Phase Technology dcb-1.0-lr 参照ガイド

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DARTS system in two side-
bars, but for now let’s focus 
on how the system performs.
Clarity Comes First
Right off the bat the DARTS 
525 system bowls listen-
ers over with its stunning 
openness and transparency. 
With many AVRs and some 
A/V controllers, I’m used to 
hearing a certain amount 
of low-level hash with DSP 
circuits, but in the DSP-con-
trolled DARTS 525 system 
I really couldn’t hear any 
hash or graininess at all. 
What I heard, instead, was 
a veritable smorgasbord of 
sonic details and textures 
spread out as if on a ban-
quet table. With the DARTS 
525 rig you’ll want to put on 
favorite music recordings and 
movies one after another, 
just to see if the system will 
reveal any cool new pieces 
of low-level information you 
might have missed before. 
It’s an addicting experience.
On movie soundtracks in 
particular, I heard low-level 
details that often get lost or 
buried in other systems. One 
good example would be the 
shootout scene from Open 
Range
, which enthusiasts 
know for its violent action—
and many sonic subtleties. As 
Charlie and Boss face down 
their opponents, for example, 
you can hear insects chirping 
and the prairie wind whis-
tling faintly and mournfully 
in the background. Through 
the DARTS 525 system these 
subtle details become crys-
tal clear and serve—on an 
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In a very real sense the DARTS 525 system 
is the brainchild of three companies: Phase 
Technology, which contributed speaker/
drive unit design know-how, D2Audio, 
which contributed Class D switching 
amplifier technology, and Audyssey 
Laboratories, which provided a custom-
ized version of its sophisticated MultEQ XT 
automated speaker setup/room EQ system.
From the start DARTS 525 was 
conceived as a self-powered or “active” 
speaker system where individual drive 
units would be powered by dedicated 
Class D amplifiers, with all traditional 
crossover functions handled by digital 
signal processing (DSP) engines built 
into the amplifier module. One reason the 
speaker system performs so well is that 
its drive units and amplifiers were literally 
designed for each other. D2Audio’s Class 
D amplifiers are capable of very wide 
bandwidth, nearly grain-free resolution 
of textural details, lightning-fast transient 
response, and high damping factors 
(which describe the amplifier’s ability to 
control driver motion without overshoot). 
Phase Technology designed the DARTS 
525 drive units to take advantage of these 
characteristics to the fullest extent possible.
Another advantage is that DARTS 525 
is a DSP-controlled speaker system where 
output level matching and crossover 
frequencies and slopes are controlled in the 
digital domain. But the DARTS 525 system 
takes DSP further still, applying DSP-driven 
frequency and time response EQ curves at 
the driver level to yield ruler-flat frequency 
response, ideal phase response, and 
perfect time alignment between drivers. In 
short, DARTS 525 would be a tremendous-
ly accurate speaker system even if it did not 
provide automated setup/room EQ features.
But DARTS 525 
does provide those 
features, and they add an extra dimension 
to the system’s performance. Unlike other 
EQ technologies, Audyssey Laboratories’ 
DSP-powered MultEQ system optimizes 
the speaker system’s in-room frequency 
and time response characteristics for 
multiple listener locations—not just for 
one central “sweet spot.” Through a 
comprehensive set-up and calibration 
process, it gathers room/speaker response 
data from multiple seating locations, 
collecting as many as 32 complete sets 
of measurements. Then, the MultEQ 
system applies fuzzy logic techniques to 
analyze the data and calculate optimal 
frequency and time response correction 
filters for each speaker in the system. 
The term “fuzzy logic” means that 
the Audyssey system does not simply 
average response data as some compet-
ing systems do but rather takes the more 
sophisticated approach of analyzing data 
to identify specific “clusters” or patterns of 
response problems within the room. Then, 
taking a “whole system” approach, the 
system plots channel-specific correction 
filters that together work to compen-
sate for room/speaker problems across 
multiple listening locations at once. The 
DARTS 525 system correction filters are 
extremely precise, providing an astound-
ing 512 individual correction points 
per speaker, which result in remarkably 
smooth in-room response curves.
The real genius of the system is that it 
is an exceptionally accurate speaker that 
does not try to achieve “perfect” response in 
any one room location. Instead, it aims to 
achieve very good response at multiple lo-
cations within real-world listening rooms—
a job at which it succeeds brilliantly.
The Technologies Behind the DARTS 525
DFS-525LR main speaker
(in cherry finish)
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