Soundscape Products

Final Electrostatic Speakers

Home Theater Series The Home Theater Series is designed for todays digital lifestyle. The elegant designs are transparent, lightweight, and less than 2 inches thick to accommodate any flat-panel TV or LCD display. And, since the all models are completely modular, there are no bulky transformers or motors to get in the way so all can be easily wall-mounted.

Home Theater Series

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Technical White Paper Final Inverter Technology™ for Electrostatic Speakers

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Company History

Final Sound has been an innovator in the development of advanced electrostatic speaker technology for more than a decade. The company was founded in 1991 by two brothers, Maarten and Michiel Smits, who built their first "hybrid" speaker while graduate engineering students in the Netherlands. The hybrid speaker blends dynamic technology for the bass and electrostatic technology for the mid-range and high frequencies. During the 1990s, Final served the audiophile market exclusively. In 2002, the company received a U.S. patent on breakthrough technology that made it possible to create modular electrostatic speakers - separate the speaker panel from its transformer and audio electronics. This greatly simplified the manufacturing process, lowered the cost of production, and expanded the market potential for high-definition electrostatic speakers into the rapidly growing area of home theaters, including flat-panel plasma TVs and LCD displays. Since then, the firm has attracted new venture capital along with a new management team, and has established itself as a full-line manufacturer of the world's lightest electrostatic speakers.

Exclusive Inverter Technology Makes Electrostatics Affordable

A new patent application was submitted in 2004 for the company's latest technology breakthrough - the inverter principle - which delivers a much larger sound image than the small size of the panel would suggest. The inverter fundamentally changes the way both sound and power move across the face of the speaker, dramatically improving quality and lowering the price.

Where previous electrostatic designs moved the audio signal across positive and negatively charged stator plates on each side of a Mylar diaphragm to "pull" the film and create the sound, the Final technology "inverts" that process by embedding the audio signal inside a sealed diaphragm - thus creating sound energy that is crisper, clearer, and far more responsive and lifelike.

The simplicity of the new inverter enables speaker impedance to remain well above 4 ohms (above 5 ohms on the 80i and 100i models), allowing use of smaller amplifiers - as low as 35 watts - to drive the speakers. Until now, high-performance electrostatic speakers required more powerful, expensive amplifiers with 100-200 watts per channel to adequately drive the speakers. In addition to the exclusive inverted diaphragm and lower power requirements, the new Final panels also feature a miniaturized power supply that has led to significantly lower production costs for building high-end electrostatic speakers.

The result has been an entirely new line of high-definition electrostatic speakers priced to complement a mid-priced home theater. Final now offers 5-panel Home Theater Suites at suggested prices starting at $1,999 - a small fraction of the cost of such a high-end system just a few years ago.

What is Electrostatic Speaker Technology?

Electrostatic speakers use the most basic laws of physics to create the purest sound of any speaker system. Unlike the familiar paper cones and magnetic drivers of familiar dynamic speaker systems, electrostatic speakers move air by the electrostatic principal - like charges repel each other and opposite charges attract.

A typical electrostatic speaker panel is essentially a three-part sandwich with an ultra-thin layer of Mylar® film held between two perforated metal plates called "stators". As the audio signal is sent to the stators, the electrostatic charges push and pull the feather-light Mylar, instantly moving the air and creating extremely precise sound waves. Since the entire Mylar diaphragm receives the audio signal at the exact same moment, the sound forms a single wave front that reaches the listener in perfect phase and time.

The result is the most open and life-like speaker precision known in the world of high-performance audio. And, in the case of the Final Sound speakers using the new Inverter Technology, the audio signal remains pure since it is embedded within the diaphragm film, allowing zero noise and interference.

Electrostatic vs. Dynamic Speakers

Dynamic speakers are by far the most common speaker used today. The technology has been around since the early days of phonographs and radio, and in many ways, it still operates using the same basic techniques. Dynamic speakers use cone-shaped drivers made of paper, plastic, or even fabric and move back and forth like pistons to create sound waves. The signal is sent to the cone through a voice coil, which is a long, thin strand of wire wrapped in hundreds of tight loops around a cylinder to create an electromagnetic field. As the signal shifts from positive to negative, the energy vibrates the paper cone and moves the air to create sound waves. Electrostatic speakers, on the other hand, use one thin diaphragm film held between two charged stators. There are a number of significant performance differences between the two technologies.

Electrostatics are lighter and more responsive - First and foremost is the sheer weight and mass of the dynamic speaker. Dynamic speakers are complex combinations of materials, each with its own sometimes-conflicting properties. A film diaphragm, such as used in a Final Sound electrostatic, is a fraction of the weight of conventional dynamic speaker material - and is actually lighter than the air it moves! This gives electrostatic speakers faster response and results in virtually pure sound, exactly as it was recorded - with ultimate clarity and precision.

Dynamic speakers require multiple drivers - Since dynamic speakers can only cover narrow frequency ranges based on the size and diameter of the cone, a high-performance system requires several cones to create sound across the full audible spectrum (20 Hz to 20 kHz). This combination of tweeters, mid-range, and bass speakers must then be electrically matched to each other at critical crossover frequencies where the sound shifts from one driver to another. With an electrostatic speaker, the diaphragm is capable of producing a full range of sound from a single speaker - eliminating distortion at the crossover points.

Electrostatic panels need no cabinetry - Adding further to the bulk and weight of typical dynamic speakers is the heavy wooden cabinet. For most dynamic speakers, cabinetry makes up half the cost, or more. In addition, the wooden box makes a sound of its own called resonance resulting into significant distortion. It acts like a blanket on the sound. Generally, the more it costs to eliminate the resonance created by the box, the more expensive the speaker becomes. We think that's the ultimate irony of the speaker business today.

Electrostatic create even sound across the entire speaker - Dynamic speakers are connected to the audio signal at a single point where the voice coil is attached to the diaphragm. Sound waves are created from that point much like ripples in a pond. The farther the wave gets from the point of the signal, the greater the distortion. With a flat-panel electrostatic, the entire diaphragm is energized at the same exact moment, moving the air in precise waves - with virtually no distortion.

Electrostatic speakers are directional - Electrostatic transmit sound exactly where they are aimed as opposed to dynamic speakers, which blanket the entire space with overlapping waves. This precision improves sound clarity and resolution, and gives the listener a palpable sense of reality. Dynamic speaker designs are not as directional and sacrifice that precision.

Key Features of Final High-Definition Speakers

Final Sound electrostatic speakers represent the first major breakthrough in speaker technology in more than a generation and incorporate several major innovations.

Improved Performance, Lower Distortion - Through the use of a proprietary technique, Final speakers embed the audio conductor deep inside the thin, 12-micron Mylar film used for the speaker diaphragm. This improves performance by virtually eliminating the distortion created by traditional electrostatic speakers that apply the delicate conductive coating to the top of the diaphragm. In addition to improving performance, the embedded design protects against scratches, dust, cigarette smoke, and other environmental damage, making it virtually indestructible.

- Final's patented technology has revolutionized high-performance audio through miniaturization. Final's unique flat-panel speakers are barely a few inches thin and weigh as little as five pounds. They can be easily suspended from the ceiling or wall-mounted beside plasma TVs, LCD displays, in home theaters, or conference rooms.

Highest Resolution Possible - Final electrostatic have significantly lower distortion than conventional motor-driven cones and domes. The combination of low mass, high speed, and instant acceleration and deceleration, reproduces the audio signal as close to perfect as any speaker ever has. In the high-resolution digital future, this fact will become more important than ever. Electrostatic speaker technology is the perfect complement for DVD-Audio and SACD, two new high-resolution audio formats that are widely expected to replace CDs. Final's patented electrostatic technology is to sound as HDTV is to video. Flat vs. Curved Stators - Final believes that the stator assembly should be flat, not curved, in order to maintain a symmetrical push and pull on the diaphragm.

High-Performance Subwoofers - All Final electrostatic speakers are capable of reproducing frequencies from 150 Hz to 25 kHz on a single flat panel. Below 150 Hz, they can be paired with any high-performance subwoofer. Final offers a subwoofer matched perfectly in terms of speed and articulation. It uses specially designed lightweight aluminum cones that are fast and rigid along with a proprietary amp designed and manufactured by Final with the highest damping factor and lowest distortion of any sub amp on the market today. This is not a contradiction to the discussion above. As long as the box and dynamic driver are limited to the bass region and done with care, it's a compromise that uses the best of dynamic technology where it's needed.

A Range of Speakers to Suit Any Requirement

The Final Sound speaker line consists of two distinct series: the Home Theater Series aimed at today's electronics-oriented lifestyle, and the Reference Series for professionals and the most discriminating audio consumers. The Home Theater Series are sold in 5.0 Suites consisting of two fronts, two surround, and one center panel, or 5.1 Suites, which also include a matched Subwoofer. The Reference Series speakers are sold in pairs and can be configured to suit any arrangement.