A 360º Journey Through Sound, Part II — The Sound Disappears. Only the Music Remains: Duevel Bella Luna — The Alchemy of Omnidirectional Sound
Leia a segunda parte da Viagem de 360º através do som em português
There are moments when sound ceases to be heard and begins to be felt. When the space itself breathes, and music gains form.
It was in that invisible territory that I found the Bella Luna, dissolving the frontier between the reality and the imagination.
This is the second and final part of A 360º Journey Through Sound, where I share the experience of having tested a broad sample of Duevel’s range.
If, in the first part, I explored the Planets and the Enterprise, with a brief taste of the Sirius, I now reach what I consider to be the most balanced model: the Bella Luna.
Thanks to a friend’s generosity, I was able to live, for an entire month, with a system that transcends reproduction and enters the realm of experience.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the sound of my own loudspeakers, my integrated amplifier, and my DAC. They still give me hours upon hours of musical pleasure.
But this is a different league.
Bella Luna — The Tasting Menu
When a friend decided to refurbish the acoustic treatment of his listening room and offered me the chance to test his system (Duevel Bella Luna + Lyric Ti 100 MkII + Denafrips Pontus 15th Anniversary Edition) in my room for a few days, my answer was immediate and obvious: “Yes, of course.”
The difference was instant and palpable. The music acquired a liquid, tactile density. Even at low volumes and late hours, the magic happened.
With the Bella Luna in place, the room transformed. The sound of truth. Each note did not merely sounded, it was felt, materialised. The soundstage extended effortlessly, emerging from all sides. This experience was one of those rare opportunities when everything aligns. Without any doubt, I was standing before something special.
These loudspeakers offer the perfect mixture of sonic quality and naturalness, with a soundstage presence impossible to ignore.
Even though they belong to the upper-mid range (€8,900 + shipping and finishing), the ease with which they integrated into the room was remarkable. This was not just about listening to music, but about living inside it.
The Disappearance
I have often said (sometimes even of my own speakers): “They disappear in the room.” Here, for the first time, I truly experienced that sensation, absolutely, in my own space. The Bella Luna literally vanish. They are the point where aesthetics and engineering merge into alchemy. Omnidirectional dispersion gains maturity, coherence, and body. The soundstage doesn’t open; it dissolves. The image doesn’t focus; it breathes. Here, Duevel achieves the perfect synthesis between emotion and structure. The sound is holographic yet human; ethereal yet anchored.
How Did the Bella Luna Sound with the Lyric?
Bass
They descend exactly as far as needed. Perhaps not with the same authority as my resident Atalante 3, but with the control and depth that make air and gut vibrate with purpose.
Speed? Ah, the speed… one of the Bella Luna’s great virtues. Dry, impactful bass, the kind that hits with the weight of a Wrecking Ball.
Make Us Stronger by Ghost Rider and Ratchets by Hedegaard turned my room into a dance floor. Then 24 Hours by Tom Jones revealed the introspective side: that full, charismatic, mountain-deep voice.
Midrange
Voices excite every atom of the room, from Camané to Carlos do Carmo, from Melanie De Biasio to Billie Holiday, Tracy Chapman, or Joni Mitchell.
All emerge with clarity, body, and naturalness. Articulation is exemplary: the brushing of the pick on strings, the attack of the piano, the quick, precise transients.
The coherence between midrange and treble is delightful: voices don’t leap forward but invite you into the heart of the band, where the sweet spot ceases to be a spot and becomes the whole room, sweet music.
Treble
Delicious. The shimmer of cymbals explodes in glittering colours. Extension, airiness, and detail, with neither sibilance nor aggression. Decay is natural; micro-detail without the sterility of a surgical room.
Space and Soundstage
The point-source architecture makes all the difference here. Lateral expansion, the perception of multiple layers in depth, the feeling of true three-dimensionality, all are simply rare.
You can stand anywhere in the room and still feel spatial coherence intact. The sweet spot still exists, but it is no longer a throne, just an excuse. Instead of sitting in the front row, you are inside the band. It bears repeating: endlessly.
Dynamics and Energy
Macro-Dynamics
The transition from pianissimo to fortissimo is breathtaking. The woofer matches the horn’s speed with precision.
The relatively high sensitivity helps, providing impact and authority in orchestral passages, without strain or distortion.
Micro-Dynamics
The nuances in voices, the bow on strings, the breath between notes, the skin on percussions, all rendered with lifelike, natural contrast.
Speed and Attack
Fast, yet never at the expense of resonances. The temporal coherence between drivers is superb, something its smaller sisters can scarcely dream of.
Texture, Substance, and Timbre
The presentation conveys the expected texture of every note, and every effect. The grain on bass and mids, the liquidity of Bethânia’s voice, the skins on the percussions, the polish on metals. The physical density of the notes is remarkable, particularly in the mids and lows. But fear not, fans of Cocteau Twins or Brian Eno: these loudspeakers also play the ethereal beautifully. Tonal balance and timbral realism are outstanding, especially in acoustic instruments.
Transparency and Detail
Exemplary separation between instruments. The string section ceases to be a wall of sound and becomes a group of individual performers. The texture of drum skins, the vibration of strings, the breath in voices, all are portrayed with tonal purity and realism.
For ears educated by directional speakers, there may appear to be a faint veil between listener and music, but that is merely the withdrawal from the “in-your-face” presentation typical of directional designs.
Coherence, Integration, and Room Interaction
Seamless transition between bass, mids, and treble. Absolute temporal coherence. Sensitivity to placement? Almost none. Just set them down, and let them sing.
Synergy and Amplification
With 91 dB sensitivity, the Bella Luna plays well with a wide range of amplifiers. The Lyric, running in Class A with KT170 valves, revealed their most organic side; the Accuphase brought strengh, precision and scale. A charming detail: even less accomplished recordings sound gratifying. Hello, 1980s.
Musicality and Emotion
The Bella Luna’s greatest virtue: emotion before technique. The music breathes and flows freely. I found myself awake into the small hours, lost in time, simply listening. The speakers dissolved, and the sound floated, as if the air itself had learned to sing.
Build and Aesthetics
Solid materials, discreet and refined finishes, unmistakable design. They integrate gracefully into any space, pleasing both ear and eye. Our better halves will approve.
My Personal Opinion — A Manifesto
From the Planets to the Bella Luna, the path is one of growing coherence: from playful surprise to acoustic transcendence.
The Planets introduced the concept; the Enterprise consolidated it; the Bella Luna transcended it. At a time when hi-fi has become a race for microscopic precision, Duevel reminds us that music is breath, movement, and shared emotion.
Only one other system has ever captivated me in quite the same way, for its organic, enveloping ability to throw me inside the music. And that one, too, stayed comfortably in the five-digit mark. The system described here, the last in this trio of Duevel models, came to me through a friend. It stayed a month, but felt like an instant. Because everything that is good, ends quickly.
In an era when many confuse power with emotion, this system reminds us that true luxury is not about measurement, it’s about feeling.
That is why I keep listening, testing, and writing: because the pursuit of perfect sound is, in truth, the pursuit of myself.
If you missed the first part of this journey, discover where it all began in: “A 360º Journey Through Sound — Part I: The Appetiser and the Main Course,” featuring the Duevel Planets and Enterprise.
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