It’s a great source of pride to know that one of the best contemporary brands of isodynamic loudspeakers is French. We’ve had the pleasure of testing and living with Diptyque Audio loudspeakers, and it’s only natural that we should give you a world-exclusive preview of the new Diptyque Audio DP107 model. Although it looks a lot like it, the new arrival is not just an enhanced DP77; it goes further on all parameters, which confirms its superiority.
The story of Diptyque Audio began with the meeting of two hi-fi enthusiasts, Gilles Douziech and Éric Poix, both looking for the ultimate system capable of satisfying their demand for natural, pure sound reproduction. Gilles Douziech, a 19-year-old electronics student at the time, decided to travel across France to work with Marcel Rochet, the designer of Mulidine loudspeakers. It was an opportunity for him to live out his passion while assimilating complex notions of acoustics, particularly harmonic resonance. Added to this was the inevitable study of electronics, essential to the design of crossovers capable of working in perfect symbiosis with the loudspeakers used in a speaker. Although Gilles Douziech has always had a passion for designing loudspeakers, and has built many of his own, he has spent most of his career in medical electronics, working for some of the world’s best-known manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard, Philips, Siemens and General Electric.
Éric Poix is a specialist in mechanics and metalwork. He also has a passion for high fidelity, and is in search of absolute purity of sound. In fact, he has never stopped developing his listening system. What’s more, his skills quickly led him to design particularly rigid and totally acoustically neutral loudspeaker stands. These skills complement those of Gilles Douziech because, as we all know, loudspeakers are based on a delicate combination of mechanics and electronics.
Diptyque Acoustique was born of the union of two experts with complementary skills. However, after exploring a number of traditional technologies, including electrodynamic, electrostatic, ribbon and even flat rigid-membrane loudspeakers, no technology seemed fully satisfactory.
It was then that isodynamic technology, also known as magnetostatic loudspeakers, emerged as the most promising. All the more so as Éric Poix’s mastery of ultra-strong structures opened up the possibility of new solutions. Among other things, the design of extremely rigid frames allows perfect membrane tension, which is essential for exceptional reproduction quality. What’s more, as the design of numerous prototypes progressed, Diptyque Audio made numerous improvements to this technology. One of the most important involves the use of powerful neodymium magnets placed on either side of the diaphragm so that the magnetic circuits it carries move within a constant field as they move. This architecture, known as Push Pull Bipolar Magnet, guarantees perfect control of the diaphragm’s movements. To maintain the acoustic neutrality of these flat loudspeakers, their frame is based on a ‘sandwich’ of MDF, glass and plastic.
‘MDF, felt and pressed sheet metal. A complex combination of materials, all selected with the greatest care, that has proved its effectiveness and the listening quality it offers these speakers.
But, more generally, this technology, although very tricky to implement, has a number of advantages. Firstly, the diffusion of a plane wave from a large surface guarantees a sensation of sound immersion without the effect of sound projection. In addition, the dipole operation of such loudspeakers recreates the spatialisation of sound necessary to recreate the behaviour of a concert hall. What’s more, the use of ultra-thin Mylar diaphragms, just 12 microns thick, guarantees a lively temperament that is devoid of drag. In the same spirit, the use of the same diaphragm throughout the entire audible spectrum preserves the coherence of the sound message. Finally, the absence of cabinetry, and therefore of acoustic load, eliminates the box effect at the origin of certain undesirable colourations.
Finally, to extend the response of isodynamic cells into the extreme treble, Diptyque has designed proprietary tweeters. These are based on a ribbon made from the same Mylar film as the main cells. Their aluminium wire coil is bathed in a powerful magnetic field produced by neodymium magnets. Their extended frequency response enables them to be perfectly linked with the isodynamic cells, as well as the use of low filters: 6 dB per octave. This smooth transition ensures that the midrange sounds impressively natural and realistic. Listening to grand pianos, for example, demonstrates this behaviour.
The set up
Putting a pair of Diptyque to work isn’t very complicated.Getting the most out of the new Diptyque Audio DP107, however, requires you to take your time and think carefully about the implications of each of your actions. First of all, we worked on the placement of the speakers in the room.We instinctively placed them in the same place as the DP77s.But the newcomers need more air to breathe, so we had to move them further forward in the room to free up space in relation to the wall.Secondly, if your seat is low enough, it’s best to leave the panel straight, i.e. parallel to the walls. This encourages dispersion and the reproduction of an extremely coherent three-dimensional space.Nevertheless, we strongly advise you to carry out some tests.Once you’ve chosen the right position, you can compare sources and amplification.The Diptyque Audio DP107 are particularly transparent, so it’s easy to see the differences between the individual components. In a relatively compact room, an excellent integrated amplifier will do the job without any problem.That’s right, despite their stature, the DP107s manage to sing admirably in a 15 m² room. Once you’ve conquered the big spaces, you’ll need to think about beefing up the amplification. At this stage, there’s nothing to worry about: the tests will give you the joy of discovery.
The sound
Listening to a pair of panels for the first time is always a unique experience, bordering on a rediscovery of sound reproduction. You suddenly experience recorded music in a completely different way. The three-dimensional space perceived has little to do with that which emanates from a pair of traditional electrodynamic loudspeakers. It’s suddenly vast, extremely airy, unusually precise, and gives you the impression of being immersed in the sound.This sensation, when experienced for the first time, is absolutely delightful because it is so special that all your reference points are turned upside down. Yes, ‘panel’ listening has its enthusiasts, its die-hards, but it also has its detractors… For our part, we like to enjoy sound reproduced in a multitude of ways, and ‘panels’ are obviously one of them. Frenchman Diptyque has made a place for himself in this rather exclusive club by sheer force of will. Now recognised among its peers, it is expanding its range with an important model that builds on the brand’s historic design, the DP77.
With the new DP107, the Montalban-based manufacturer has taken up a strategic position in a price bracket where good speakers are not in short supply. But it has the merit of originality! With this unit, Diptyque has added 30 cm to the height of its DP77, a considerable increase of almost 40% in the size of the full-range diaphragm and, consequently, a considerably larger emissive surface. The first impression is that of a much more panoramic image. The soundstage is wider, it goes without saying, but is structured with greater precision. It’s not so much the lateral extension that unfolds as the precision of the different planes in the sense of depth. This depth of field becomes superbly precise, and in any case, impossible to envisage at this price on traditional electrodynamics. In this particular case, a sound surface of almost half a square metre ‘pushes’ infinitely more air than the two or three woofers of a column of equivalent price. And if the piston work isn’t quite as important, the surface area makes up for it in no small measure.
Image is certainly the strong point of panels in general and Diptyque in particular, but it’s not the only one. In fact, a virtue that seems to us to be just as valuable is spectral homogeneity. In fact, from the extreme bass to the extreme treble, the sound is reproduced by transducers sharing the same technology, and with a crossover reduced to its simplest expression. The sensation of unity and coherence is therefore very high. The listener has the same experience as with a full-range loudspeaker. The timbres inevitably seem purer, which adds to the naturalness and credibility of the listening experience. This is very clear on vocals, but also on acoustic instruments, and striking when listening loudly to high frequencies, which come through with exceptional smoothness. In this respect, the Diptyque Audio DP107 eradicate the phenomenon of auditory fatigue, all the more so as their immersive abilities are so accomplished that you take on the content of the discs without the slightest difficulty, or the slightest temptation to ‘analyse’ rather than ‘experience’ the sound event.
Finally, the Diptyque Audio DP107, like all well-made panels, have an astonishing responsiveness made possible by the extreme lightness of the diaphragm combined with the power of the magnets. As a result, listening becomes smoother as the inertia rate drops. As a result, the sound is more modulated, less mechanical – in short, softer.
Our conclusion
We were very fond of the DP77s, but we have to admit that the DP107s outclass them in every respect. Bandwidth, melodic fluidity, image and spatialization are all up with the newcomers. Admittedly, the budget isn’t the same, but the sonic universe into which the Diptyque Audio DP107 propel us is far more seductive and beyond compare in terms of perceived value. A very good product that pays tribute to French industry when it comes to top-of-the-range audio.
Author: Estève Fabry and Laurent Thorin
Technical sheet: DIPTYQUE AUDIO DP107
- Origin: France
- Price: €5,500
- Panel dimensions: 1,070 x 470 x 20 mm
- Weight of panel alone/with stand: 15 kg/22 kg
- Efficiency: 86 dB/1 W/1 m
- Impedance: 6 ohms
- Bandwidth: 40-19,000 Hz
- Power handling: 150 W recommended amplifier >60 W
