Following the introduction of the flagship model of the Klimt Series™, “The Music”, Vienna Acoustics presents the smaller, yet not compromised model, “The Kiss”. As its larger sibling, “The Kiss” is based on the same revolutionary and patented Flat-Spider-Cone™ Coincident Driver System. “The Kiss” is the ideal loudspeaker for use in smaller rooms where the much larger “The Music” might be inappropriate.

Revolution

“The Kiss” incorporates a truly revolutionary new flat, concentric 7” (18cm) driver that closely approximates the platonic ideal for which speaker designers have been striving as it places seven octaves of music in a single, phase coherent time plane. With a wave launch that mimics a “pebble dropped in a still pond”, this remarkable driver reproduces spatial coherence unfamiliar to anyone, save perhaps the original recording engineer.

The physics of this driver are an outgrowth of Vienna’s Acoustics’ longstanding use of reinforced cones designed to maximize strength at nodal multiples, while keeping mass to a functional minimum. However, by using finite element analysis, Vienna Acoustics’ chief designer Peter Gansterer was able to create a radial-vaned structure, cast into the flat cone that produces an enormously stiff, flat surface, thereby eliminating time and frequency specific phase shift across the driver.

At the upper end, a new silk dome tweeter using a neodymium ring magnet with a large vented pole piece allows for sweet extended highs and excellent lower extension with tremendous dynamics.

Flat Incredible

What makes this flat driver – we call it Music Center™ – so revolutionary, after all, haven’t others previously attempted flat drivers? The answer is yes, but at a significant loss of performance. Flat drivers previously lost much of their rigidity; it is the cone shape in conventional drivers that confers much of their strength. Previously, the best choice had been using a sandwich-style cone that requires a second layer and a softer material in the center. This approach adds a substantial amount of mass – weight that must be accelerated and stopped many times per second.

The Viennese approach is unique and uses just a single lightweight layer of the polymer TPX amended by polypropylene, that is reinforced by the radial ribs and the result is no more moving mass than a conventional cone, yet with all the necessary rigidity. Naturally, careful construction of these components is necessary and we found just one specialist firm in Germany with the precision necessary to execute this construction method.

In addition to the aforementioned benefits, by placing the stiffening ribs at carefully selected distances calculated using finite element analysis (FEA), it has been possible to simultaneously dissipate standing waves across the surface of this driver, resulting in purity of tone and freedom from coloration that is immediately apparent.

Why the Music Center?

Now that one grasps some of the technology necessary to produce this vision of sound, it is reasonable to ask why is it that these people are willing to go to such extraordinary lengths to execute this daunting design? The answer lies in music and more precisely, in how we experience and perceive music.

The ear is a fascinating and quite selective tool. In particular, it is immensely discerning of very small errors in time and harmonic shift in the upper midrange. In a conventional loudspeaker, these sounds are produced in the region of the driver closest to the middle of the cone, and in fact clever designers have paid close attention to the materials used for the so-called “dust cap” in the middle of a cone.

However, this region is set much further back in what is referred to as the “throat” of the driver and because of this, these sounds emanate at a different, slightly later, time than sounds that are deeper in tone and launch further out on the cone surface. Finally, there is also a decreasing radius in the center that produces a type of horn loading which produces a sound not unlike a squawk, old-timers often referred to midrange drivers as “squawkers” for this reason.

So much time and effort has been expended by Vienna Acoustics on developing such a radical departure from the norm because it addresses all of these very shortcomings and pushes forward the art of loudspeaker development. At once, the flatness of this new design eliminates the time delay in upper mid-range sounds, it eliminates the throat coloration because no horn loading is present and eliminates the sound of the dust cap, since this space is taken up by the high frequency driver. In its place is simply beautiful music, reproduced as it is in nature with seven octaves emanating from a single point in space.

Above and Below the Line

Below this primary driver lies a special enclosure with one proprietary 10” (25cm) NAWI bass driver that handle the region from 38 to 100 Hz. This driver is produced using proprietary cast TPX cones, and are assembled into final drive units by a leading specialist German manufacturer. The bass driver has its own sub-enclosure and is optimized for low-to-upper bass performance and acts as a transition to the main driver array.

Form Follows Function

The striking form of these designs makes the most of this technology; the separate Music Center enclosure is mechanically de-coupled from the lower bass enclosure by a precision-machined aluminum swivel joint. This joint allows adjustment in two different modes allowing careful tuning of both rake (fore-and-aft angular height adjustment) and toe-in (lateral angular movement).

Because the Music Center has a broader optimization zone, a “sweet zone” is possible instead of a sweet spot. By adjusting the Music Center and directing it like swiveling a searchlight, one is easily able to create the sweet zone wherever desired. Independent direction of the main sound source, separate of the bass cabinet allows for a variety of room tuning benefits, making The Kiss one of the easiest grand speakers to integrate into ones living environment.

In true Viennese tradition, the veneer and cabinet finish quality is to the highest of standards. The Kiss is available in just two finishes, a true Piano Black lacquer and a lovely warm Sapele wood that is offered in book-matched pairs.