FinkTeam Kim stand-mount loudspeaker

The FinkTeam seems to have got into making a range of loudspeakers almost by accident. As a business, Karl-Heinz Fink heads up a team of specialists who act as technical consultants to other loudspeaker makers. They didn’t set out to design a range of speakers so much as explore the art of the possible. One thing led to another, which led to the flagship WM-4 model, then the (£25,900) Borg floorstander, and now the Kim, a sort of halfway house between a stand-mounter and a floorstander in that the stand is integral, and there’s no way this model was ever going to fit on a bookshelf anyway. The cabinet size and proportions calls to mind the classic large BBC monitors of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and is rather different to the slimline designs we mostly see nowadays. The backwards-leaning stance reminds me more of a certain Star Wars droid than a Star Trek character, though. The external dimensions suggest a cabinet volume of around 45 litres. In reality it’s smaller because some interior space is given over to Helmholtz resonators and other technology, the better to control cabinet resonance and associated unwanted output, but the overall cabinet volume is still broadly comparable to many a respectable floorstanding design.

Large scale works are handled as well as you’d expect from a good sized driver in a decent sized enclosure. Tchaikovsky, ‘Capriccio Italien’, the LSO’s account under Kenneth Alwyn [Decca] is a firm favourite chez Dickinson as he takes it at a rattling pace. And here today the substantial forces are well balanced, laid out before us with excellent tonal shading and it’s easy to see how the composer is playing with the spatial and tonal differences between strings, woodwind and brass. There’s real scale and weight, too, and the rather exuberant ending doesn’t disappoint by getting all overexcited, the Kims hold it together for the full front row centre experience. When things get louder, you sense the increase in energy and effort, not just the change in volume. Orchestras can be big, bold and brash without getting out of shape, so Leonard Bernstein’s wonderfully jazzy phrasing on ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ [DG] contrasts beautifully with the energy and scale of the LA Philharmonic, the Kims balancing the forces as skilfully as Bernstein did; fast, with very little overhang things feel free from constraint, but not loose, so you can enjoy the ride without worrying that it’s all about to trip over its own feet.

There’s a lot here that rests on the technical choices the FinkTeam has made. The decision to use an 8” bass/mid driver dictates a wider cabinet than is usual nowadays for a speaker of this size, but it provides extension and scale that isn’t easy to achieve with the more common 5” or 6” units. It’s a little harder to integrate with the Air Motion Transformer tweeter but the results speak for themselves. FinkTeam maintain that damping materials can slow the loudspeaker down and slug the sound, and the Kims make a strong case for the more intelligent technical solutions they advocate to ensure the cabinet does its job without singing along. Similarly, close attention to the design of the rearward-firing reflex port avoids the more common pitfalls heard in ported designs while retaining the essential benefits in terms of bass extension and power handling. Amplifier and room-matching are also catered for by two adjustable selectors on the rear panel, one for damping factor, the other for a small amount of treble output adjustment. Clearly the designers don’t intend quirky amps or difficult rooms to be a barrier to purchase. I’m generally a fan of simple crossover designs, but here we have a 4th order unit which somehow exemplifies transparency, while also doing a very decent job of preserving the phase relationships that I have come to think are crucial to a properly involving musical experience.