Dali Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom Guide de référence rapide

White Paper

Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom

White Paper

Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom

Page 1 of 14

White Paper

Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom

Space Invaders No More

Almost from its introduction, the in-wall loudspeaker has been an audio stepchild.

Unfortunately, this reputation is well deserved, as poorly conceived and poorly executed

designs continue to flood the market in a feeding frenzy to cash in on the most obvious

and popular selling points of the in-wall concept: invisibility and the freeing up of precious

domestic real estate.

But eliminating the space invaders that take up valuable floor space comes at a hidden

cost: sound quality suffers significantly.

A comprehensive study of currently available in-wall models led DALI engineers to the

conclusion that the shortcomings of the in-wall loudspeaker lay not in the concept itself,

but only in the slipshod manner in which it has been realised so far.

Therefore, DALI set out to create in-wall loudspeakers that would be fully the sonic equal

of any comparably priced conventional design, but with the added convenience and

discretion that only built-in loudspeakers can offer.

Drawing heavily on technological innovations from our acclaimed high end

Euphonia Series, modified to meet the strict demands of the rapidly

expanding installation market, we devised the Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom, a

2½-way speaker with a 6½” woofer/midrange and a Hybrid Tweeter

Module in a sealed enclosure.

The DALI Euphonia Phantom in-wall loudspeaker targets the critical

listener who seeks a compact, non-intrusive solution that maintains the

design integrity of his living space at no compromise in audio performance.

Euphonia Phantom lives up to its design brief: to set a new standard for audio quality in

the in-wall category.

DALI will launch several in-wall speakers in each of our current ranges. All DALI in-wall

speakers will have the suffix name Phantom.

All In All, It’s Not Just Another Brick In The Wall

In undertaking the daunting challenge of developing an in-wall loudspeaker, it is necessary

to attain a full understanding of the essential differences between a floor-standing speaker

and an in-wall model.

As a rule of thumb, the floor-standing speaker will generate more reflections in a room and

offer lower sensitivity in comparison with an in-wall speaker.

The floor-standing speaker essentially radiates sound in a 360° angle, dispersing

acoustical energy across a far larger area of the room. An in-wall has the dual advantages

of reduced room reflections and higher sensitivity, as it only disperses acoustical energy in

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White Paper

Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom

a 180° angle. In fact, an in-wall design is, theoretically speaking in several aspects, a

“better” defined acoustical solution than a conventional floor-standing loudspeaker.

However, there are crucial trade-off’s that must be addressed before rushing to exploit the

obvious advantages of an in-wall solution. Specifically, there are two major obstacles that

must be overcome. With an in-wall, the listening position is fixed, a condition that must be

understood and accepted by the user.

The second and major issue is the acoustic properties of the mounting site itself. Most

walls that would be deemed suitable for built-in loudspeakers have low rigidity, making

speaker installation a bit like suspending the speaker from a wire. An unstable platform will

limit the speaker’s sonic potential.

A key unknown in this equation is the wall cavity, which may be

filled with different kinds of insulation materials or with nothing at

all. This is a highly unpredictable situation from an acoustical point

of view and can have tremendous impact on the performance of the

speaker.

In typical in-wall designs with no rear enclosure, acoustical

compromises must be made in the drive units to compensate for

possible wall cavity scenarios. These compromises are inevitably

detrimental to sound quality.

This places the in-wall speaker basically at the mercy of the flexible

wall in which it is mounted and of the materials (if any) in the wall

cavity.

These crucial problems have been addressed and eliminated in the

design of the Euphonia Phantom.

In-wall with no rear enclosure

The Phantom Menace

As described above, the main problem with an in-wall speaker is not the speaker, but the

wall in which it is framed and the cavity behind it.

A Stable Platform

A wall can vary tremendously in stiffness and therefore exert significant influence on audio

performance. DALI addresses the problem of a “soft” wall by making the Euphonia

Phantom itself quite heavy and rigid, a massive 7 kilos (16 lbs.).

The sheer mass of the speaker acts as a solid base even when mounted in a very “soft”

wall.

An enclosure that forms a rock-steady platform for the motion of the drive unit in an in-wall

speaker is critical. With anything less, the platform may move with the drive unit, thereby

degrading sound quality.

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Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom

The Wall Cavity

In a typical in-wall speaker with an open back, the material in the cavity wall will exert

major influence on the sound. Because it is impossible to predict what, if any, materials will

be present in the cavity wall, DALI has eliminated this great unknown by employing an

airtight sealed enclosure for the Euphonia Phantom.

A sealed enclosure ensures full control over the acoustics of the

speaker, eliminating the sonic influence of any materials – or absence

of materials - in the cavity wall.

There are at least five critical requirements for an in-wall loudspeaker

enclosure:

• It must be compact to fit the wall cavity.

• The enclosure must have as much interior volume as possible

to preserve audio quality.

• The enclosure must be as non-resonant as possible.

• The enclosure should be heavy.

• The enclosure should be fireproof.

Euphonia Phantom with

rear enclosure

The Euphonia series incorporates a special vibration-absorbing cabinet material HornFlex®

to eliminate cabinet resonances and vibrations and maintain the integrity of the audio

signal.

In theory, this material would be a perfect acoustical solution for the Euphonia Phantom,

but is in fact not feasible due to space limitations in the cavity wall, as well as the issues of

interior volume and fireproofing.

Instead, we developed a rear enclosure with virtually identical damping abilities that also

meets all five requirements.

Die-Cast Aluminium Enclosure

The die-cast aluminium enclosure of the Euphonia Phantom In-wall speaker is rigid and

strong, even when cast very thin.

This is an ideal solution, as it allows the restricted space behind the

loudspeaker to be employed to increase the captive interior air

volume behind the drive unit, instead of being filled with thick-walled

enclosure material.

Aluminium has the unfortunate disadvantage that it can resonate in

the audible frequency range if not properly damped.

To prevent resonance in the aluminium casing, the enclosure is cast with bracing ribs and

the inside has a layer of compact bituminous damping material.

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Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom

The front baffle is firmly attached to the aluminium enclosure. Together they form a

structure that cancels vibrations and resonances.

The rear enclosure fits a standard 4-inch deep wall. Its restricted depth also

contributes to the preservation of audio quality, as the cabinet is too small for

standing waves to build up.

The rigidness of the aluminium, the cast bracing ribs, the interior vibration

absorbing layer, the MDF front baffle combine with the aluminium rear enclosure

and the compact dimensions of the Euphonia Phantom form a unique sonically

damped solution, perfect for a high performance in-wall speaker.

Driving Miss Phantom

The Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom employs a 6½” bass/midrange and a Hybrid Tweeter

Module consisting of a 29 mm soft dome tweeter and a 10 x 55 mm ribbon tweeter in a

sealed enclosure.

6½” – When Size and Space Matter

The 6½” bass/midrange unit is custom-made for the Euphonia series. In order to achieve

our sound design principles of “Time Coherence” and “3D

Audio,” the cone must be very fast and very lightweight.

To achieve these goals, we developed a type of paper cone that

contains unusually long wood fibres in a carefully measured

proportion.

The shape of the cone is optimised to effectively transform the electrical signal at the voice

coil into corresponding air motion and to provide wide dispersion – another DALI sound

design principle.

Paper has a low density and is able to move very fast – at frequencies up to 10 kHz, but

because of its low mass, vibrations in an ordinary paper cone will have an undesirable

characteristic sound.

In Euphonia Phantom, these vibrations are eliminated through the use of wood fibres and

double coating of the cone.

The wood fibres distribute energy in all directions due to their

random alignment in the cone, thereby eliminating the material’s

“own sound”.

The cone, spider and surround are mounted in a rigid, ventilated

die-cast aluminium chassis with no cavity underneath the spider

and a vent in the pole piece (yoke) to prevent compression behind

the dust cap. These measures prevent compression and improve

free airflow.

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Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom

The magnet system is optimised for minimal distortion. In order to achieve low distortion,

the magnetic field (flux density) must be absolutely stable and independent of voice coil

motion.

In a traditional magnet design, maximizing flux in the voice coil gap is a high priority. Such

designs typically use a thick pole plate in order to increase the conductivity of the magnetic

circuit.

In the Euphonia Phantom bass/midrange driver, we have focused on stabilizing the

magnetic flux in order to optimise the quality, not just the quantity of flux.

By using very powerful magnet and a very thin pole plate, we drive the pole plate iron into

the “saturation” area, where flux density is stabilized at a precisely defined level.

This saturation principle is analogous to Class A power amplifiers where output current

flows from a saturated bias circuit, stabilising the operating parameters for the amplifier’s

electrical components substantially.

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Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom

It is commonly known that this design principle ensures lower audible distortion, a more

“relaxed” sound and higher subjective output power than indicated by the specifications.

Class A magnet Class B magnet

Similar advantages are offered by the Phantom’s “Class A” magnet principle and, as in the

world of amplifiers, the result is significantly better audible performance than a first glance

at the specs would indicate.

We Are The Hybrid, Resistance Is Futile

The Hybrid Tweeter Module in the Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom consists of a 29 mm-

oversized soft dome tweeter and a 10 x 55 mm ribbon tweeter.

The Hybrid Tweeter Module is in our view the ideal high frequency solution. Both the soft

dome and the ribbon tweeter are artifact-free (e.g. resonances and high Q peaks within

their working range).

They both deliver extremely smooth, wide horizontal dispersion, one of DALI’s sound

design trademarks.

Fre

uenc

res

onse

Soft Dome Ribbon

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Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom

Dome, Sweet Dome

The 29 mm oversized soft dome tweeter is especially designed for DALI. The tweeter is

designed with a neodymium magnet structure with a rear chamber, a coated silk dome and

a very long voice coil that allows undistorted reproduction of the high frequencies.

The magnet system has three powerful neodymium magnets that provide a strong and

stable magnet system.

Copper rings are utilized to further enhance performance and to short circuit eddy currents

in the magnet system, as well as optimise the impedance characteristics.

The rear plate of the magnet system is ventilated to allow acoustical passage to the rear

chamber of the tweeter for a significantly lowered resonance frequency of 750 Hz.

The rear chamber itself is damped to suppress undesirable resonances.

The geometry of the soft dome tweeter is designed for optimum dispersion characteristics

and well-controlled rigidity. Rigidity is increased using a special coating on the silk dome.

The coating is applied in a multi-step process in order to obtain the desired characteristics

without sacrificing dynamics.

All this ensures an unparalleled impulse response and energy-time-frequency

characteristics.

The voice coil is wound on a perforated aluminium form (for low compression) with extra

large winding width for long-throw excursion. This ensures that compression is minimised

when the soft dome tweeter handles high peak signals and enhances power handling.

The soft dome tweeter is rolled in carefully around 3 kHz and is allowed to operate up to its

natural high frequency limit well beyond 20 kHz without being rolled off in the crossover.

Together, these features ensure smooth, stable performance – enhancing the overall

quality of high frequency reproduction.

Deserves a Ribbon

As in the ultra high end DALI MegaLine, a ribbon tweeter is used in DALI Euphonia IWS 3

Phantom. The ribbon tweeter has a broad frequency band and superb dispersion of the

highest frequencies. The ribbon tweeter is gently rolled in above 10 kHz, reaching full

contribution from 13 kHz to well beyond 30 kHz. The ribbon tweeter is a master in the

horizontal dispersion of high frequencies and is a superb partner for the soft dome

tweeter’s unique ability to reproduce frequencies from 3 kHz upwards.

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Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom

Six rectangular magnets and aluminium conductors control and activate the low-mass,

ultra-thin diaphragm. The magnets are positioned three in front of the diaphragm and three

behind to ensure a perfectly symmetrical magnetic field.

The magnets in front of the diaphragm are powerful, compact neodymium magnets, while

the rear magnets are larger ferrite types for improved heat dissipation.

To obtain perfect dispersion characteristics and optimum energy transfer in the high

frequencies, a special acoustical lens guides the energy from the diaphragm into the room.

Numerous simulations and experiments have been conducted to carefully optimise the

pattern and geometry of the acoustical lens.

Low Frequency Level Adjustment

Because the in-wall speaker is mounted in a reflecting boundary of a wall or

ceiling, the low frequency sound pressure level is increased.

The level of low frequencies will vary depending on the distance from the

loudspeaker to the next reflecting boundary such as a corner where the

walls meet.

Different wall and ceiling types will absorb more or less of the bass energy, which means

that the listener must have the option of controlling the level of the low frequencies.

To compensate for these variations, Euphonia Phantom incorporates a front-panel switch

to adjust the bass level.

The switch has two settings “NORMAL” and “ENHANCED”. The low frequency level

adjustment in the two settings has been carefully tuned based on a number of simulations

and experiments in different rooms and loudspeaker setups.

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Euphonia IWS 3 Phantom

The “NORMAL” setting is recommended when the loudspeaker is mounted in a sturdy wall

close to a sidewall. This setting compensates for the possible increase of the lower

frequencies when a speaker is close to a reflecting boundary.

The ENHANCED setting is recommended if the speaker is either some distance away

from sidewalls or if the ceiling absorbs a substantial portion of the low frequency energy.

The “ENHANCED” setting will boost the level of the lower frequencies and thereby

compensate for a room that absorbs some low frequency energy.

”Normal” ”Enhanced”

Subwoofe

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