Loudspeakers

Despite its compact size, the Kaya S12 employs a diminutive version of the tapered transmission line loading seen ‘full-size’ in the Giya Spirit [HFN Jan ’18] and, in an earlier form, B&W’s iconic Nautilus flagship. The latter was launched in 1993 and also designed by Vivid Audio’s Engineering Director, Laurence Dickie. In all these examples, Laurence’s aim was to absorb the various drivers’ rear radiations down to low frequencies – minimising audible reflections and resonances within the enclosed air space – while still maintaining a useable port output. For Vivid’s large floorstanders, Laurence specifies an absorber tube with a cut-off frequency about four times that of the port resonance. Adding a fibre filling would attenuate the driver’s rear output across the audioband, including the port frequency, but this unfilled, folded and tapered tube still absorbs internal resonances very effectively while leaving the port output unaffected. Because the Kaya S12 has a single cabinet housing all its drivers, Vivid uses multiple tapered tube absorbers wrapped around the inside of the cabinet walls, attenuating across a wide frequency range. These tubes also provide a cell-like ‘filling’ to the inner and outer layouts of cabinet, strengthening its structure without significantly adding to its mass.