Weiss Engineering OEM Partner Spotlight: Airplain

It is only in the last few years that Weiss Engineering has taken a new and exciting direction by offering OEM parts to other brands. This means other designers now have access to parts of the same impeccable quality that goes into Weiss’ products. The OEM range includes DACs, op-amps, and a collection of modules designed for use in active speakers.

Among the first to make use of Weiss’ OEM speaker parts is the Swiss high-end speaker brand Airplain. Thomas Flammer, the man behind Airplain, shares some insight on the process of creating the Airplain phli WEISS-Edition speaker series.

Airplain is a high-end speaker manufacturer which started its business in 2020. It is the brainchild of Swiss engineer Thomas Flammer, who first met Daniel Weiss at the yearly high-end hifi exhibition Klangschloss in Greifensee, Switzerland. Thomas explains the driving force behind Airplain:

“I was researching to create a speaker system that would have as few flaws as possible. The only way to make a speaker better is to lose as little as possible from your input signal. Your speaker system will always have flaws, but you can strive to reduce those flaws to a minimum. What helps in that process is knowing which flaws matter and which don’t. It was clear to me right from the start that I needed to make the speakers active because that gives you much better possibilities to correct the errors produced by the transducers. For example, the Airplain speakers are phase-linear in the most important frequency range, something that is nearly unattainable with passive speakers. That’s why they’re named ‘phli’, it stands for phase-linear.”

Today, Airplain offers three different product lines, each consisting of several speaker models. The phli WEISS-Edition series is one of those product lines, which in turn includes three speaker models: The phli, the Super phli, and the Mini phli. A fourth model will soon be available, the phli Slim. So what did the Weiss active speaker modules add to the Airplain speakers?

“We are using two parts. Our dStream unit is built around Weiss’ Main Board for Active Speakers and handles the whole digital signal processing. It does everything from streaming, filtering, volume control, and user-determined sound adjustments such as equalizer, de-esser, and more. The big advantage to this concept is that we can control everything from a single module card and have full insight into the precise levels at all stages, which helps us maintain maximum dynamics. The second Weiss part is the D/A converter module, which outputs directly to the Purifi Eigentakt power amp modules we use for the speakers. The amps have their maximum output at digital 0 dB.

“Weiss Engineering’s programmers do not only know how to write code, but they also understand digital audio.”

Thomas Flammer

Thomas shares that designing a high-end active speaker system is a relatively complex task.

“I started with a hand-drawn block diagram. We determined the main specifications, not audio specifications, but which sources we could use, where the components have to be placed, which filter types we prefer using, and so on. The DACs have been customized to our requirements because we wanted to use FIR filters. Weiss designed an interface that allowed us to try different filters and select the best ones by measuring as well as by actual listening tests. As with every major audio project, the software development needed a lot of time. But Weiss Engineering’s programmers do not only know how to write code, but they also understand digital audio. One challenge was creating a structure that could be used across several models of the Airplain speakers.”

It was, of course, convenient for Airplain to work with a fellow Swiss brand, which happens to be located just 20 minutes away from their headquarters. But other than that, what made Thomas pick Weiss Engineering as Airplain’s OEM partner?
“Weiss is renowned worldwide for its high-end audio designs, and we wanted to create something truly extraordinary. Daniel Weiss and his team have such a deep understanding of digital audio electronics that allows them to develop products at the highest level. It was just a perfect match.”

Learn more about Weiss Engineering’s OEM products, and contact us to discuss your project: OEM Products Overview