Bass versus size -- the age-old dilemma has been addressed in a number of ways, some successful and some (usually electronic) not so successful. And whatever the satellite system designers produce -- hidden subwoofers, for example -- British hi-fi enthusiasts seem to prefer one full-range enclosure per channel.

One of the best ways of squeezing a quart out of a pint has been the transmission line concept, a not-too-distant relative of the folded horn. Among the pioneers of this system was IMF, which metamorphosed into TDL, familiar to most readers for a range crowned by the huge Reference Standard. But TDL rewrote the books with the diminutive Studio 1, with a footprint and an overall space requirement matching that of yer garden variety two-way
bookshelf-speaker-on-a-stand.

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I have to admit that I was surprised at how well the Studio 1 worked, because I thought that the convoluted folds which make up a transmission line could be reduced only so far. But TDL has reduced the speaker even further -- in size and in price -- to produce a transmission line speaker tiny enough to be called 'cute'.

Before saying any more, I want you to be aware of the two most  relevant specs if this review is to have any meaning. First of all, the Studio 0.5 has a footprint of only 200x304mm (WxD) and its height is a mere 620mm. Add to this the dedicated stands and you increase it by only 70mm plus spikes. Best of all, though, is the price -- #399, plus #70 for the stands, the latter a perfect match in both sonic and aesthetic terms.

The Studio 0.5 looks like a junior TDL, a shrunken-down 'minilith' which still looks commanding in the all-black finish. The grille is black cloth stretched over a rigid frame, the
cut-outs large enough to preclude any edge diffraction. The box itself is finished in black ash veneer, with the back and baffle in black paint. With the grille removed, you'll see at the top a
ferro-fluid-controlled 25mm magnesium alloy tweeter, protected by a mesh dome and featuring a separate rear chamber.

Below this, its bottom edge situated roughly half-way up the baffle, is a 135mm doped polypropylene-coned woofer, tiny enough to look like it belongs in a Celestion 3-sized box. It features a phase plug sprouting from the centre and utilizes a Kapton  former, vented pole magnet and cast alloy chassis. At the very bottom are the two ports for the transmission line.

The back conatins two pairs of hefty binding posts in a recessed  area near the top; they accept bare wire, spade lugs or banana plugs, although they're too far apart for 19mm spaced pairs. Still, access is good and the barrels are large enough to provide  a good grip. The speakers arrive with solid core wire links, but bi-wiring offered such obvious improvements that I can't imagine why anyone would be so tight-fisted as to run these in
single-wire mode.

In addition to the clever carpentry, the secret of the 0.5 is the use of the long-throw woofer, which offers high power handling to compensate for the efficiency loss associated with trying to extract deep bass from a small enclosure. The Kapton voice coil former contributes higher power handling by virtue of its ability to withstand higher temperatures. The use of this non-metallic material also increases the electrical 'Q' of the driver. The phase plug is fitted to improve the transition from the bass/mid driver to the dome tweeter.

The crossover point for the 0.5 is at 3kHz, accomplished by a simple 5-element design incorporating the aforementioned bi-wiring capability. Other 'magic' wrought on this speaker
consists of a nice, safe nominal impedance of 6 ohms and a reasonable but not high sensitivity of 85dB. I used the speaker successfully with the Musical Fidelity B1 to see how it would fare with a budget amp, while I tested its limits with the far heftier Counterpoint SA-100.

Other products in the review system included the Basis turntable with SME Series V arm, Lyra Lydian cartridge, California Audio Labs Tempest II SE CD player, Counterpoint SA-1000 pre-amp and wire from Lieder, MasterLink, Space & Time, Sony, Audio-Technica, plus a few I won't name as they sounded unduly awful. The profusion of cables leads me straight to the primary curse which plagues this speaker.
Click to Page 2 for Setup, Critical Listening, and the Conclusion