KEF to Debut Concept Blade at CES

KEF just announced that they will formally unveil Concept Blade for the first time in North America at the 2010 CES trade show January 7-10.

Concept Blade is a loudspeaker that was created after three years of testing, expert analysis and experimentation by the company.

Highlights include:

• Single Apparent Source technology represents a tenth generation Uni-Q design
• All components and cabinet materials were specially designed for this product
• Critically curved cabinet of carbon fiber and balsa wood was inspired by race cars

According to Alec Chanin, President of KEF America, "Concept Blade has garnered an incredible amount of interest worldwide so we are excited to finally share it with the industry at large. As a recognized leader in loudspeaker design and engineering, Concept Blade is the culmination of everything we know and simply the latest in a long line of KEF's cutting-edge innovations."

Unfortunately, these are only a CONCEPT, similar to how car manufacturers launch their concept vehicles every year to taut their new technological advances. They will not be available for sale, but the research and technology used in this project will surely show up in future KEF loudspeakers.

Find out more information about KEF's Concept Blade by reading the press release below.

Press release:

KEF Chooses CES for Heralded North American Debut Of Concept Blade - The Sound of the Future

Legendary Loudspeaker Brand Unveils the Leading Edge of Acoustic Technology

December 15, 2009 -- KEF, the renowned British manufacturer of innovative, reference-quality loudspeakers, will formally unveil Concept Blade for the first time in North America. The venue will be the Las Vegas Hilton Suite 669 at upcoming CES January 7-10, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada. An engineering tour de force, Concept Blade is a loudspeaker that reflects three years of exhaustive testing, expert analysis and intricate experimentation by the global loudspeaker leader.

As a conceptual piece, Concept Blade highlights KEF's exceptional research and development prowess, showcasing the brand's cutting-edge capabilities that are destined to influence future products and arguably, the future of loudspeaker design.

According to Alec Chanin, President of KEF America, "Concept Blade has garnered an incredible amount of interest worldwide so we are excited to finally share it with the industry at large. As a recognized leader in loudspeaker design and engineering, Concept Blade is the culmination of everything we know and simply the latest in a long line of KEF’s cutting-edge innovations."

At the heart of KEF's Concept Blade is its Single Apparent Source technology. For highest quality sound reproduction, the driver sections of a multi-way loudspeaker must work together and thus need very similar individual sound-fields. This is particularly important at crossover frequencies; the frequencies at which sound output switches from one driver to another. Accordingly, the Single Apparent Source technology is a perfect complement to the KEF Uni-Q. Together they result in a loudspeaker with exceptional coherence throughout the entire frequency range.

The materials engineering in Concept Blade – with every component being designed from the ground up – is highly complex and sophisticated, yet like its sculptural form, the theoretical engineering tenants are simple and easily understood.

Concept Blade is a breakthrough design offering advantages not just to the consumer but to the advancement of the audio industry. Take the four 10" (25 cm), newly- developed bass drivers, which deliver Concept Blade’s phenomenal and notably distortion-free low frequency response. The engineering principle behind their configuration is remarkably straightforward – let the huge forces of each cone cancel each other out by arranging them in opposed, symmetrical pairs – yet its effective implementation is fraught with engineering obstacles that were not easily overcome.

Another challenge for KEF engineers was to prevent the drivers from muddying the sound by distorting the cabinet when in motion. The force produced by the bass drivers is so strong that the massive rear magnets have had to be bonded directly to one other in order to obtain the full benefit of this technology.

The drivers are side-firing so their acoustic center coincides with those of the 10th generation KEF Uni-Q midrange driver and tweeter – the aforementioned Single Apparent Source technology. This is found in the driver itself, with the tweeter carefully positioned so that it has the same acoustic center as the mid-range driver. Formed from critically braced liquid crystal polymer – a light but immensely stiff material – and backed by a huge 3" (75 mm) voice coil to move any break-up way above its operating range - the Uni-Q device incorporates a 1" (25 mm) titanium dome tweeter whose mechanical characteristics are exceptionally free from resonance in its operating band thanks to rear chamber loading and a patented dome profile, developed using Finite Element Analysis. The result means that the entire frequency range is radiated from one point in space. It is impossible to perceive where one driver stops working and the next begins, meaning that the resulting soundfield is lifelike and convincing.

All this technology is housed in a critically curved cabinet constructed from a carbon fibre, balsa wood composite – same as found in many ultra-high performance cars. This material was selected for its exceptional lightness and rigidity. The parabolic curvature of the cabinet increases cabinet strength, meaning sound is only generated from driver movement and not from distortion of the cabinet.

Although the design is all new, Concept Blade is typical of KEF's approach. As a technology-driven brand that's been innovating for half-a-century, no other loudspeaker company has done more to improve the state of the art. Concept Blade is simply the latest in a long line of landmark designs that showcase KEF's continuing engagement with fresh ideas and new technologies to enrich the enjoyment of sound.

Though Concept Blade is not for sale as a product per se, it is more than just a concept. It's a tangible development of an ongoing series of KEF technologies which will be featured in numerous KEF models in the future. Concept Blade has constructively pushed and progressed KEF's innovation skills to a new standard.

At CES, KEF will be officially exhibiting Concept Blade at the Las Vegas Hilton Suite # 669. Also on display, with active demonstration, will be KEF’s award-winning HTF8003 soundbar and HTB2SE-W wireless subwoofer. Both products were honorees of the 2010 CES Innovations Design & Engineering Award. KEF personnel will be on hand to discuss the products and answer any questions.

For additional information about KEF and its award-winning products and unique technology, please visit www.kef.com.

SOURCE KEF