KS Audio / KS Digital NExT Technology

NExT = Nearfield Extension Technology

KS Audio / KS Digital's NExT technology is our newest innovation, featured in the KS Digital Line Master and KS Audio live products. It is a newly designed element that radiates cylindrical waves, created in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Mathematics in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

With a cylindrical wave, the acoustic energy reduces by 3dB when the distance is doubled; with a normal spherical wave, this reduction is 6dB. This result is only possible with NExT speakers. Even in larger rooms, such as mastering setups, your listening area appears practically anywhere in front of the speakers. Effectively, this means the intensity of sound hitting your ear is due to a much higher proportion of direct waves, and the effects of indirect or reflected waves are thereby significantly reduced. Therefore, room characteristics have a much lesser influence on the acoustics of the signal, and the direction of the cylindrical waves also ensures that reflections from the ceiling or floor are further minimized.

This slit-shaped emitter was designed with an extremely powerful driver, which reproduces mid- and high-frequency tone ranges from 800Hz and upward with these radiating cylindrical waves. For frequencies up to 800Hz, the linear arrangement of the bass- and mid-tone cone speakers also emits a perfectly matched cylindrical wave. This provides a musical experience beyond any speaker design heard before, presenting incredibly minute details from practically any listening position--even when outdoors. The sound field is massively wide and detailed, giving recording studio monitor-type performance in PA systems, and unheard of resolution and dynamics in both active studio and PA speaker systems.