Dynaudio’s Jupiter Measuring System
One of Dynaudio’s unique traits as a loud speaker manufacturer is that the do almost everything in-house.
This means that for almost all of the speakers that Dynaudio make, they are also designed, prototyped, engineered, fabricated, assembled and tested on the same premise in Skanderborg, Denmark.
There are numerous benefits to having this level of accessibility. When a speaker company requires parts to be made by another company, minimum order quantities, marginal costs, fabricating hardware limitations all play their part in hindering innovation.
When a speaker manufacture has their own modeling software, cnc, lathes etc they can afford the time to really experiment, innovate and prototype in a much, much shorter time frame.
This also undoes geographic, cultural and communicative barriers to ensure no detail is glossed over. The oversight is consistent. The final product is as intended.
Dynaudio is not new to this. They have been operating this way for decades, and it has built them a following and for good reason.
However, there is always room for innovation. Dynaudio has recently invested in a completely new research and development centre to improve their process.
This brings us to Dynaudio’s Jupiter.
In 2016 Dynaudio opened a brand new research and development facility in Skanderborg, Denmark.
However, to measure all aspects of how a speaker performs there are some fundamental requirements.
Jupiter is a measurement tool, featuring a 13 x 13 x 13 meter room housing two cranes and 31 discrete microphones.
By hoisting a speaker up to the centre of the room on a suspended platform, the speaker can play a series of test tones. 31 discrete microphones can then record and analyse the impulse response (how fast the speakers react).
It also allows for testing phase coherency (how well the drivers interact with one another) and how the speaker will perform in a room, at a distance. This can then be measured on multiple axis to determine peak performance in all types of environments.
Why the big room? By having such an enormous space, the microphones can record the speaker’s direct sound and shut off before any reflections are recorded. This ensures high accuracy recording and helps to streamline the R&D process.
The whole aim of this is to help to keep Dynaudio’s entire process as efficient as possible. By bypassing external contractors and mitigating geographic variation, Dynaudio keeps complete control over the entire process.
They can prototype any idea with great speed at low running costs, rather than adhering to minimum order quantities.
All of this ensures that Dynaudio stays at the forefront of speaker design, and at a great price.
William
