Following the recent announcement that KEF was to expand the Blade speaker range with the introduction of the KEF Blade Two, the new model is set to be showcased at this year’s National Audio Show – the first demonstration anywhere in the UK.

Available in five specially selected finishes chosen to complement Blade’s sculptural contours, Blade Two is both smaller in height and depth than Blade. Its size has been configured to retain the integrity of the iconic visual design and the acoustic prowess, yet on a practical level provides greater ease of positioning and placement within smaller environments where space is at a premium and where Blade’s bass extension would be superfluous.

At the heart of KEF Blade Two is the inspired Single Apparent Source technology. The Single Apparent Source technology is an extension of the latest, fully pistonic KEF Uni-Q® MF/HF array, which brings the bass drivers into the picture for the first time.

Four 6.5” (165mm), newly developed bass drivers deliver the KEF Blade’s low frequency response. The engineering principle behind their configuration is simple – let the forces of each moving cone cancel each other out by arranging them in opposed, symmetrical pairs – but its effective implementation is fraught with engineering obstacles. The force produced by the bass drivers is so strong that the massive rear magnets have had to be bonded directly to each other to obtain the full benefit of this technology. They are side firing so their acoustic centre coincides with those of the all new, latest generation Uni-Q midrange driver and tweeter – this is the Single Apparent Source technology. The result means that the entire frequency range is radiated from one point in space. “It is impossible to determine where one driver stops working and the next begins, meaning that the resulting sound-field is astonishingly convincing”.

All this technology is housed within a rigid and heavy cabinet made from ultra-high density polyurethane. The parabolic curvature of the enclosure increases cabinet rigidity even further and the drivers are fully decoupled, meaning that sound is only generated from driver movement and not from the cabinet.