Phase Technology PC-3.1, PC-Sub, PC 3.1 Series II Brochure & Specs
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Re view of Phase Techn ology PC Loudspe ake r S e ries Inside
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Volume 12, Number 10, Issue77
October 2003
www.WidescreenReview.com
EQUIPMENT REVIEW
Phase Technology PC
Series
Ph ase-Optimized Louds pea ker Sy stem
P
ERRY S UN
An Extensive Legacy In
Loudspeaker
Manufacturing
Phase Technology Corporation founder
Bill Hecht is a nearly 50-year veteran in the
manufacturing of loudspeakers and loudspeaker components, having founded
United Speaker Systems in 1955. Over the
past five decades, the company had established itself as an original equipment manufacturer for several known companies
including Fisher, McIntosh, and ElectroVoice. Hecht started the Phase Technology
brand in 1978. Since then, the company has
been known for offering loudspeaker products to the consumer of exemplary performance and at an attractive value. Today, Bill
Hecht, the Chairman, and his son, Ken
Hecht, the President, are at the helm.
Phase Technology, and its United
Speaker Systems parent, are known for their
capabilities and techniques developed to
design and manufacture all aspects of a
loudspeaker. All of the essential components—drivers, crossovers, cabinets—are
crafted in-house. The company is also
known for a number of loudspeaker design
innovations, including the soft-dome tweeter
and the solid flat-piston driver.
The loudspeaker system Phase Technology
provided for this review comprises five PC 3.1
Series II ($600) satellite loudspeakers and two
PC Subs ($1,000), which are part of the
Premier Collection series, the company’s
flagship line. Other lines of products include
the Teatro Series, the Custom Install Series,
the Power Series (subwoofers), and the AllTerrain Series (indoor/outdoor loudspeakers).
New to the company is the Velocity Series.
Essential Components
And Design
The loudspeakers in the Premier
Collection (PC) Series are distinguished by
their grilles, which feature tapered contouring on the sides. The company offers a
choice of furniture-grade real-wood veneers,
including Natural Cherry, Honey Oak, and
Black Ash. The cabinets feature
rounded edges. The build quality
of the cabinets is abundantly
solid and of considerable mass.
The material used is 3/4-inch
MDF (medium-density fiberboard) and extensive internal
bracing is employed. Phase
Technology manufactures their
own cabinetry.
Loudspeaker Engineering
Phase Technology is one of
the few loudspeaker companies
that distinguish themselves by
building loudspeakers from the
ground up, including the drivers,
crossovers, and cabinets. It is generally
much more common for a loudspeaker
company to outsource the production of
drivers and enclosures, but Phase
Technology completely fabricates their
products in-house, allowing them to have
total control over the products they develop
and offer to the consumer.
The company’s meticulous crafting of
loudspeaker drivers begins with the voice coils.
A high-temperature adhesive is applied to
the voice coil copper conductor, which is
then hand-wound on the voice coil former.
In a baking process known as “thermosetting,” the adhesive is set and hardened on
the voice coil. Phase Technology claims that
this approach results in higher temperature
tolerances for their voice coils than those of
other manufacturers, and therefore, higher
sustained power handling capability.
The soft-dome tweeters used in the company’s products are also the result of extensive research and development. The tweeters
are available in fixed and pivoting versions.
The latter, known as the Variable Axis Tweeter,
features a Neodymium Iron Boron magnet,
said to be the strongest magnet available. A
specially tooled housing for the tweeter
allows for pivoting of up to ±15 degrees.
Ferrofluid is used for cooling. The tweeters
used in the PC Series allow for tweeter pivoting, horizontally or vertically. The
diaphragm is said to be highly damped and
of very low mass. The tweeter is surrounded
by a special Unicell®acoustic treatment to
minimize reflections off the baffle and grille
surfaces. The Unicell features a specific
porosity, which can be adjusted to meet a
desired frequency range for absorption.
The woofer drivers in the PC Series are
also the result of a special Phase Technology
design. Instead of a conical-shaped
diaphragm, a flat-surfaced, solid material is
used, known as Rigid Polymer Foam®(RPF®).
The foam is molded in shape, such that the
back surface is cone-shaped, but the front
surface is flat. Therefore, the driver essentially acts as a solid piston. The RPF is said
to be non-resonant throughout the driver’s
acoustically relevant operating range. The
company claims that the solid piston driver
helps to optimize phase coherence by having all frequencies emanate from the same
planar surface. Additionally, the RPF material is said to dampen back reflections that
may occur inside the cabinet.
Absolute Phase Crossovers
Phase Technology is one of a handful of
companies that approaches crossover
design and driver integration with the goal
of optimizing phase coherence throughout
the audio frequency spectrum, particularly in
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WIDESCREEN REVIEW • ISSUE 77
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