The Holy Grail found?

Through DIY Audio member Duck-Twacy’s generosity and zelfbouwaudio.nl member Sark’s vision, I finally have a copy of the Klang+Ton article on the DIY version of the RSTL from the December 1987/January 1988 issue. That was the first thing I learned – this article was in a single issue. I’d just assumed Klang+Ton was a monthly and it was a two-part article. Way back in 2003 Duck-Twacy posted on the DIY Audio forum that he had the article and was willing to scan for interested parties. This sounded promising, but this post was over 9 years old. Would he still be reachable on DIY Audio? Would he still have this now 24+-year-old magazine?

The answer to the first question is yes, Duck-Twacy still is reachable via the DIY Audio site some 9 years later. Amazingly, he responded overnight to my request for the scan! Did he actually still have the magazine? It didn’t sound like it, but his colleague Sark on the zelfbouwaudio.nl forum had the foresight and vision to scan all of his Klang+Ton issues, presumably just for circumstances like this. They made the entire issue available to me.

Gentlemen, thank you both. I’ve been searching for this article for a long time, so I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you making it available to me!

Finished DIY kit pictures

The same thread I referenced in my post also contained pictures of a finished kit. Very minimalist. Very modern. I love the white finish. HIFISENTRALEN member 2-mas clearly did a beautiful job on them.

Front view of finished RSTL kit

3/4 view of finished RSTL kit

Finished pair. Note blocks underneath

Norwegian article about DIY kit

In this 19 page thread on the Norwegian site HIFISENTRALEN:

http://www.hifisentralen.no/forum/index.php/topic,17539.0.html

I found an article about the kit version of the original RSTL. The good news is that it is easily readable. The bad news is it clearly isn’t as detailed as the Klang+Ton article. Still, I’m really looking forward to translating it. The pictures are way cool too! I’ve attached the scans without permission below.

Page 1 (click for full size)

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Page 2 (click for full size)

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Page 3 (click for full size)

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Klang + Ton RSTL DIY Project

The original RSTL design was published as a kit in the December 1987 and January 1988 issues of the German DIY audio magazine Klang + Ton. I’ve searched all over for the entire article, but so far I’ve only found a link to a photo of one page from this topic on a forum for classic KEF speakers:

http://www.hifiloudspeakers.info/speakertalk/viewtopic.php?p=6854

I’ve copied the picture below to make sure this priceless heirloom isn’t lost. I’ll remove it at the request of the original owner. As you can see though it really isn’t clear enough to make out much of the required information, though after pouring over it for some time, I have gleaned a great deal of information from it:

The "Fact Sheet" from the Klang + Ton plans for the RSTL

My German is not what it used to be – actually I don’t know German at all – so I sat down with Google Translate and came up with this translation of the text:

Fact Sheet

Kit Name

RSTL

Manufacturer

TDL

Construction

TDL/John Wright

Enclosure Type

Transmission Line

Net Internal Volume

Not important for TL

Dimensions in mm

WxHxD 540x1209x492

Number of Drivers

7

Woofer

Ovalbaß (oval)

Midrange

13cm, plastic cone

Tweeter

25 mm, Plastic dome

Super tweeter

19 mm, Plastic dome

Impedance

6 Ω

Efficiency, 1W/1m

Not available

(Power) Rating

Not specified

Recommended amplifier power

Not specified

Crossover

Finished crossover RSTL

Kit price/pair

About 3000 DM

Sales

A. Oberage
Lautsprechervertrieb
Postfach 1562
8130 Starnberg

Bill of Materials

Loudspeaker Drivers TDL

• 1 woofer 128/25, 16 Ohm
• 1 woofer 128/20, 8 Ohm
• 2 mids 130 NS, 11.1 Ohm
• 2 tweeters 25 DT, 16 Ohm
• 1 super tweeter 19 DT 06, 8 Ohm

Crossover

• L1, L2 = 8 mH Iron core
• L3 = 1.1 mH Air core
• L4 = 1.7 mH Iron core
• L5 = 0.25 mH Iron core
• C1 = 100 μF Electrolytic
• C2 = 30 μF Electrolytic
• C3 = 10 μF Film
• C4, C5 = 4.7 μF Film
• C6 = 3.3 μF Film
• C7, C8 = 1 μF Film
• C9 = 0.47 μF Film
• C10 = 10 μF Film
• R1, R2 = 15 Ω
• R3 = 22 Ω, ceramic, 11W

Cabinet Parts
refer to drawing and text

Exterior walls, 20mm MDF, all dimensions in mm, gross

• 1 front wall 1209.5×170
• 2 side walls 1209.5×262
• 2 side walls 1209.5×306.5
• 1 back wall 1169.5×500

Interior walls, 12mm MDF, all dimensions in mm, gross

• 2 MT-Chamber 541×303
• 1 MT-Chamber 500×303
• 1 Divider 500×492
• 1 Divider 500×498
• 1 MT-Channel 314.5×104
• 2 MT-Channel above 553×150
• 2 MT-Channel center 490.5×150
• 2 MT-Channel below 452×125

Use hardwood 15x15mm, all dimensions in mm

• 2 616.5

Back wall assembly

• 2 1169.5
• 2 184
• 2 80

Damping Material

• 5m Rockwool 38cm wide
• 5 BAF-Wadding, 50×35 cm
• 100g pure lamb’s wool

Other

• 16 Allen screws, M5x50mm
• 16 T-nuts, M5
• 12 Screws, black, 4x20mm
• 75 Screws, 3.5x35mm
• 5m wire, 2.5mm², for wiring
• Putty to seal the enclosure openings
• 1 pr gold binding posts