Phase Technology DARTS 525 Quick start guide

Brand: Phase Technology

Model: DARTS 525

Category: Audio equalizers

Type: Quick start guide

This manual is also suitable for

bout a year and a

half ago, I got my

first taste of Phase

Technology’s remarkably ad-

vanced and utterly unforget-

table DARTS speaker system,

whose name is an acronym

that stands for Digital Audio

Reference Theater System.

The self-powered, DSP-con-

trolled system was something

of a technical marvel, and it

even offered a fuzzy logic-

driven room EQ system de-

signed to optimize response

across multiple listening lo-

cations at once. Since I come

from the “simpler is better”

school of thought, I am some-

times skeptical of technically

complicated solutions, but I

had to admit that the DARTS

system sounded extremely

transparent and that its

high-tech EQ system really

worked. “A future TPV review

subject,” I thought to myself.

Now let’s fast-forward

to the 2006 CEDIA show,

where Phase Technology

announced the new DARTS

525 system, which in 5.1-

channel configuration sells

for between $11,000 and

$12,800 (depending upon

whether you want one sub

or two). The system price

buys you 5.1-channel’s worth

of speakers plus a powerful

DSP-controlled, 16-channel

Class D amplifier. Sixteen

channels are needed be-

cause the DARTS 525 system

powers each individual

speaker drive unit (or set

of drive units) with its own

amplifier channel. Don’t be

fooled by the tiny 525 main

speakers, though, because

there is nothing miniature

about this system’s sound.

The DARTS 525 system con-

sists of two 2-way biamplified

DFS-525LR main speakers, a

3-way triamplified DFS-525C

center channel, two bipolar/

dipolar biamplified DCB-

SURR surround speakers, a

pair of 500-watt DCB-112S

powered subwoofers, and

a DP-2000 DSP-controlled

16-channel Class D power

amplifier that cranks out

250Wpc. We describe the dis-

tinctive technologies and set-

up procedures used for the

Self-Powered, DSP-Controlled, 5.1-Channel Speaker System

Phase Technology DARTS 525:

Better Music Through Science

by Chris Martens

ECHNOLOGY FOCUS

DFS-525C center channel

Electronically reprinted from March 2007

"The self-powered,

DSP-controlled system

was something of a

technical marvel"

"It's an

addicting

experience"

Phase Technology

dARTS 525

Speaker System

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

Dish Network | (800) 969-4388 | www.dishnetwork.com/dishhd

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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almost subliminal

level—to remind

us how terribly

alone and exposed

the cowboys are.

But beyond

finesse, the system

also serves up ex-

plosive dynamics

that seem impos-

sibly powerful

given how small

the DARTS speaker

modules are. The

“Omaha Beach”

scene from Saving

Private Ryan convinced me

the system could at once

play loudly and cleanly,

as it reproduced thunder-

ous explosions with suffi-

cient force to send pressure

waves rippling across the

slab floor of the TPV Audio

Lab. Similarly, the system

made the eerie ping and

whirr of bullet ricochets

sound so immediate and

intense that I felt an invol-

untary urge to take cover.

This system offers more than

enough dynamic head-

room to deliver the goods in

moderately large rooms.

On music, the DARTS 525

system sounded clean, trans-

parent and authoritative,

teasing out the subtle timbres

of individual instruments and

voices, and handling large

and small-scale dynamic

shifts with grace. These

qualities combined syner-

March 2007 The Perfect Vision

tech focus: Phase Technology DARTS 525

Speciﬁcations

hase Technology DFS-525LR 2-Way,

Biampliﬁed Main Speaker

• Driver complement: One 1" fabric-dome

tweeter, one 5.25" glass/honeycomb

composite mid-bass driver

•

Frequency response: See system re-

sponse speciﬁcation, below.

•

Sensitivity: 91dB (1W/1m)

• Impedance: Not speciﬁed

•

Ampliﬁer power: See ampliﬁer

speciﬁcations, below

•

Dimensions: 6.875" x 11.5" x 9.75"

•

Weight: 10 lbs.

Phase Technology DFS-525C 3-Way,

Triampliﬁed Center Channel

As for DFS 525LR above, except for the

following:

• Driver complement: One 1" fabric-dome

tweeter, two 5.25" glass/honeycomb

composite mid-bass drivers

• Dimensions: 18" x 6.875" x 9.75"

•

Weight: 12 lbs.

Phase Technology DCB-SURR Bipolar/

Dipolar, Biampliﬁed Surround Speaker

As for DFS 525LR above, except for the

following:

• Driver complement: Two 1" fabric-dome

tweeters, two 5.25" glass/honeycomb

composite mid-bass drivers

• Dimensions: 10.5" x 15.25" x 4.625"

•

Weight: 12lbs.

Phase Technology DCB-112S Powered

Subwoofer

•

Driver complement: One 12" woofer, two

10" passive radiators

• Integrated ampliﬁer power: 500 Watts

•

Dimensions: 14.5" x 15.5" x 15.5"

•

Weight: 62 lbs.

Phase Technology DP-2000 16-Channel

DSP-Controlled Ampliﬁer

•

Power output: 16 x 125Wpc @ 8 ohms or

250Wpc @ 4 ohms; EQ characteristics for

all channels under DSP-control

•

Number and type of audio inputs:

16 single-ended (via RCA jacks);

USB programming port for onboard DSP

engines

•

Dimensions: 17 " x 5.625" x 17"

•

Weight: 21 lbs.

Phase Technology DARTS 525 System

• Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz

•

System price: $12,800 with dual

subwoofers (as tested); $11,000 with

single subwoofer

The Last Word

I really couldn’t hear any DSP-induced hash or

graininess at all. What I heard, instead, was a

veritable smorgasbord of sonic details and tex-

tures spread out as if on a banquet table.

[ ]

DP-2000 ampliﬁer

DCB-112S subwoofer

• Striking transparency and focus

• Catches details most systems miss

• Mind-blowing dynamics

• Smooth, neutral tonal balance

• Giant “sweet spot” means all

seats are good seats

• Installation/set-up tools should be

available to end-users

• Should incorporate Audyssey’s

latest upper midrange “contour

controls”

gistically as I listened to the

Oue/Minnesota performance

of the finale of Respighi’s

Pines of Rome [30th Anni-

versary Sampler, Reference

Recordings]. This passage

is famous for the way its

orchestration and dynam-

ics build in intensity toward

a thunderous crescendo—a

crescendo the DARTS sys-

tem captured beautifully.

My only criticisms of the

system are minor. First, the

DARTS system is not the last

word in 3D imaging because

its main speakers occasion-

ally draw too much attention

to themselves on hard,

upper midrange/treble

transients. Second, the sys-

tem can on some material

sound a little too bright,

though I know it measures

very well. This issue could

easily be addressed, I

think, if Phase Technol-

ogy adopts the new upper

midrange “contour control”

that Audyssey Laborato-

ries recently developed

for use in its standalone

room EQ products.

Phase Technology’s

DARTS system is a superb

performer that offers good

value for the money and

provides an eye-opening

glimpse at what I think will

prove to be the future of

loudspeaker system de-

sign. The greatest beauty of

the system, though, is that

it works for multiple listen-

ers at once, creating—as

one Absolute Multimedia

staff member put, “a gi-

ant sweet-spot that seems

to be everywhere.” TPV

www.theperfectvision.com March 2007

Phase Technology | (888) 742-7385 | www.phasetech.com

When DARTS 525 systems

are sold, the dealer sends a

DARTS-qualiﬁed installer to the

user’s home to calibrate the

system (the dealer may or may

not charge for this service). The

installer brings a calibration

system consisting of a laptop

equipped with test/calibra-

tion software, a calibrated

microphone, and a special

“umbilical” cord that connects

the laptop to the DARTS 525

system ampliﬁer. The installer

runs a series of laptop-driven

tests (pulsed sweep tones that

are played through each speaker

in succession), taking multiple

measurements from locations in

and near every seat in the room.

Once data gathering is

complete, the installer runs a

computation-intensive, Audyssey

Laboratories-developed com-

puter program that calculates

frequency and time response

correction ﬁlters for each speaker

in the system. Phase Technol-

ogy offers users four possible

EQ tuning curves to allow for

rooms that are large or small

and whose acoustics may be

reverberant or dead. For rever-

berant spaces, the system rolls

off upper midrange and treble

response a bit to compensate for

the fact that “live” rooms tend

to make speakers sound overly

bright. Once a preferred EQ tun-

ing curve is selected, the install-

er downloads ﬁlter settings to

the ampliﬁer’s DSP engines via

a faceplate-mounted USB port.

As the last step in the set-up

process, the installer discon-

nects the calibration system

and conﬁgures the system’s

preamp/multichannel control-

ler to drive the DARTS 525

ampliﬁer. During the data

analysis process, DARTS

calibration software calculates

recommended speaker distance

settings (accurate to with a

tenth of a foot) and channel

level settings (accurate to with a

tenth of a dB). The installer then

connects the controller to the

DARTS ampliﬁer and loads the

recommended settings, at which

point the system is ready to play

music or movie soundtracks

in a way most people have

not experienced before.

DARTS 525 System Setup

Poor Good Excellent

10 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Bass Dynamics

Bass Pitch Deﬁnition

Bass Extension

Self-Ampliﬁed Subwoofers

Poor Good Excellent

10 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Dynamics

Tonal Balance

Phase Technology DARTS 525

Self-Ampliﬁed 5.1-Channel Speaker System

(compared with sub-$13k speaker/ampliﬁer packages)

Imaging and Soundstaging

Transparency and Focus

Self-Ampliﬁed Main, Center, and Surround

Speakers

Poor Good Excellent

10 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Value

216-1033

DCB-SURR surround speaker

System as a Whole

Phase Technology DARTS 525 Quick start guide

Brand: Phase Technology

Model: DARTS 525

Category: Audio equalizers

Type: Quick start guide

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