Planar-Magnetic Attraction

THE DIPTYQUE DP 115 speakers are a new model 2-way, ribbon, and planar magnetic driver dipole "isodynamic" speaker system designed and built in France.

- Mark Henninger

I encountered the pair at AXPONA 2024 and instantly fell in love with their looks and their sound. They are notable not only for their unique design-it is one of five models from the company that feature the same technology and aesthetic-but also for their exceptional performance. As someone who has reviewed many traditional "cone and dome" speaker models over the years, I found these Diptyques delivered a thrilling listening experience that set them apart from much of what I have heard at any price. They are high-end, high-performance speakers.

DESIGN AND SOUND CHARACTERISTICS

In addition to being flat, the Diptyque DP 115s are dipole speakers, meaning the driver projects sound to both the front and rear simultaneously. This creates a figure-eight sound dispersion pattern because there is inherently noise cancellation on the sides of the speaker as the front and rear sound waves meet. This is particularly noticeable at bass frequencies, which are omnidirectional in nature. However, this quality is a good match for the ribbon tweeter, which does not suffer cancellation but still manages to match the dispersion of the mid/bass driver due to its inherent directionality.

If you stand to the side of these speakers and no subwoofer is in use, the sound may seem thinner and lacking in bass. That is completely normal for a dipole. However, when seated in the sweet spot, the audio quality is impeccable, with a balanced and rich frequency response, tight, powerful bass, no cabinet or horn coloration, and less influence from the room itself than you'd hear with many speakers. It's a clean, pure sound that pays full respect to the source material.