Index





Provence

RA 605

Appassionata

Rondo

SoloVox











 
Bearing this in mind, we developed speakers like »Provence«, »Appassionata« and »Rondo«. »Appassionata« was probably the first speaker made of special panels normally used for the sound floor of pianos, and »Rondo« consequently acted upon the idea of the speaker cabinet as sound body. It made careful use of arising energy instead of eliminating it.

Often we would embark upon paths unknown, and each of these projects could have led us astray. Sometimes, they did, while being remunerative and rewarding in other ways. They gained us something invaluable, though: experience. No compendium in speaker building, no taken for granted parameters could have replaced the practical application of seemingly rogue ideas.

When people talk about "musical speakers" today, hinting at thin, resonating enclosures, they tend to neglect the fact that such a concept calls for congenial speaker units. Frankly, most units currently found on the market aren't up for the challenge. The construction of a heavy, rigid enclosure with Medite, chipboard or similar materials, layered with carpet sheeting or leadplate is much easier than that of a light, reverberating soundbody of carefully planned proportions, stabilised in exactly the right spots. And just that final touch of veneer to the surface might have tipped the balance again.

Our new approach to theories of speaker building was further engendered by working with original old Western Electric loudspeaker enclosures. Initially, we had purchased them in order to learn more about the characteristics of vintage speakers. While co-operating with L'Audiophile for some of our clients we had built "Voice of the Theatre" enclosures strictly according to guidelines in "L'Audiophile" magazine, issue #38. We found, however, that these rigidly constructed cabinets failed to generate the same musical credibility which emanated from the lighter, venerable originals of the "golden era."

Our first move to introduce PHY speakers in Germany was the development of a variety of enclosures for the kit market, using the PHY H21LB15 as the company's very first and (then) only unit. The first finished speaker concept turned out to be »Provence«, born in a vacation mood while staying with friends in the South of France. It was our first finished speaker realisation in open baffle manner, to be presented to the public at Frankfurt's HighEnd Show 1997. We still fondly recall the surprise on our visitors' faces whenever they stepped around to inspect the speakers from the back: Whatever they expected to find, it certainly wasn't this open, undamped box.

The following pages show the chronology of our speaker concepts around the PHY 21 cm unit which has provided us so much inspiration. Without effort, these speakers showcase the abilities and characters of amplifiers as well as the quality of the signal coming from the front end.