Diptyque DP140 MKII-EVO Install: A Custom Pair in Boca Raton
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Time to read 5 min
A local customer reached out to us a few months back. After many years without a system, he was ready to get back into hifi, and he wanted to do it right: find the perfect pair of speakers for his home in Boca Raton and never think about upgrading again.
He did his homework. He auditioned speaker after speaker at shops throughout Florida, and plenty of them sounded good. But none accomplished what he was really after: speakers that disappear. The kind where you stop hearing two boxes on either side of the room and start hearing the music itself, with the singer in front of you and the band spread out behind her.
Until he heard a pair of Diptyques.
This is the story of how that search ended with a custom pair of Diptyque DP140 MKII-EVO speakers, from the first listening session in our Delray Beach demo room to the final install in his living room.
Until he heard a pair of Diptyques.
The Demo
We set up a private listening session here in Delray Beach with the Diptyque DP115s we keep on hand for demos. We put him behind the wheel and let him run through several genres and eras over a couple of hours.
He started with Norah Jones' "Don't Know Why." Her voice sat in the room the way it would in a small, private venue: present and textured, without a hint of "speaker" character stamped over top of it.
From there he moved to John Coltrane's "Say It (Over and Over Again)" from Ballads. On a system resolving enough, you can hear the breath behind every note, and the DP115s delivered it: his saxophone sounded like it was right there in the room.
Next came a Pink Floyd live recording of "Comfortably Numb" from Pulse. The Diptyques threw open a wide, holographic soundstage, placing every drum exactly where it sat on stage, with a snare that stayed tight and fast even as the rest of the kit built around it.
Then came "Photosynthesis" by Carbon Based Lifeforms off Hydroponic Garden, deep and electronic, built almost entirely around low-end weight and texture. Bass has traditionally been the hardest thing for planar and isodynamic speakers to get right, since an open panel doesn't have a sealed cabinet behind it reinforcing the low end. The DP115s delivered bass that was tight, extended, and textured rather than just loud and booming.
After a couple hours of listening, he knew he'd found it. The DP115s disappeared into the room while still handling everything he threw at them, from an intimate horn solo to full-throttle rock.
Customizing His Pair
Since the speakers would be living in his living room, with far more square footage and a much higher ceiling than a typical listening space, he elected to go with the larger Diptyque DP140 instead of the DP115. The DP140 stands about 8 inches taller than the DP115, and its larger panel surface moves more air, giving it deeper bass extension and more dynamic headroom.
From there he selected one of the 160 available RAL custom colors that Diptyque offers. Since his home is mostly off white with marble throughout, he chose a soft off-white finish to complement the room. On top of that, he added a caramel leather trim that wraps around the frame of each speaker.
The end result is not just a phenomenally engineered speaker, but a beautiful work of art that lives in the room like a piece of high-end furniture, a true statement piece.
The Install
Now that he had his custom pair selected, we placed the order with Diptyque. Each pair is handmade and engineered in France, with a typical lead time of six to eight weeks.
Once they arrived, we drove the speakers to his home in Boca Raton, unboxed them, and set them up ourselves. As dipole speakers, they radiate equally front and back, so the rear wall matters more here than with a conventional box speaker: Diptyque recommends at least 32 inches of clearance, and that wall shouldn't be dampened, since the rear wave needs it for full, balanced bass. We dialed in the exact distance and toe-in until the soundstage locked into place.
From there, we spent a few hours listening to a wide array of music together, and he was incredibly happy with the sound. Diptyque recommends around 200 hours of listening time for the speakers to fully break in. Even before that break-in period was complete, the speakers sounded phenomenal, disappearing into the room with an enormous soundstage.
Planar speakers reward an amplifier with plenty of power and control. To drive the DP140s, our customer uses a pair of 400-watt Buckeye monoblocks, one per speaker. Giving each panel its own dedicated amplifier keeps the system composed through big dynamic swings, from the peaks of a live rock recording to a deep electronic bass line, with no strain or harshness as the volume climbs.
Upstream, a PS Audio streamer and DAC handle the source: clean, detailed, and neutral enough to let the Diptyques show exactly what they can do.
What Makes Diptyque Different
Diptyque speakers use isodynamic, also called planar magnetic, driver technology instead of conventional dynamic drivers in a sealed or ported box. There's no cabinet behind the panel, which means there's no "box sound" to color the music: no resonance, no boominess, none of the coloration that comes from sound bouncing around inside an enclosure before it reaches you.
At the heart of the design is Diptyque's proprietary PPBM principle, a bass-mid panel technology the company has spent more than a decade refining. It's paired with a 55cm ribbon tweeter that covers an unusually wide bandwidth, which is why the transition from midrange to treble sounds so seamless rather than announcing itself the way a conventional tweeter often does.
The mechanical structure matters too. The DP140 MKII-EVO inherits its rigid frame from Diptyque's flagship Reference model, which keeps the panel from resonating or flexing under load: the kind of detail that preserves the tiny dynamic shifts that make a recording feel alive instead of flat.
The EVO Update
His pair is also one of the newer EVO revisions, which adds something worth calling out on its own: Acoustic Bass Regulators, developed in partnership with ONERA, France's national aerospace research laboratory.
Open-baffle designs have always faced one structural challenge: because sound radiates from both sides of the panel, low frequencies from the front and back can cancel each other out, which historically made deep, controlled bass one of the hardest things for this speaker type to deliver. The ABR system, mounted on the rear panels, is Diptyque's answer to that problem, tightening and extending the low end without sacrificing the openness and speed isodynamic designs are known for.
Ready to Hear It Yourself?
We're an Authorized Diptyque dealer based in Delray Beach, and we offer private listening sessions by appointment. For customers in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Palm Beach, and the surrounding area, we also offer in-home demos of select products and full delivery and setup, just like this install.
Call or text us anytime at 914-907-7648 to book a demo.
FAQ
How long does a custom Diptyque order take?
Each pair is handmade in France, with a typical lead time of six to eight weeks.
How long do Diptyque speakers take to break in?
Around 200 hours of listening, though they sound excellent right out of the box.
How much space do Diptyque speakers need behind them?
Diptyque recommends at least 32 inches between the speakers and the rear wall, and that wall shouldn't be heavily dampened, since the rear wave contributes to the bass.
Where can I hear Diptyque speakers in South Florida?
We keep the DP115 on hand for private demos in Delray Beach. Call or text 914-907-7648 to book a session.