THURSDAY PRO // After speakers and headphones, Devialet is tackling sound bars with the Dione. This diversification is accompanied by an ambitious international strategy. Digital takes stock with Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel, co-founder of Devialet.
After creating a sensation with its Phantom speakers and Gemini headphones, Devialet is setting out to conquer a new business segment: sound bars. With this in mind, the French brand specializing in high-end sound unveiled the Dione at the end of March 2022, a soundbar that aims to assert itself as the best in its category by combining high quality reproduction, sound immersion and simplicity of operation. use.
To lavish “a real show of force”in the words of our tester at DigitalDevialet has not skimped on resources, and this is reflected in its launch price, set at €2190, which positions the Dione as one of the most expensive models on the market, behind Sennheiser’s opulent Ambeo Soundbar.
Soundbars, a $6 billion market
Seeing Devialet land on the soundbar segment is not so surprising, insofar as “it’s a $6 billion market, twice the size of Phantom’s”, notes Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel, co-founder of Devialet. Above all, it was the evolution of televisions that prompted one of the pioneers of French Tech to get started. “Televisions are becoming flatter and flatter, the picture is more and more magnificent, and the sound less and less good since technically, we can’t manage to make sufficient sound in the finesse of the televisions. The market response is therefore quite obvious, it is soundbars”summarizes Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel.
The birth of the Dione came up against the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting shortage of semiconductors. The tricolor company however had a major advantage since it develops its own electronic cards. “We have spent the last 18 months doing circuit board iterations to replace an untraceable component with another component”, says Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel. And to add: “We have all the jobs in-house at Devialet.”
Huawei, spearhead of Devialet in Asia
Apart from technological development, Devialet has also endeavored to expand internationally in recent years. The brand has thus developed a logic of partnerships and licensed technologies, which has notably enabled it to open the doors to the Chinese market by joining forces with Huawei for the development of several speakers and televisions. “A partnership with Huawei in Asia is something as important as a partnership with Apple in the United States”believes the co-founder of Devialet.
And it is not the US sanctions imposed on the Chinese giant that have dampened the enthusiasm of French society. “Sound is not a military issue of strategic espionage. If we were in 5G, it would be a problem”, admits Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel. As a result, Devialet now generates more than a third of its turnover in Asia, with China constituting its second market after France.
A partnership with ArianeGroup to revive the take-off of a rocket
In addition to its approach aimed at accelerating internationally, Devialet has tried more atypical experiences, such as its partnership with ArianeGroup to revive the sound experience of an Ariane 5 rocket taking off. “It’s an incredible technological challenge, because it’s the world of excess to a point that you can’t imagine”enthuses Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel, who specifies that the take-off of a launcher is “the loudest sound that man can create on the surface of the planet”.
Beyond the challenge and the fun experience offered to the general public, such a project also represents an opportunity for Devialet to progress technologically. “In a rocket, there are enormous problems with vibration, sound, sound reduction and extremely rigid and light materials. These are exactly the same problems that we have on loudspeakers, loudspeakers…”, explains Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel. Perhaps it is also a way for Devialet to prepare its next innovation in the world of sound…