The Germans and the Italians are pioneers in automobiles. The Swiss in timepieces. The French, although connoisseurs of fashion, have created some surprisingly good audio equipment. The Phantom, by Devialet (the most awarded audio equipment company in the world) isn’t referred to as a speaker, but as an “imploding sound centre”, and for fathomable reasons. The tiny soccer ball sized speaker is formidable enough to outshine loudspeakers more than twenty times its size.