True Sound Wall High End System

Sound projected equally forward and backward across the entire audible range - that is the party trick of the Thorens SoundWall HP 600, a three-way open-baffle dipole floorstander carrying twelve 15cm woofers, two midrange drivers and two tweeters per side in a D'Appolito array. Here it is driven entirely by Audio Research vacuum-tube electronics, the Reference 160S power amplifier, the Reference 6SE line-stage and the Reference Phono 3SE phonostage, with vinyl playback running through Thorens's own TD 124 DD 140th Anniversary turntable, a modern direct-drive tribute to the company's most famous design. It is an all-tube, dipole-speaker build rather than the more common solid-state pairing seen elsewhere in the catalog.

The system at a glance

Five components, a considered home listening room, and a combined price around $110,000, with the SoundWall HP 600 alone listing near $45,000 per pair. The build targets the spacious, room-independent presentation that dipole radiation delivers, backed by an amplifier chain built entirely around vacuum tubes rather than solid state, and vinyl as the primary source.

Why these components work together

The SoundWall HP 600 is rated at 95 dB sensitivity into a nominal 8 ohms, an unusually amplifier-friendly load for a speaker built around twenty-four small drivers per pair, and Thorens specifically states it suits tube amplification as readily as transistor designs. The Reference 160S is built for exactly this kind of load - 140 watts per channel from eight KT150 output tubes, with output taps at 4, 8 and 16 ohms letting it be matched precisely to the SoundWall's 8-ohm nominal impedance instead of compromising through a mismatched tap, plus a switchable Triode mode for a softer 70-watt character when the dipole's open-baffle bass doesn't need the full Ultralinear output. That combination of high sensitivity and amplifier-friendly impedance is what lets a tube amplifier drive twelve woofers per side without strain. The Reference 6SE preamplifier, built around the same 6H30 dual-triode topology as the power amplifier, keeps the tonal signature consistent through the entire signal chain, while the Reference Phono 3SE, with selectable loading from 50 to 1,000 ohms and up to 30V RMS balanced output, gives the TD 124 DD's cartridge a properly matched, low-noise front end. The dipole speaker and the tube chain share a common design instinct here - both prioritise an open, room-filling presentation over sheer measured flatness.

How it sounds

The dipole radiation pattern gives the system a different spatial character from box speakers, with sound projecting front and back instead of being confined to a forward beam, so the soundstage extends well past the physical cabinets and interacts less aggressively with hard-floored, glass-heavy rooms. The all-tube chain adds a warm, unforced midrange, and the twelve-woofer bass array stays composed at the kind of "sound wall" levels the system's title promises, from Led Zeppelin's low end through to full orchestral Beethoven without the box coloration a conventional dipole-driving amplifier setup often introduces.