Node, who we encountered for the first time at the North West Audio Show 2018, is the vision of British industrial designers Ashley May and David Evans, who set out to ‘reimagine what could be possible from a modern loudspeaker’. 

Their debut product, HYLIXA, incorporates several new innovations and is designed and built at their facility in rural Cambridgeshire and was launched at the North West Audio Show.

Ashley told us more about the new speakers: “HYLIXA masters vocal reproduction by replicating the sonic signature of a human  head. Its compact, curved cabinet lifts the veil of box-like colouration associated with traditional cabinets; whilst the wide-bandwidth BMR™ driver removes any crossover anomalies from the region where human hearing is most sensitive.  HYLIXA pioneers the industry’s first ‘Helical Transmission Line’ (HTL) – to deliver remarkable bass extension from a compact, passive design. Driven by a rearward firing internal woofer, the low-impedance orbital path exits concentrically around the baffle; maintaining a wide-bandwidth point-source output, without ‘smearing’ in the time domain. HYLIXA’s ability to resolve subtle harmonics makes instruments sound startlingly lifelike. Fully optimised using advanced computer simulations, HYLIXA’s cabinet is devoid of any flat surfaces, is radially braced by the internal HTL and features a constantly changing wall section, to prevent the build-up of standing wave cabinet resonance”.

To make these innovations possible, the Node team uses manufacturing techniques that are new to the audio industry. Each cabinet is systematically fused from particles of glass and nylon by a computer-controlled laser, each 0.2mm layer at a time. This allows the complex (patent pending) cabinet geometry to be grown as a single part.

Prices start at £27,000 which includes colour of choice and metal accents, with bespoke paint finishes and gold/rose gold accents at an additional cost.

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