Stealth Acoustics is a division of Dimensional Communications, Inc., a premier systems integration company based in Mount Vernon, Washington. For over 37 years the direct experiences derived from countless systems integration projects have framed everything they do at Stealth Acoustics. In short, even though they are a world-class speaker manufacturer, they have systems integration in their blood and know what works and what doesn’t towards a great sounding and reliable system. I recently sat down for a conversation with Brian Azzano, the company’s Vice President of Manufacturing and General Manager.
George McClure: Why don’t you tell us a little bit about the history of Stealth Acoustics?
Brian Azzano: It’s kind of a unique story for a manufacturer. The design that we have developed comes from the mind of a gentleman named Paul Hagman. Paul started designing speakers when he was right out of high school. His father owned a mill-working company, so they sold cabinetry and a lot of home furnishings. When Paul graduated from high school, he wanted to be an entrepreneur. He was part of the high fidelity movement in the early ’70s, building cabinet-based speakers and selling the latest receivers from Marantz and Fisher and all the hi-fi brands back then.
When the ’80s rolled around, his company, Dimensional Communications, started doing commercial low-voltage installations and continued to grow that business throughout the ’90s in the Pacific Northwest. During that time period companies like Microsoft and Boeing were expanding and needed a lot of new infrastructure and data management systems, which Dimensional Communications provided. We continue to maintain relationships with a number of large corporate clients, and we even did the sound system at the Seattle Seahawks’ stadium.
George: That’s an impressive roster of clients. So how did Stealth Acoustics come about?
Brian: Around 1999, Paul saw at CEDIA one of the very first invisible speakers ever released, which was by a company back then named Sound Advance. He was blown away by the concept, with its super clean aesthetics and really wide sound dispersion. He thought that this was the best design for a distributed audio speaker, hands down, but the performance was a bit lacking with that initial design. And so, he went to work.
In 2003, he went back to CEDIA as an exhibitor and he had with him a product that from a performance standpoint was head and shoulders above anything else that anybody was seeing from invisible technology speakers at that time. He started signing up manufacturer reps right at the show. I came on board in 2007 to help put additional systems in place, hire more rep networks, and expand distribution into the international side.
We’re currently moving through our eighth generation of products this year, so it’s a pretty exciting time for us. A lot of that is a testament to Paul and what he’s still willing to invest to grow this company. We just recently brought injection molding into our purview here in our complex, and so that’s really helped us overcome some of the major obstacles in redesigning an entire speaker line like this.
George: Just to clarify for our readers, traditional architectural speakers are built into the wall or ceiling and have visible grilles. But with Stealth Acoustics, you’re talking about speakers in the wall behind a thin layer of plaster so they’re truly invisible, which is really an interesting design concept.
Brian: Yeah, it really is. It can create maximum flexibility for dealers, installers and homeowners. It eliminates the need for somewhat unsightly speaker grilles protruding from ceilings or walls. Even flush-mount speakers with a fine mesh grille, you know, when in the eyes of an interior designer can still be considered a little obtrusive. By eliminating any grille whatsoever, we can maintain a super-clean aesthetic in the space. We do this through the use of two different types of drivers in our speaker design. We use a transducer-based driver for reproducing highs and the midrange, and then we use a traditional cone woofer to reproduce the low frequencies [bass]. This hybrid approach really leads to a better overall performance, a warmer sound quality at low volumes, and the ability to handle more power and really impress at higher volumes.
The speaker itself attaches directly to the framing, whether in the wall or the ceiling. It attaches just like any other piece of wallboard. In fact, it even has a beveled edge around the perimeter so that the finish guys can easily lay their paper tape right along the edge of the speaker to hide the seam.
And then, you’re exactly right, there’s a very thin skin coat of plaster or level five finish materials. You can create ultra clean, super smooth surfaces, and we’re compatible with almost every kind of wallpaper out there. Fabrics, of course, are typically not a problem, either. We oftentimes work with wood laminates or veneers, as well. As long as you have the ability to blend seams, whether that be through coverage with a laminate or a wallpaper or feathering with plaster material, then this invisible speaker is a viable option.
George: Do you offer amplification that goes with your speakers?
Brian: We offer a limited range of amplifiers, but we are currently working with another industry leader to bring to market a range of multi-channel amplifiers. We will be showcasing them at CEDIA this year. Those will feature some room correction tools, the ability to do DSP [digital signal processing], with built-in profiles for our speakers, but also the ability to add libraries of other manufacturers’ speakers, as well.
George: Can you tell us about your outdoor speakers?
Brian: Absolutely. The Stingray family of product features IP68 rated, completely sealed outdoor speakers. These are based largely on our indoor invisible speaker designs because, again, there is no grille. With no grille, there’s a point of intrusion for water or dirt or insects or sunlight. You know, one of the biggest problems with outdoor speakers can be the breakdown of driver components due to ultraviolet light exposure, right? When our speakers are completely sealed and encompassed, there’s really nothing to rust, there’s nothing to corrode, nothing to break down from UV exposure. So, they offer a very long lifespan and are very customizable. We do custom paint jobs on these products. We also offer custom graphics on the front of the speaker so you can really help it to blend into its surroundings. Installers will send us photos of rock wall or shake siding, things like that, and we can print this right onto the speaker itself to really help camouflage it.
George: That really opens things up, design-wise.
Brian: Yes. This line of product was a natural fit for us because it was an easy takeoff from the invisible speaker. We had a lot of feedback from the field of dealers wanting to use the invisible speaker outside and our feedback was always, yeah, you know, go for it. It’s a fiberglass product. As long as the rear of the speaker’s being protected inside a wall, let’s say, or a ceiling, there’s absolutely no problem. The front will be just as waterproof as the siding and the wallboard around it. So, it was kind of a takeaway from that idea that we could take the same really wide dispersion, pleasing sound qualities from some of the indoor product and move it outdoors with a really unprecedented IP68 rating for environmental durability.
George: Talk about using invisible speakers in the ceiling.
Brian: Homeowners like to put furniture and artwork in spaces that precludes the use of in-wall speakers. So, with an invisible speaker in-ceiling, and its 180-degree sound dispersion, you create sound fields that are absolutely magical. You pass through a room, and you swear the sound’s just following you, because there are no dead spaces.
And for Dolby Atmos set-ups, for the side and rear speaker locations, our speakers are the perfect fit. You get that wide sound dispersion that creates a perfect soundscape and also a clean aesthetic without a bunch of speaker grilles cluttering up the ceiling.
George: In addition to your audio products, I see that you’re now offering patio theaters, as well.
Brian: Yes, we make a couple different flavors of this outdoor TV these days that all fall under the patio theater product family. The Extreme, which is a vertically retracting screen, and the Megalith, which is a modular on-wall type screen. The vertically retracting screen was the first one that we attempted to build, and it’s the most popular. It’s available in four sizes, ranging from about a little over 100 inches up to 200 inches.
George: Wow.
Brian: The whole concept behind this was to create a giant outdoor TV popup experience and put it into a completely assembled shipping product that the dealer only has to worry about site prep and infrastructure. Once the product arrives, it essentially offloads in one piece and bolts down to the ground, whether that be recessed, below grade in the landscaping, or out on a pool deck or whatever. It was designed to deliver a turnkey experience.
The other version, the Megalith, is much more simplistic. It’s an on- wall display. Essentially, we make mount kits for it that range from flat on-wall mounting to recess mounting to freestanding. These are all available in multiple pixel pitch or resolution ranges. We’re down to a 1.5-millimeter pixel pitch for outdoor viewing right now, with extremely high resolution on some of the larger sizes, giving you a really great viewing experience whether up close or far away.
George: Is there anything else that you would like to tell us about the company or your offerings?
Brian: What I’d like to promote most about Stealth is that when it comes to invisible speakers, the advances in performance that we’ve been able to put into this product now in our 23rd year of development, are really game-changing. We’ve truly entered an era now where this speaker will easily surpass traditional in-wall or in-ceiling speakers, all while keeping living spaces clean and free from clutter.
