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It’s late in the day and CES has all but worn me out (I love going to the Consumer Electronics Show every year in Las Vegas, but ten hours on my feet and I’m pooped). One more room, I thought to myself, and I’ll call it a day.

                The sign on the next door down the hallway read: Final Sound. It sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Anyway, it was the closet option and I was beat. Ten steps later my fatigue vanished… the sound here was so captivating I didn’t sit down, but just stood there soaking it all in. “Do you have any questions?” Huh? What? Collecting my thoughts and wiping the drool off my chin, I turned to find the company representative standing next to me. Yes, I said, I do have one question: Where do I sign!

Only a couple of times have I been impressed enough with a product to become a dealer on the spot - the Final Sound 1000i was that good.

                Interestingly, I had “heard” this company’s offerings on a previous occasion and came away cold (in hindsight, quite understandable, given the conditions). The speakers were on display in what show goers refer to as the “zoo,” the overcrowded floor of the gigantic Las Vegas convention center. The place is loud, raucous, jam-packed with people and so noisy it’s hard to hear yourself think. So who could tell what the Finals sounded like? This year was different, very different. Their suite was located in the Venetian Hotel with the rest of the high end crowd, where (relatively) quiet hotel rooms allow more serious listening. Good move.

I must admit, I’ve always had a weakness for electrostatic speakers; their ultra fast, transparent character reveals intimate detail and timber like no other transducer. Coherency, too, is another forte, and a characteristic that no multi-driver speaker can hope to match. However, like any other design, they have their limitations. Historically ‘stats have been tough to drive, somewhat fragile and very “beamy,” allowing only one listening position. Final Sound electrostats shrink those issues, almost to a vanishing point, or at least far enough that a good percentage of those who ruled out electrostatic speakers might now consider owning a pair. Let’s see what makes the Final Sound design unique.

With their exclusive Inverter Technology™, Final has re-engineered the way sound and polarizing voltage is handled. Unlike traditional electrostatics, where a polarizing voltage is applied to the Mylar diaphragm and the audio signal is directed to the outer stator panels, Final inverts the process sending the audio signal directly to the diaphragm through an audio conductor embedded within the sealed 12-micron clear film speaker diaphragm. The simplicity of the new Inverter Technology™ design insures speaker impedance will remain well above 4 ohms across the entire frequency spectrum for the smaller speakers and above 3 Ohm for the larger models. This allows the use of lower powered amplifiers (as few as 35 watts) to drive the speakers. Until now, high-performance electrostatic speakers required more powerful and expensive amplifiers with 100 - 200 watts per channel to adequately drive the speakers. No more.

In addition to improving performance, sealing the conductors inside the diaphragm helps protect the speaker against scratches, dust, cigarette smoke, and other environmental damage.

Another slick move, Final divides the panel into vertical segments of varying widths. The partitions (running from top to bottom along the panel) mechanically damp portions of the panel at certain frequencies, allowing distinct frequencies to radiate from each segment. This is especially important for the higher frequencies. Here’s why.

One of the problems vexing electrostatic (and other flat panel) speakers is beaming at high frequencies - the result of having a large surface area reproducing a small waveform. Final’s trick of segmenting the diaphragm drastically reduces this problem since the narrowest of the segments reproduces the higher frequencies, thus increasing horizontal dispersion and virtually eliminating the “head in a vise” phenomena. Additionally, the broader dispersion increases soundstage width, allowing the image to extend beyond the outer edge of the speakers. Another first, Final uses variable stator-to- panel spacing (the distance is greater at the area of the panel which reproduces low frequencies), allowing for more excursion and therefore greater output. Novel, don’t you think?

Other advantages of planar electrostatic speakers include:

●         The extremely light weight diaphragm contributes to exemplary frequency response (both in amplitude and phase). A light diaphragm is fast, able to start and stop very quickly, improving transient response, reducing overhang and increasing transparency.

●         Furthermore, the thin diaphragm is less prone to the resonances common cone drivers.

●         Electrostatic speakers do not require an enclosure, eliminating a significant cost and removing a major source of coloration.

●         Minimizing lost acoustic volume and wasted amplifier power. Unlike point source radiators (most cone speakers), whose output drops off by 6dB for every doubling of distance (inverse square law), the output from a planar line source is decreased by just 3dB for every doubling of distance. So, for a given volume level, more sound reaches the listener. As an example, if we measure 90dB output at 1M from a point source radiator, we hear a level of just 78dB at 4M. A same 90dB produced by a planar speaker results in an 84dB level at the listener. If we turn that around and say we want to see 84dB at the listener, the point source speaker needs to play at 96dB. From the amplifiers perspective, this requires four times more power. Furthermore, the planar wave front results in less room interaction by providing a broader, non-beaming first wave reflection, improving sound staging and intelligibility.

The theoretical and practical advantages are interesting, but as Audiophiles, we are more interested in sound quality. That brings us to the meat of this article.

To preface, I’ll note that I have a listening room from hell. In fact, I can’t recall a room I’ve been in, ever, that was as difficult to work with as the one selected for the Finals. Even though we followed all the formulas, employed all manner of construction details and were diligent in their execution, we ended up with a stinker. As a result, speakers that would take me a few hours to rough in (and a few days to tweak) in another room, take weeks to sound halfway decent, months to tune, and may never sound quite right. The 1000i was the very first speaker that was stunning from the word go. Time will tell if this was dumb luck, but I get the feeling that Final’s comments about the speakers being easy to place carries some weight.

So, what does the 1000i sound like? Let me break that answer down into smaller bites.

●                     Coherency: I don’t know of a more coherent speaker than the Final Sound 1000i. There is just something about crossover-less speakers - removing the large passive components from the signal path eliminates a tremendous amount of obfuscation. The best single driver systems are indeed very coherent, but they make too many tradeoffs to satisfy me. The best multi-driver systems can be very good, but once you’ve heard the real deal, you’ll know what you’ve been missing.

●                     Resolution of fine detail: Delicacy and nuance are prized qualities in a loudspeaker. There are a few speakers out there which are quite good in this respect, but the 1000i will stun you with their abilities in this domain. The minutest details are easily hearable, and even at low levels – these are not speakers that must be played loud to open up- another quality hard to come by. Most speakers need to be run up to a gallop to hit their stride and come alive and I often find that volume too loud for my taste. No need to wake the neighbors to hear detail with this speaker.

●                     Imaging: A really good point source speaker can be outstanding in its ability to focus players on the stage. Bi-polar speakers in general aren’t quite as good in this regard. Even though I love a tightly focused image, I find the 1000i are good enough, and I’m willing to trade a teaspoon here for a tablespoon there. Remember, no speaker is perfect, you choose based on the fewest weaknesses.

●                     Air: Now here’s an area where planar speakers excel. The ability to float the images in space gives the speakers an ethereal quality and reveals spatial cues that define ambience, venue and proportion; tough qualities to come by.

●                     Stage Height: As good as some small speakers are at extending the vertical stage above the enclosure, they just can’t compete with a taller speaker. The taller the speaker, the taller the soundstage. With a height of 78”, the 1000i accomplishes that task, enveloping you in a soaring sound field that has width, depth and realistic vertical extension.

●                     Frequency extremes: Electrostats aren’t known to be great performers in the subterranean realms, but most people will be surprised by the bass extension of the 1000i. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about a cracked foundation, but I do think you’ll find this speaker offers bass extension adequate for the vast majority of music. Few will complain about a speaker with the ability to move air into the low thirties. If you really must have subterranean bass, Final makes a very good subwoofer.

●                     Transient Speed: The neat thing about ‘stats is rise time and settling time, or how fast they start and stop. I’ve written about it before but it bears repeating here – the ability of a speaker to end a note is just important as the ability to begin the note. While a number of factors influence this ability, I think the most important is a light diaphragm which easily transitions from rest to action and back to rest. This almost instantaneous transition from motion to motionless is vital to defining the dynamic envelope, which in turn is crucial in understanding the emphasis the performer placed on each note. Just play plucked strings on the 1000i’s and you’ll understand what I mean.

The bottom line: Yes, there are speakers that have more scale, those that have more slam, some play louder, others have more bass and a few compete on soundstage, but when totaling up the bottom line, the 1000i is as good as anything I’ve heard at the price.  And, if you’re like me, it won’t take you long to come to that conclusion. At $10k, the model 1000i is the top of the line, but Final offers models starting at $995.

There are a half dozen speakers or so that I rank as my all time favorites.
 That list just grew by one.

Enjoy the Music review by Dick Olsher