Jordan O'BrienKEF has announced that the remarkable two-metre high loudspeaker Muon, has undergone a further technical advancement, taking its magnificent form and function to far greater performance-levels than thought possible at the time of its introduction. And, what’s more is that existing Muon owners who want to take up this enhancement will have a senior KEF engineer flown out to them to undertake the update on site in their listening room.
The super-formed, aluminium masterpiece, which was the result of a careful convergence between Ross Lovegrove’s unique design aesthetics and KEF’s acoustics design department, has undergone some impressive evolutionary steps. Since Muon’s original launch there have been huge leaps forward in material advancements and acoustics fundamentals; KEF engineers have found new ways of extracting even more detail and refinement from key KEF technologies in their continuing quest to discover innovative and superior ways of reproducing music with realism and vitality.
It was with the development of another iconic flagship KEF loudspeaker, Blade that KEF engineers were presented with an excellent opportunity of enhancing the technological prowess of Muon even further, namely through the use of the latest iteration of KEF’s landmark innovation, the unique Uni-Q ‘point source’ driver array, a 5 inch MF lithium/magnesium, aluminium, hybrid cone and 1 inch HF aluminium dome, featuring KEF’s unique ‘Tangerine Waveguide’.
The Uni-Q array, a unique KEF innovation first developed in 1988, positions the tweeter within the acoustic centre of the MF driver. This latest interpretation now makes use of rear air-venting. As the sound radiates from the rear of the dome it is directed down a venting tube with absorbent materials. This reduces distortion and pressure waves building up behind the dome, producing incredibly smooth treble. The tweeter dome is also stiffened. This newly patented KEF design is a dome in two parts. The upper dome is optimised in terms of the acoustic waves propagating from the centre of the dome, while the lower one is optimised mechanically, increasing the stiffness of the whole structure. The result means that this exceptional assembly helps the tweeter dome remain rigid throughout the whole audio bandwidth.
Combined with the innovative ‘tangerine waveguide’, which sits in front of the tweeter dome and is designed to sit in perfect alignment with the midrange cone, the whole unit is optimised to eliminate any destructive interference and produce the best point source possible. A specifically designed aluminium trim ring was then engineered to sit between the cabinet and the Uni-Q driver to ensure that the sound waves could travel smoothly along the Muon baffle without compromising the sound dispersion.
There is a completely redesigned crossover incorporating all of KEF’s latest thinking to seamlessly integrate all of the drive units. A special feature is the LF section changing from a 4th order to a 1st order design, dramatically decreasing group delay between 50 and 200 Hz. to substantially improve bass tightness and precision. Add to this the already astonishing extension provided by the ACE (Acoustic Compliance Enhancement) technology in the Muon enclosure and you have probably the best all round bass performance of any domestic loudspeaker.
The effects of this careful enhancement are impressive, and result in outstanding dynamics, clarity and delivery of superbly defined, sonic imagery over a listening area no conventional speaker can rival. Now, even more so than when originally launched, Muon remains arguably the world’s most extraordinary audio speaker ever conceived and produced. This this is the ultimate enhancement of Muon, taking its extraordinary performance to even far greater levels.
Availability and price: Both the Muon and the enhanced update to existing owners of Muon are available now. The Muon retails at £135,000 a pair and remains limited to 100 pairs.
About KEF
KEF has been at the forefront of loudspeaker design & technology for over 50 years with a reputation as the audiophile’s ultimate loudspeaker manufacturer. The company was founded in 1961 by Raymond Cooke OBE (1925–1995) and was initially headquartered in a Nissen Hut on the premises of Kent Engineering & Foundry (from where the name KEF is derived) – a metal-working company on the banks of the River Medway, near Maidstone in Kent. To learn more about KEF visit their web site.