The element with the greatest influence on the ultimate result is, and not only in my opinion, the relationship between the most critical transducer in a reproduction system (i.e., the loudspeaker) and the room in which it operates.

It is very important not only how the loudspeaker is designed and manufactured, but its design should foresee how its emission will react with the environment and what measures should then be put in place so that the environment will affect the emission of the loudspeaker as little as possible (which should reflect, as mentioned above, as closely as possible the signal sent to its terminals).

My experience leads me to say that if we want to get the best performance out of any system (even an inexpensive one), the acoustic treatment of the listening room is fundamental.

Sure enough, it is obvious that if we overlay the reflections of the recording with the reflections of the environment, the result can be either underwhelming or agreeable, and yet it will not be the best that can be obtained from that system in that environment.

Some may say that nullifying room reflections is equivalent to making an anechoic room. It goes without saying that this is not what needs to be done. Decades of experience of many audio and room acoustics experts lead me to say that the target is to cancel or greatly reduce the deleterious effect of the first room reflections that, by creating virtual sources within milliseconds, mix with the direct sound by “fouling” it (do you remember this term?), often in a way that cannot be corrected by any other method but proper room treatment.

You may have noticed that there are many items on the market that boast of effectively correcting the room, and at a limited cost. It grieves me to tell you that making a truly effective listening environment is a kind of art that not many know how to master. Indeed, as you can see from the pictures, the Spera Experience showroom is quite unique in this regard.

Certainly, another key element is the relationship between the amplifier and the speaker. Although, as specified in the dedicated section (speaker technique), it is not always said that it is the amplifier that has to fit the speaker, but sometimes the opposite is true.

Therefore, concretely, one must first research what the sound masking elements are, and then apply existing and enforceable countermeasures. To summarize, it could be said that once the loudspeaker has been designed and built, the room will have to be treated appropriately and the most suitable amplifier will have to be sought also, and especially, as electrical synergy.

We have, therefore, mentioned those that, in my view, are the three most important and relevant elements for having a high-quality sound.

The next step is about the multitude of other masking features. It would take too long to enumerate all of them here, but those who wants to, can deepen them with the undersigned.

However, it is a must to talk about the most important one, which is the fight against vibration. This topic is transversal in the audio area, in fact it regards all the devices designed for sound reproduction.

As you can easily perceive, the greater the intensity of vibration, the greater its deleterious effect. Consequently, it is easy to understand why I have devoted a lot of energy, including design energy, in trying to decrease vibration in speakers, which generate a lot of it because of their functioning.

We have a negative effect when the materials that are in direct contact, or that are subjected to the vibration of the speakers, also vibrate, creating a background of unwanted “voices” that “foul” the sound in a way that is not easily identifiable. Indeed, we only become aware of it, when some serious vibration-fighting modes are applied..

There are not many companies that are seriously taking care of this issue. In fact, in advertising, there is often talk about elastic decoupling of loudspeakers, for example, but my experience has taught me that such a technique, to be effective, has to shift the resonant frequency of the object plus decoupling system assembly to very low frequencies, and this creates issues that are not so easy to solve.

Indeed, cheap and simple techniques do not work efficiently. Therefore, a complex system is used in my speakers (as you can see from the photos and data sheets), which may discourage some people and seem exaggerated to others, but I assure you that the technique I have applied is effective and greatly reduces the deleterious effect of at least some types of vibration.

Another significant aspect that has been applied in the speaker is the fight to the vibration transmitted from the woofer to the other components, especially the tweeter, as mentioned in the section about the design philosophy.

The vibration between the loudspeakers in the same system causes severe intermodulation distortion, which, too often, is underestimated by manufacturers. In order to be solved effectively, in fact, it requires interventions that are too impactful on industrial-level simplicity of construction, and thus on cost.

This is another reason why I believe that appealing to small, artisanal manufacturers allows enthusiasts to have access to special and very effective techniques and, often, at a competitive price.

In particular, in the Delirium system, some peculiar but effective techniques based on rubber bands have been applied in this regard. There genuinely allow you to have a sound cleanliness of the superior mid-high range that is easily guessed even by just touching the tweeter flange with the speaker running: no vibration will be detected.

Applying such technique was not easy. Indeed, it was necessary to make aluminum supports of adequate strength and that would allow the appropriate resonance frequency (to be effective) of the elastic system to be reached.

This technique turned out to be so successful that it was also applied to the cross-over filter header and, even, to the two most critical components: the coil in series with the woofer and the capacitor in series with the tweeter, making it (along with its other special features) as the extreme of the two-way speaker.

The other speaker, Deep Harmony, takes advantage of the experience gained on the Delirium system but applied in most basic and less extreme ways in order to limit the costs, whereas, in other respects as well, this system is cheaper than the other.