Essence Introduces New Electrostatic Speaker System

The popularity of headphone listening among audiophiles and the mass market has never been higher than it is today. The main reason for this is that the headphone seals out the reflected sounds we hear when listening to music through a normal speaker system in our listening rooms. Conventional speakers are designed with wide dispersion tweeters to spray the high frequencies all over the room, where they bounce off the walls and floor before reaching our ears. This interferes with our ability to hear the direct sound of the recording, disrupting the frequency response and ruining the stereo image.

Essence is now shipping its new line of electrostatic speakers that are directional by design, they beam the direct sounds of the recording to the listener’s sweet spot better than conventional designs so that the reflected sounds arrive later in time and lower in level, preserving the clarity and resolution of the recording in a real listening room. When the direct sounds of the recording reach our ears first, we can easily place each instrument and voice in the space between the two main speakers with rock solid stability. This is called “precision stereo imaging” and its what audiophiles listen for when evaluating a new speaker. It’s referred to as “the ultimate listening experience” and sometimes as “audio nirvana” by the most knowledgeable audiophiles.

The Model 1200 at $3995 pr. MSRP is shown in the image, it’s 48.8″ (1200mm) tall by 11″ (290mm) wide and 1″ (30mm) deep. It is fully transparent, one of only two speaker products on the market today that can make that claim. The step-up is called the Model 1600 at $5495 pr MSRP, it is 63″ (1600mm) tall by 11″(290mm) wide and 1″ (30mm) deep. These are not hybrids of both dynamic and electrostat like most of the other brands, the Essence models are full range designs with a bandwidth of + or - 3 dB from 48 Hz to 23 KHz with no speaker cabinets, woofers or crossover networks. For medium to large size listening rooms, we have the powered sub SB-1000 in white gloss finish at $599 MSRP, a 12″ model with a 300 watt amp and crossover for below 50 Hz.

Electrostatic speakers are not new but the way we make them today is. Essence is the first manufacturer to use the “printed electronics” process, the same as used for OLED TV production, with conductive inks to apply the positive and negative circuit paths that create the electrostatic field. The most fundamental law of nature governs how an electrostatic speaker makes sound; opposite forces attract and like forces repel. A single thin-film diaphragm is suspended in an electrostatic field between two perforated acrylic panels called “stators”, the only moving part. Its total weight is measured in the low milligrams. Conventional speaker parts like woofer cones, voice coils, magnets, formers, spiders, etc. weigh hundreds of times more, measured in grams and pounds, a lot of mass to move in order to reproduce a digital signal accurately.

This gives the electrostat a big advantage; its light weight converts digital signals into sound waves much faster and with much lower distortion than conventional designs, stopping faster too. The “one-way” full range design delivers a coherent sound wave to the listening position without compromise. Conventional 2-way and 3-way speakers have to use multiple drivers and crossover networks to achieve full bandwidth by necessity. These multiple driver designs are installed in cabinets costing more and more these days as ever more exotic materials and bracing are used to damp out the resonance and vibration of the cabinet so it cant color the sound. Essence speakers have no cabinets to worry about and we think someday all speakers will be made this way to conserve our planets resources and because they sound better. In that sense, the Essence brand is modern thinking, not stuck in the last century.

Essence speakers are ready to be used as floor standers or they can be wall-mounted, each pair comes with a pair of VESA Standard wall-mount plates that attach to the rails on the back. Pre-drilled for either the 75mm or 100mm hole pattern, any VESA LCD wall-mount bracket in the aftermarket can be used to mount the panels along side a flat panel display or projection screen for home theaters. Because of their dipole (front and back) output, it’s a good idea to use articulating brackets that can move the speaker out from the wall when in use but fold back flush and out of the way when not in use.

The iconic industrial design of the Essence speakers is dazzling to the senses, beautiful aircraft aluminum with black acrylic panels that become transparent when perforated to allow the sound waves to travel through. This signature design is the work of Maarten Smits, the founder of the Dutch brand Final and well-known throughout the world. Many thousands of Final owners will recognize Essence at once and we are pleased to say that we provide continuity of service for older Final models now in use.

Essence speakers are shipping now.

Source: Press Release