Sound Tears

Electrostatic speakers have been around for more than 50 years now and few of you knew that (count me in). The principle is fairly simple: a membrane vibrating between two electrostatically charged plates and thus producing sound. Everything is quite cool so far, especially the fact that this kind of speakers is real space-savers due to their small dimensions.

Yet there is a problem and it's quite possible that this problem was the cause for them not being as popular as expected: the narrow sonic field in which they blasted distortion-free signal. This meant that not much use could such speakers find in larger rooms and in other installation types... well, it's the Japanese (expecting someone else?) who seem to have mended this issue and gave new hope to this technology.

Nakamichi, manufacturers of all sort of multimedia hi-fi and hi-tech AND hi-end gear have given second thoughts to the question of the electrostatic field speakers and finally came up with a highly-improved version. Reportedly, Nakamichi managed to widen the acoustic field in a satisfying proportion by re-shaping the plates like teardrops.

And not only have Nakamichi re-shaped the speakers but have also added a subwoofer unit in each box. Renowned for the lack of low end response, the electrostatic speakers truly needed such an addition in order to make them operate in full-range without a separate bass box. Now, Nakamichi has pulled off a pair of speakers with an extremely alluring design and deploying sound from shimmering highs to the lowest bass growl.

The nice choice for the subwoofer unit was that there are 2 drivers placed in opposing directions thus cancelling the unnecessary and unwanted waves that could mess up with the clarity of the sound.

All in all, a pair of Nakamichi electrostatic speakers (wide-field and with integrated bass) will drain $8,600 from your pockets. Electro is costly, you know....