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On March 10, Tymphany Corporation and Danish Sound Technology (DST) announced a merger of the two companies, funded by Vantage Point Venture Partners. The combined company, to be called Tymphany Corporation, will have its headquarters in Cupertino, CA.

Tymphany is best known for its invention of the Linear Array Transducer (LAT), a design that, according to the company's literature, "enables higher quality sound in space sensitive products." The LAT, described as a "balanced drive design," consists of a series of coupled diaphragms driven by motors housed in the end assemblies of the linear array. One motor drives half the diaphragms; the other drives the other half in opposition. Sound emerges through multiple flow ports arrayed along the sides of the assembly, so the LAT can be mounted either vertically or horizontally, which allows it to be used in small or unconventionally shaped enclosures.

Copenhagen-based DST is the largest premium audio transducer manufacturer in the world. It builds drive-units sold under the brandnames Scan-Speak, Peerless, and Vifa, and has manufacturing facilities in Denmark and PanYu, China.

Tymphany's chief technology officer, Ken Kantor, fresh off a flight from Copenhagen, told Stereophile, "It was just a natural synergy. DST is unquestionably the best driver manufacturer around. They're unrivaled at bringing drivers through the production phase, putting them into people's hands, and supporting their customers with their knowledge of how to apply their drivers to produce products. Tymphany's forte is creating inventions that really work and studying the theoretical aspects of acoustics."

When asked if the merger increased Tymphany's manufacturing ability a hundred-fold, Kantor responded, "Hah! More like infinite-fold! They're our first real factory. We've been outsourcing some samples, but we don't have production capabilities—we're an R&D lab."

"In one sense, nothing is changing," Kantor said. "DST is concentrating, as always, on improving its products for its customers. They have a lot of initiatives that we will be assisting with. We hope that this means that we can make use of more engineers and their capital resources to let us do what we need to do—but that's simply what DST customers already expect: new products, better production, and the highest quality. DST will continue as they always have done, and we're just starting to ramp up. I just got back from Copenhagen last night and the goal is to build up stronger engineering groups there that can both serve the traditional DST lines and gradually include LAT technology."

Does that mean we'll be seeing new products soon? "We're pursuing two tracks with the LAT," Kantor said. "One is in traditional applications—such as automotive customers. We'll see those products sometime this year. Then we have more technologically demanding, higher volume customers such as flat-panel TV manufacturers. We'll see those products by spring 2006."