S400 MKII Signature Edition, Tribute

The new crossover, the heart of any passive speaker and the most important component, which is sadly often forgotten. We have spent so much time on testing different components over the years to achieve the sound that we wanted. Components are a mixture of parts from the respected manufacture Janzten Audio Denmark, and one ultra high-end capacitor from Miflex, namely the KPCU-1. We even upgraded the PCB boards quality and internal wires as well. 

This is where you really see the S400 MKII set itself far apart from competing speakers in this price range, and far above it as well. We wanted to spend money where we know it matters the most to the listener, even though no one would actually see it. 

In the S400 MKII Signature edition you would have upgraded internal silver wiring from the standard cobber wires. 

Why do we use this new paper cone woofer in the S400 MKII? Again, a woofer designed by the Danish legend, Ulrik Schmidt, this is a newer design where we finally have a paper cone driver that have the qualities that we want, without the typical drawbacks. Paper cone woofers have always been known for their qualities in the midrange, but usually lack bass performance, which is not the case anymore due to a specific mixture of natural fibers within the cone to make it a bit more stiff compared to normal paper cones drivers! We even get better bass performance compared to the MKIIs predecessor (the S400) which uses an aluminium woofer that is known for its amazing bass performance. This is of course also helped by the slightly larger cabinet.

All in all, it's a fantastic long-stroke woofer design that exhibits amazing control and power! Since it can work in a small cabinet while remaining capable of playing extremely deep bass, it was the perfect choice for our design.

Extra fun fact: A huge key to designing a good waveguide-based loudspeaker is to make sure that the waveguide complements the woofer perfectly. In this case the waveguide was designed to suit the woofer's spreading pattern around the crossover point perfectly, making the two drivers work as one. This can only be achieved with the use of a specific waveguide design for each woofer type.

To mention a few of the woofers key features are:
- Vented cast aluminum chassis for optimum strength and low compression
- Proprietary cone material with natural fibers
- Soft low damping rubber surround for transient response
- Non-conducting fiber glass voice coil former for minimum damping
- Extended copper sleeve on pole piece for low inductance and low distortion
- Vented coil former
- CCAW voice coil for reduced moving mass
- Long life silver lead wires
- Vented pole piece for reduced compression

So the good news is that most present-day loudspeakers tend to sound pretty good on-axis. What's also true is that there are still many loudspeakers that perform rather poorly as soon as you move off-axis. Since most research results suggest that what we hear in-room is estimated to be around 12% Direct Sound (from your speakers), 44% Early Reflections (from your room), and 44% Sound Power (how the sound loads your room), we strive to create solutions that'll deliver predictable, consistent, and excellent results both on and off axis – regardless of the living space!

The S400 possesses nearly the same frequency response on-axis as it does in the off-axis.

What this translates to is a non-distorted, evenly distributed in-room frequency response that allows the S400's to sound balanced even at extreme angles, which in turn allows the enthusiast to enjoy sundry benefits like improved imaging, a bigger soundstage, and better transparency. This excellent off-axis response will also result in a drastically widened 'sweet spot' and most importantly, a character that will remain steadfast even as you move around your home as the music plays.

We've found that this trait is best suitable for most people’s rooms and lifestyles. Especially those with untreated rooms. The bottom line? The S400 is capable of delivering exceptional in-room performance in any room.

So how did we tame the controlled directivity beast? Simple! Through our Constant Directivity Control waveguide! Ok, so maybe the solution isn't that simple. The design itself is the result of a couple of very smart people, a number of prototypes, and a super expensive holographic nearfield scanner that we were lucky enough to have access to. This scanner measures 5,402 points around the speaker, this allows us to know exactly how the speaker behaves from all possible angles, thus allowing us to design the perfect waveguide without suffering any of the major drawbacks! One unique aspect of our waveguide design is that it's designed to match the contour plot of the woofer down to 1000hz, making the tweeter and woofer work as one driver at the crossover point.

Of course, that's only a part of the battle. We also had to phase-align the drivers which is why we have placed the waveguide under the woofer alongside leaning the cabinet slightly backwards. All while making sure that the edge diffractions from the cabinet were reduced by 90%, which is the result of a small tweeter and a very deep waveguide. The result is a sound that's powerful, evenly distributed, and projects freely without 'sticking' to the cabinet. It's just one more important step towards creating a small speaker that sounds full and natural.

Ok, so first of all it's not the size that counts! Still, we get it. Most tweeters measure up to 25-29 mm. Some enthusiasts may feel that our tweeter is a bit... inadequate. We aren't intimidated or ashamed though, because when you get right down to it, there are advantages and disadvantages to tweeters of all sizes.

As an example, larger tweeters tend to be popular because of their power handling and frequency bandwidth, which allows them to be crossed over at lower frequencies. The caveat is that these larger tweeters do not tend to sound as good off-axis, and they struggle with an uneven frequency response in the higher frequencies off-axis. And they do have breakup points way sooner than smaller tweeters. For us, it's all about performance. And when you get right down to it, the 19mm tweeter that we use fits our goals perfectly.

For one, the measurements are about as ideal as we've found. Secondly, the off-axis performance is tremendous. Any of the limitations that would normally come from using such a small tweeter has been mitigated by our deep waveguide that helps to bring the crossover point way down without stressing the tweeter. The end result is exactly what we were looking for. Top end that's effortlessly free of distortion, resulting in a presentation that's clean, detailed, powerful, and perfectly integrated with the rest of the speaker.

As you may or may not know, a passive radiator is more expensive alternative to the usual bass reflex ports that you'll find in most loudspeakers. So why did we go with a passive radiator instead of a port?

- For one, the passive radiator allowed us to reduce the size of the S400 MKII by 30%! Providing you with a smaller speaker, yet crazy good bass performance. 
- Secondly, it means the S400 MKII won't suffer from some of the artifacts that go along with ported designs, namely noise (sometimes referred to as chuffing) and port compression.
- No port = More forgiving of wall-boundary placement! Go ahead and place them near a wall if that's what you have to do!
- Amazing bass performance! Ok, so this reason is clearly subjective, but we think passive radiators just flat out sound better.