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Theophany Loudspeakers

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Dan (Owner & Mobile Operations) 0508 AV SHOP or 021 977 595
Patrick (Showroom & Office Manager) (03) 928 1161 or 0225 977 595

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At NB TV & HiFi, we don't need to say too much about Theophany. We strive to achieve exceptional sound, and to achieve this you need speakers designed to follow the waveform presented with the most accurate response, this is what Theophany have been designed to do, hand made in Christchurch New Zealand, come in for an in store demo.

THE DESIGN

WHILE IT ALL STARTED WITH A DREAM, OUR PASSION FOR KNOWLEDGE, OUR ABILITY TO DEVELOP OUTSIDE THE NORM, PLUS ON-GOING DREAMS HAS SEEN THEOPHANY SPEAKERS DEVELOPED TO AN ENTIRELY NEW LEVEL OF AUDIO SUCCESS.


HANDCRAFTED IN NEW ZEALAND

Theophany is a family owned company. All of our speakers are made from hand crafted native and exotic timbers right here in Christchurch, New Zealand.

YOUR CHOICE OF FINISHES

We produce all of our speakers in a range of preselected finishes, but can on request finish a pair to your own specifications whereever you are in the world. (Samples below are indicative only and may vary from physical products due to screen variations)

Christchurch made

Less vibration

Less vibration

HARMONIC ISOLATION

A curved panel can resist flex from forces up to 15 times greater than a flat panel. The majority of speakers on the market are flat sided and braced. It is often claimed that bracing fixes this flexing issue however all it does is raise the frequency of the flex. This results in harmonic interference affecting mid to high frequency sounds like electric guitars or vocals.

Because the Theophany cabinets are almost entirely curved they do not flex like a traditional cabinet, the music or sounds are less coloured and more natural. This results in much more emotive and enjoyable sound.

 


PHASE ALIGNMENT

Sound travels 34.8cm in a millisecond, yet we only need to turn our heads a fraction to the left or right to determine direction. This shows that humans are capable of differentiating sounds that are very close together.

Traditionally the tweeter, which generates the high frequencies, is forward of the woofers, which generate the low frequencies. This means the high frequencies reach your ear ahead of the low frequency. The result of this is that the sound stage or image is not as good as it could be. 

We at Theophany measured average heights of music lovers and furniture to determine how much each speaker should lean back so that every sound being produced reaches your ear at the same time. The result of this is that the speakers seem to disappear. The vocalist will be in the centre of the room with the musicians left and right of them. Often the sounds seem to miraculously move outside the speakers, all because they lean back.

 

Better imaging and stage

Better imaging and stage


External standing waves

External standing waves

STATIONARY WAVE ELIMINATION

EXTERNAL STATIONARY WAVE ELIMINATION

When a rock is in a river little whirlpools or stationary water are formed. Speakers are very similar to this. Air always flows forward around a speaker. Just like a rock, square speakers cause small air whirlpools that are called stationary waves to form around them. These waves are very bad in that they affect sound dramatically. If a stationary wave on the back of a speaker touches the wall bass is often loose and undefined. This means the speakers will have to be mounted a long way from the wall.

No external stationary waves

No external stationary waves

Stationary waves on the front edge of a square speaker result in turbulent areas that sound has to travel through. The result is a loss of definition. Hammond Peek the winner of two academy awards for sound mixing and recording stated that he could hear things in our speakers that he could not hear in others. This is largely because of the elimination of stationary waves. As an experiment we replicated some of our models in square cabinets and the difference was significant. Curved speakers are cleaner and more detailed allowing you to hear more information, they are more like nature, they are more real. 

Internal standing waves

Internal standing waves

INTERNAL STATIONARY WAVE ELIMINATION

No internal stationary waves

No internal stationary waves

Once again the curved surfaces of the speaker help us eliminate stationary waves, this time however it is inside the speaker. Stationary waves become useless unusable air. They also contract and expand at a non-uniform rate which means calculating cabinet dimensions accurately is very hard to do.

By virtually eliminating the stationary waves internally we are able to use almost all of the internal volume of the cabinet. This results in much cleaner and tighter bass response. Notes only two or three Hz apart are clearly definable and easy to distinguish. This is often impossible to do with a standard square speaker.

 


STANDING WAVES

Standing waves are frequency waves that develop when the wave length of the sound generated is the same as the speaker cabinet width, depth or height. One total sine wave develops across the width depth or height. Because it bounces back on itself it builds like water sloshing in a bath. An echo of the original signal develops and grows. This results in numerous harmonic echos. This is best demonstrated by making noise in a small room like a bathroom. There is a boxy, echoing characteristic to the sound.

Standing waves develop inside speakers with parallel surfaces.  This results in sound with many harmonic peaks, best described as echos. The sound heard out of the speaker is very different to the sound generated by the amplifier. It is boxy and coloured by the square cabinet. This phenomena is called comb filter due to the generated wave looking very like a comb. It is undesirable but unavoidable in typical square speaker cabinets.

At Theophany Loudspeakers we build all of our cabinets in such a way that it is impossible for standing waves to develop. This means the sound heard at the front of the speakers is almost identical to the sound generated by the amplifier. Music is un-coloured by the cabinet, it is therefore cleaner, tighter and considerably more natural and realistic.

Standing waves  

Standing waves

 

Comb Filter
Comb Filter
Smooth Response

Smooth Response

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