Daniel J SaitEI met with the team behind Devialet and the maker’s UK/Ireland distributor RGB at the company’s demonstration centre at Canalot Studios West London, to discover more about this audio innovator that combines striking looks with high-quality sound.
This article first appeared in the pages of Essential Install magazine. If you have a facility you would like our team to visit or have a story to tell, get in touch! Email dan@essentialinstall.com
Head of Sales, UK and Ireland for Devlialet, Philip Rose, explains, “Devialet is a French acoustic engineering company with unrivalled technological savoir-faire, on a mission to deliver transformative sound through unique listening experiences. While designing our line, we didn’t look at manufacturing the best product ever, we looked at delivering the best acoustic experience ever, in every single detail. Because in the details lies what strikes you when listening to music or sound ‘live’.”
Philip adds, “This leads us to imagine our products with a totally different approach that puts humans at the heart of the experience. This leads us to invent technologies that can come very close to this comprehensive sound restitution. This led us to Phantom, a product that can reach never seen performances in terms of distortion, noise and saturation – a product that is alive inside and makes the sound live; you can hear it, see it and feel it within your bones.”
Fleshing out the range, RGB offers access to Phantom II Custom, tailored to custom commercial and residential projects, meeting professional standards for connectors, using only wired installations (retrofit or new structure), home automation and audio format selection. The speaker delivers impressive sound-quality coupled with eye-catching design. The product also boasts professional features such as Dante network and analogue/ AES input, is fully compliant with technical integrator requirements, and is simply configurable through IP address webpages.
Complete Control
Control drivers make it possible to include the product in a Savant, Control4 or Crestron system. Devialet also chose Audinate’s Dante network for its reliability on an ethernet network infrastructure helping the product fit seamlessly into any existing setup, allowing up to 256 channels of HD audio to be streamed over standard ethernet cables. Cousin to this product, the Phantom II Hotel is a two-way active loudspeaker, specifically tailored for hotel/hospitality audio requirements.
The Phantom I Custom is described as the product of Devialet’s unparalleled acoustic engineering expertise, featuring a wide range of innovative technologies. The Optical Direct Mode allows installers to disable consumer wireless features (Bluetooth, AirPlay2, Spotify Connect), for a full control, latency-free experience. This product also comes equipped with the proprietary Devialet Operating System 2 (DOS 2) but can also fit into any audio system thanks to Dante.
Using several configuration options featuring various combinations of Devialet Phantom I and Phantom II Custom speakers, the Devialet Phantom Theater mode lets installers maximise the acoustic potential of the customer’s space and deliver a full entertainment experience, from stereo to multichannel, immersive gaming and home cinema.
Devialet Dione is Devialet’s acoustic engineering applied to home cinema, a high-end, all-in-one Dolby Atmos 5.1.2 soundbar that elevates all content on a TV. Scan the space in the Devialet App using Devialet Dione’s four calibration microphones to establish an accurate acoustic model of each room.
Considering the impressive performance of the products, the competitive price points are perhaps surprising. How is this achieved?
Philip explains, “Devialet thrives on end-to-end innovation (hardware, software, design inside and out, manufacturing) to offer ever-enhanced acoustics. In fact, to create Phantom, we have had to build our own plant, hire talents who were used to unique challenges in other industries, conceive our own robotics and quality control.
“Each Phantom is designed and manufactured in France. A dedicated team ensures that the same rigor we put into research is carried through to the very final step. A fully automated assembly line leaves nothing to chance.
“We put the same obsession for precision at the very heart of engineering, design and manufacturing. Our will is not to produce products that already exist, but products that change the game and elevate sound at the level of a unique experience.”
This approach has led to the company into developing many of its own patented technologies.
Philip reveals, “Devialet’s major innovations include ADH (Analog Digital Hybrid), a technology that combines the precision and finesse of analogue amplification with the power and compactness of digital amplification; SAM (Speaker Active Matching), ensures perfect synchronisation between the amplifier and the speakers connected to it; or the IDC (Internal Delay Compensation) algorithm, which acts directly on the transfer function of the anti-noise filter, ensuring that its response is optimised in order to extend the anti-noise’s range of action from infra bass to midrange. Today, almost one in four Devialet engineers is the inventor or co-inventor of a patent.”
This ability to innovate has led to come interesting projects such as a special edition of its Devialet Mania portable speaker with fashion company Fendi. Wrapped in the fashion house’s FF monogram, the product is a fusion of tradition and haute technology. The company also launched Devialet Gemini II in the Opera de Paris edition, presenting a complete range of Devialet’s products in the colours of the French institution and promote it worldwide.
Planning Ahead
So, armed with an impressive range and many achievements under its belt, what plans does the company have for the UK and Ireland?
Philip says, “The CI market has huge potential. It’s growing rapidly, even though the ‘concept’ of it is still quite unknown to the masses. Or at least there’s a major percentage of the population that doesn’t know what options are available to enhance their ways of living, working and socialising. Alongside completing some of the amazing projects in our pipeline, we want to keep optimising our current assortment, whilst continuing to innovate; elevating sound and offering unique experiences.”
RGB became part of the picture after experiencing the products at CEDIA Expo in the US with Devialet becoming part of the line up in May of 2023.
Sales & Marketing Director, Andy Atwell, says, “There were clear synergies between the customer sector that RGB serves and the target audience for Devialet. The quality of the products and brand positioning made perfect sense to add to our portfolio. There are also strong synergies between Devialet and Savant with future technical advances allowing for even better integration. We saw an opportunity for a disruptive technology and philosophy that challenges modern concepts around audio design and aesthetics.”
Andy continues, “Progress is steady and encouraging. To be truly understood, you must experience the quality of the brand and be prepared to consider alternative ways of thinking when designing solutions for end-users. The key is having the end user experience the product for themselves. The conversion rate of demonstration/experience to purchase is staggeringly high.
“Our strategy is to expose as many of the CI partners to the potential for the brand in their space. What has been traditionally viewed as a product with a retail/HiFi route to market now has true value in the CI channel both in terms of integration capabilities (via Danté for example) and the margin opportunities that channel requires. As a protected brand there are no online routes devaluing its price point in the market place.”
In terms of next steps for the brand, Philip says, “Since inception, our growth has been phenomenal, and we’ve continued to push the boundaries in audio engineering at every step. You can be quite sure that we’ll continue with this commitment and passion because we are in front of a paradox; we’ve never had such an exposure to sound (streaming, from radio to smartphones, laptops, TVs) but whereas screens and images in general have made a huge quality improvement already – sound quality is often so low.
“In this perspective, each ‘sound point’ is an opportunity for Devialet to innovate and bring a pure, dense, rich listening experience.”
For dealers that want to get involved RGB has Technical Sales Specialists that can demonstrate the full range of products at Canalot Studios in London. The team can also arrange demonstrations at customer premises, or loan equipment. Philip is also keen to meet to discuss what the brand can offer whether it’s a first look/ introduction, or a deeper run-through looking at specific use cases / setups / wiring diagrams.
EI was very impressed with the audio quality of what was on offer here, and the brand can definitely add something very eye-catching into the bargain; well worth investigating.
