Frequently Asked Questions - Final Sound 600i User Manual

7. Frequently asked questions

Which is better, electrostatic or cone drivers?
You don't have to be a rocket scientist or a physicist to see that electrostatic drivers are very light and
fast. In fact, the moving mass of an electrostatic panel is 1/30 the weight of a typical cone driver. For
instance, the moving mass of the entire sounding surface of a model 90i is approx. 1 gram. This makes
electrostatic drivers very fast in comparison with a lot of conventional designs. The result is obvious to
all who listen to them. If a driver is light and fast, it can easy follow the so called musical signal's
'envelope'. So the rise time (attack) of percussive signals and the decay are very fast and natural. As a
result, an electrostatic driver will provide you with fast transients, greater clarity, detail, low level
resolution and a marvellous stereo imaging.
How does the Final system work?
In a Final electrostatic driver, a thin conductive film (diaphragm) is suspended between two perforated
"stator" assemblies. Spacers – the thin black lines that run down the surface – separate the film from
the metal stators. The stators are insulated with a special paint and power is supplied to them by a DC
(low power) source followed by a high voltage generator. The amplifier sends the audio signal via a
transformer to the diaphragm, which it makes move to the front plate when the audio signal is positive
and to the rear plate when it is negative. The moving diaphragm is coupled to the air and sound waves
will reach our ears.
Because all the sound emerges from one single diaphragm, the sound keeps it phase relationship,
resulting in a more realistic sound. A proper phase behaviour and the diaphragm's ability to follow the
music's waveform very accurate (due to the diaphragm's minimal weight), adds to the impression of
startling clarity, realism and a holographic imaging. Final electrostatic panels are also dipolar line
arrays. The sound is radiating to the front and to the back, but basically out of phase. The advantage is
that, due to noise cancellation, the panels do not radiate much sound to the sides. A dipole is less
influenced by room acoustics and sounds more like the original recording did. The line array character
also adds to the 'less room interaction behaviour'. Usually, line arrays do not enforce floor and ceiling
reflexions.
What about the Inverter?
The Final electrostatic drivers are based on our patented Inverter technology. As most great ideas in
history, the underlying principles are basically simple. A traditional electrostatic driver will put the high
voltage to the membrane and the musical signal to the stators. In an Inverter based electrostatic driver,
this is vice versa. The main advantage is that we can separate the diaphragm in pre defined radiating
areas for high, mid and low frequencies. When you can size radiating areas, you can also size the
driver's radiating patterns. That's the main reason that our electrostatic loudspeakers do not have a
'hotspot'. They present a wide stereo image from nearly every listening position in the room.
What happened to the loudspeaker's enclosure?
There is an inherent relationship between dynamic drivers and enclosures. The enclosure' s shape,
volume and size are important supporting parameters to accomplish a specified performance level
from dynamic systems. So between dynamic drivers and enclosures are almost mathematical
dependencies. Basically, a dynamic driver is designed to operate in an enclosure.
Electrostatic drivers don't need enclosures. The only reason for finding enclosed electrostatic
loudspeakers has to do with electrical safety. Due to our patented Inverter technology, Final
electrostatic panels don't need enclosures for electrical safety reasons. Getting rid of enclosures is
pretty cost effective and it translates into a reasonable consumer price. Since the speaker cabinet is
the most expensive part in most of the dynamic systems (woofers, tweeters, and crossovers are
usually less than 30% of the materials cost of a typical box speaker). Because there is no cabinet,
Final electrostatic loudspeakers do not have any cabinet induced coloration and sound very neutral.
How much power do you need?
The simplicity of the Final Inverter Technology enables the loudsspeaker´s impedance to remain well
above 4 ohms across the entire frequency spectrum. This allows the use of smaller amplifiers - as low
as 35 watts - to drive the loudspeakers. Most high-performance electrostatic loudspeakers required
FINAL SOUND 600i/1000i Loudspeaker Manual vs. 1.4 -US- c FS 2007RJ 22
.