Amadeus importer Source Systems, Ltd. will demonstrate the new Amadeus ‘Philharmonia’ loudspeakers at CES 2017 January 5-7 in Las Vegas. The new Amadeus speakers were co-designed by architect Jean Nouvel and Michel Deluc, Director of Research & Development at Amadeus.

The demonstration marks the first time the speakers will be shown at CES. Amadeus will debut an expanded line of the speakers with two standardised pedestal height options (85cm and 105cm), as well as announcing that custom pedestal heights can be ordered designed specifically for the users’ listening space — custom sizes are priced on demand. Note that the electronics for the speakers are located inside the speaker pedestal and are an integral part of the whole product design.

A stereo pair of Philharmonia speakers was recently installed at the Red Bull Music Academy Studios within La Gaîté-Lyrique in Paris, as well as two 5-speaker surround systems installed in November 2015 in the recording and mastering studios within the new Philharmonie de Paris concert hall. Mark Gurvey, CEO of Source Systems, Ltd. states “We have received exceptional reviews from listeners and press alike at recent demonstrations of the Philharmonia speakers both at AXPONA and RMAF. At CES we are excited to reach a new audience of audiophiles, who will experience the proprietary technology and phenomenal sound field that Philharmonia provides.  We will showcase the world’s first Philharmonia speaker system with the new height option, so listeners can appreciate how appropriate this development will be for their own listening environments.  Philharmonia speakers are also available with an extended base suitable for a wide range of studio applications.”

The new speakers were initially created specifically for the Philharmonie de Paris recording and mastering studios, which were built to capture performances by the world’s most prestigious symphonic orchestras within the concert hall. French ‘Pro Audio’ manufacturer Amadeus, released their Philharmonia speakers to great acclaim in 2015. Architect Jean Nouvel, who designed the new Philharmonie de Paris concert hall and co-designed the new speakers quipped, “I am not a designer. I am an architect who makes design.”

Michel Deluc, Amadeus’ R&D Manager, states why different pedestal heights with Philharmonia are important, “The acoustic centres must be placed as close together as possible in a monitoring speaker system, to maximise coverage, minimise ‘lobing’ and improve frequency response in a three-dimensional sense. The centre of the Philharmonia’ sound beam in the vertical plane is level with a position between the centre of the 28-mm soft dome tweeter and centre of the 8-inch bass driver. The height of the listening position should be set so that the listener’s ears are level with the centre of the vertical beam. This point is 135cm above the floor for Philharmonia featuring the 105cm pedestal and 117 cm above the floor for Philharmonia featuring the 85cm pedestal.” He continues, “These two standard heights cover a wide range of listening positions. Moreover, Philharmonia gives you the freedom to change subtly, with reasonable proportion, the direction of the sound beam in the vertical plane, directed from the loudspeaker, thanks to the powerful 64-bit digital processing unit at the core of every system, by time delaying one transducer from the other one.” Besides the 85cm and 105cm heights, optional custom pedestal heights for the Philharmonia speakers can be ordered and are priced on demand.

For the Philharmonia speaker demonstrations at CES 2017, digital source devices will be provided by Lumin Music, M2Tech and Lindemann Audio; Digital streaming, high res PC audio, and CD audio to be used. Importer Source Systems Ltd., will be demonstrating in the Venetian Hotel Tower suite 30-315 within the “Tech West” High Performance Audio area.