German Physiks Unlimited Ultimate mini review

German Physiks truly bring something special to the speaker market with the DDD driver.

The DDD driver has two key distinguishing features:

1. It is omnidirectional, meaning that it radiates the sound evenly around it.
2. It has an exceptionally wide operating range. In most models it typically covers the range from 200Hz up to 24kHz – almost 7 octaves – though in the Unicorn Mk II, it covers the range 40Hz to 24kHz – over 9 octaves.

This extremely wide range is achieved by the use of 3 modes of radiation:

• Pistonic radiation

Where the driver cone moves back and forward like the piston in a car engine.

• Bending wave radiation

Where the driver cone flexes and a wave is made to travel down its side.

• Modal radiation

Where the driver cone is allowed to go into break up and areas of excitation are created on the cone surface. In a simplified form we can think of these areas as looking like the pattern of waves we see when a stone is dropped into a pool of water. In reality the patterns will be more complex and they will change with frequency.

By comparison, most loudspeakers use drivers that only use pistonic radiation. These have a much narrower operating range and as the frequency rises, they tend to concentrate their energy into a progressively narrowing beam.