Design Philosophy Speakers
Every sound in the universe has an omni directional waveform away from its point of source.
This is why we at kibri, build semi-omni polar speakers – only an omni polar speaker have a dispersion pattern equal to real instruments.
There are several thoughts behind the diagonal baffle:
The human brain uses the direct sound to calculate location and the reflected sound for spaciousness and direction. In a live environment nearly 70% of what we hear is reflected sound. Imagine a live performance: dozens of instruments are played simultaneously and it’s impossible to pinpoint each single instrument, though you can target the location. For some reason this imaginary pinpoint soundstage has been the norm in conventional hi-fi judgement for several years. We don’t believe in this.
Real music in real space is more like a mass of sound emanating from general locations - an omni polar speaker will be much more faithful in reproducing this than a conventional forward-firing panel speaker. It stays constant, regardless of the listener’s position, just like a live event.
Music contains vivid energy, which should be heard with the right apportionment. This does not show on a frequency measurement – amplitude and energy does not necessarily mean the same. A speaker could measure very flat over the audio spectrum but sound wrong – on the other hand can a strange looking frequency response sound much more convincing and correct. It all comes down to the right energy apportion, in which the human ear is extremely sensitive.
To achieve these goals, we are very open-minded to radical different solutions. Some controversial designs were tried during the development phase: for example ending up with plywood as a cabinet material, and rejecting the obvious material, MDF.
Plywood is superior to MDF as far as sound is concerned.
When the speaker is mounted in a baffle everything behaves like one unit. These cannot be seen isolated with the enormous amount of power released. Many designers tend to choose this (a “dead” cabinet). We do not believe that this can be achieved, and by using plywood, resonances are led away in correct phase. This means that no frequencies are being “held back” by the cabinet: they are led away in an equal manner.
Holding back frequencies to release them later than intended, is the main reason behind the speaker’s own voice.
We strongly believe in this “correct phase” philosophy: resonance’s needed to be carried away, fast and correct. This way, we will end up with just what was intended: the music.
Design Philosophy Electronic
By no surprise, exactly the same thoughts as above are important for our electronic devices. Again, energy should be delivered just as intended. Solid States or Tubes – the goal are the same.
Compared to most other hi-fi on the market, our designs seem surprisingly simply. This is because no more is needed. You can’t see if a unit will play music by just removing the lid. Big chunky transformers and large energy storage capacitors, will not guarantee you great lifelike sound.
Minimum metal and components in signal path will capture a clean, fast sound with strong dynamics.
We choose every component by ear – this is a long and painful journey but will pay off in the end. It not always comes down to choosing the most expensive components from the top shelve, it is indeed a fine balance act to get it right.
We do take a pride in keeping it simply. By this way we are more in command of the electronic than vice verse.
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