The KEF Blade ‘Single Apparent Source’ speaker is the result of five years’ experimentation, analysis and testing by the company’s UK-based R&D team.
Key features of the new speaker include what KEF has dubbed ‘Single Apparent Source’ technology. Reflecting the need for individual driver sections of a multi-way loudspeaker to work together effectively, Single Apparent Source is an extension of the fully pistonic KEF Uni-Q MF/HF array. The result, says KEF, is the production of a ‘seamless point source driver array’ that handles the entire frequency range.
Four 9” (22.5 cm) newly-developed bass drivers deliver the KEF Blade’s distortion-free low frequency response. The force produced by the bass drivers is such that that the massive rear magnets have had to be bonded directly to each other to obtain the full benefit of this technology. They are side firing so their acoustic centre coincides with those of the all-new, latest generation Uni-Q midrange driver and tweeter.
The benefits of this technology, says KEF, include the fact that it is ‘impossible to determine where one driver stops working and the next begins’ – a process that yields an ‘astonishingly convincing’ sound-field.
The Single Apparent Source speaker is housed in a rigid and heavy cabinet made from polished glass reinforced composite. The parabolic curvature of the enclosure increases cabinet rigidity even further and the drivers are fully decoupled, meaning that sound is only generated from driver movement and not from the cabinet.
KEF Blade is expected to be available to order from KEF retailers from July/August.
