the sound, rather, both designs focus on musical accuracy. Switching to the Majeel Pristine amplifier, I noted that some of the brightness disappeared as this amplifier offers a very warm and tube-like sound. I didn’t find it as accurate as the BVaudio amplifier, nor did I find it capable of presenting the same level of dynamics and speed. 

Just as I was becoming very satisfied with the Dulcinea speaker, I received a package from Ric Cummins containing his new Jaden cables. It is not very often that the speaker designer also offers cables, so I was very interested to hear the combination of the Dulcinea and Jaden. The Jaden interconnects of small gauge silver with a PTFE (Polytetrafluoethylene, better known as Teflon™) dielectric and core, and have gold locking RCA connecters while the speaker cables are terminated with spade connectors that fit the Dulcinea binding posts perfectly. I admit that I was skeptical about these cables, as I was concerned that silver cables may brighten the sound the way so many others can, and this was not something that the Dulcinea needed. 

Ric suggested that the cables burn-in for approximately twelve hours, however I realized their benefits immediately. The Jaden cables sounded as if someone fine-tuned my system – not by emphasizing any particular part of the frequency spectrum – but by providing a more transparent and well-balanced sound. These cables appear to transport the signal with the accuracy and smallest details that the Dulcinea speakers are capable of handling. Small ambient details are revealed within a well-defined soundstage and instruments and vocals are tonally balanced, sounding very natural. These cables really bring out the subtleties in the music. My initial fear that they may brighten the sound was soon allayed and I was very pleased to find that the Jaden interconnects and speaker cables are exceptionally well matched for the Dulcinea monitor. 

As individual products, the Dulcinea speakers and Jaden cables are both top-notch. Together, matched with good source equipment and amplification, they are an extremely well matched combination offering some of the purest sound that I have heard. I believe these speakers would be amazing paired with a good tube amplifier which may tap the their true potential and really open the soundstage. I thank Ric Cummins for these speakers, as they really changed my perception of monitors, proving that size really doesn’t matter and sound is everything.

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