This time I found myself listening to a pair of Duevel's entry level omni-directional speakers - the Planets. These are definitely not your average looking speakers with drivers facing straight up, facing two... metallic planets, reflecting the sound in every direction. Duevel Planets, although fairly inefficient at 85dB and 4 ohms nominal impedance, were driven rather well by a Sac Thailand Minuet EL-34 tube amplifier 'running in Triode mode in pure Class-A with cathode Feedback' - whatever that means - and rated only at mere 6 watts per channel.
The Duevel Planets require some effort to be optimally placed but even at less than optimal, close to wall, the sound does not suffer dramatically. Indeed, thanks to the speakers unorthodox design I can easily imagine them to live in living rooms where style and design come before things like optimal sound quality and big and bulky electronics.
The room in which this particular pair of speakers sat was above average in size, close to 40 sq. meters and ceiling well above 3 meters. Using Anticables speaker cables and Pro-Ject RPM 1.3 Genie turntable equipped with entry level Grado MM-cartridge, the sound coming from the system was surprisingly easy to listen and lively with tuneful and surprisingly believable bass. Indeed the big sound seemed to come from "somewhere" without any effort. Somewhat close to a planar-like sound, the omni-directonal speakers seem to have a certain signature or rather characteristics of their own.
With only minimalistic effort in acoustic treatments, the Planets filled the room just as hoped - evenly and fully. There really was no sweet spot, not in a sense you are used to with a usual pair of hifi speakers. The Planets proved to be excellent for background music and TV/movies - the Planets really gave Transformers Age of Extinction's effects a run for their money. Now don't get me wrong, these are just at home with critical listening and yes one can sit in the sweet spot to enjoy musical presentation. Just keep in mind that these are not anything like stand-mount / monitor speakers.
In the end of the day the Duevel Planets might be your ticket to the world of omni-directional speakers and further into Duevel's products. I would describe them as fast, tuneful, even balanced and actually quite fun! Most music genres are fine apart from heaviest rock/metal. Just push play and let the music fill the room - and I'll let you know that apparently the Planets can fill quite a lot of space without showing any signs of tiring - I'm still not sure how the 6W tube amp did this with 85db speakers but I'm glad it did. Unfortunately I did not have access to a solid state amplifier to see the effects of more power. And then there there are the looks - they can turn off some, but I wouldn't be all too surprised to see a pair of Duevel Planets in a home decoration magazine. If you have the chance, I recommend to check them out!
The Duevel Planets require some effort to be optimally placed but even at less than optimal, close to wall, the sound does not suffer dramatically. Indeed, thanks to the speakers unorthodox design I can easily imagine them to live in living rooms where style and design come before things like optimal sound quality and big and bulky electronics.
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| Red is the new Black |
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| Shiny Planets |
With only minimalistic effort in acoustic treatments, the Planets filled the room just as hoped - evenly and fully. There really was no sweet spot, not in a sense you are used to with a usual pair of hifi speakers. The Planets proved to be excellent for background music and TV/movies - the Planets really gave Transformers Age of Extinction's effects a run for their money. Now don't get me wrong, these are just at home with critical listening and yes one can sit in the sweet spot to enjoy musical presentation. Just keep in mind that these are not anything like stand-mount / monitor speakers.
In the end of the day the Duevel Planets might be your ticket to the world of omni-directional speakers and further into Duevel's products. I would describe them as fast, tuneful, even balanced and actually quite fun! Most music genres are fine apart from heaviest rock/metal. Just push play and let the music fill the room - and I'll let you know that apparently the Planets can fill quite a lot of space without showing any signs of tiring - I'm still not sure how the 6W tube amp did this with 85db speakers but I'm glad it did. Unfortunately I did not have access to a solid state amplifier to see the effects of more power. And then there there are the looks - they can turn off some, but I wouldn't be all too surprised to see a pair of Duevel Planets in a home decoration magazine. If you have the chance, I recommend to check them out!
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