Muon
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Muon a KEF Concept designed by Ross Lovegrove

Muon a KEF Concept designed by Ross Lovegrove There can be few design-led manufacturing projects in this world where the central aim is to create an ‘ultimate’. But this was precisely the goal at KEF ® when the company commissioned the visionary industrial designer, Ross Lovegrove, to develop with them the Muon ® – perhaps the most extraordinary audio speaker ever conceived. Creating an ultimate is never easy, and here the key was to marry a sensual yet logical organic form to state-of-the-art audio technology. The result, which was arrived at remarkably smoothly, is nothing short of...

The Work of Ross Lovegrove Ross Lovegrove is a visionary, an industrial designer par excellence, lauded by many in the design community as the master form-giver. First and foremost he is a materials-led designer whose entire career has been informed and galvanised by the form-inspiring and poetic qualities of materials and manufacturing processes. Beyond this, he is profoundly influenced by forms and structures found in the natural world. Entering his London studio is a voyage into an eclectic and ethereal parallel universe. Bones, fossils and nautilus shells lie neatly arrayed alongside...

Throughout his career as a designer, Lovegrove has striven for a consistent approach based on the innovative application of materials (both manmade and natural) and technical processes, in order to create objects totally in tune with the human form and that delight the senses through their tactile qualities and visual impact. Whether designing furniture, packaging or wristwatches his goal remains the same – the creation of better, more efficient solutions. His methodology, however, changes according to the requirements of each project type. For example, a product that is going to be...

One of the primary influences on Lovegrove’s work has been the natural world and its wonderful array of ‘purpositive’ (purposeful + positive) structures. From the veining of a leaf to the iridescence of a beetle, nature evolves with a directness of purpose that designers today would be wise to emulate if they want to create better products. As a child growing up in Wales, Lovegrove spent much of his spare time on a beach near his home looking for fossils and unusual pebbles. The endless hours beachcombing helped him develop not just an ‘eye’, but also an awareness of natural systems. He was...

The History of KEF For decades audiophiles around the world have revered KEF for its innovative, high-performance loudspeakers. The company was founded in 1961 by Raymond Cooke MBE (1925–1996), a former BBC electrical engineer, widely acknowledged in the audio industry as a leading authority in transducer technology. In fact, Cooke was not merely a visionary engineer, but was also a deeply practical man keen to experiment with new materials and technologies in order to create products with superior acoustic quality. His firm was initially headquartered in a Nissen Hut on the premises of Kent...

Previous Page: Raymond Cooke, KEF’s founder Opposite Page: The progression of KEF speakers KEF continued to expand during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and its reputation was further enhanced by the technical performance of new products such as the Concerto, Cresta and Chorale. In 1970, KEF received the first of two prestigious Queen’s Awards for Export Achievement. Three years later, KEF became the first loudspeaker manufacturer in the world to implement computer-assisted ‘total system design’. New types of digital testing equipment gave KEF’s engineers access to relevant crossover and...

What’s behind the name? Even smaller than a quark, a ‘muon’ is an elementary particle with a negative electric charge that is classified within the lepton group of sub-atomic particles. This seemed an appropriate name for the loudspeaker as the audio components embedded in its super-formed aluminium body transform electrical energy into acoustical energy in order to produce sound – you just never see this happening, like you can’t actually see elementary particles even though they are the building blocks of all matter. The name also refers to Mu – a mythical lost continent thought to have...

This Page: The prototype being milled Opposite Page: 3D computer analysis of the Muon form by Lovegrove Studio The Story of the Prototype Before the production models of the Muon loudspeaker could be fabricated in super-formed aluminum, a full-sized prototype had to be created. As Ross Lovegrove explains, ‘you need to build a prototype to show your intent.’ The journey from initial concept to fully working prototype took about a year and involved a great deal of research and painstaking development. Initially, Lovegrove looked to the abstract sculptures of Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and...

The Technology Behind Muon The Muon loudspeaker is a technology-driven design that has established a major benchmark in acoustic clarity. It has achieved this through several key innovations in form, function and materials. As KEF’s Senior Acoustic Engineer, Dr Andrew Watson puts it, ‘we wanted to take our technology to the limit and then develop some more on the way.’ The upshot is an unparalleled loudspeaker that will bring serious audiophiles as well as regular music lovers sound quality that defies belief. As far as this product goes, hearing really is believing. So what are the...

The Technology behind Muon

Muon Measured Performance Loudspeaker response at 30° intervals (relative to on-axis) 10 Muon Anechoic Acoustic Response: On Axis 95 90 85 Impedence / Ohms Muon Uni-Q Dispersion – Tweeter Response at 45°H (relative to on-axis) 0

Acoustical Specifications Technical Specifications Physical Construction 4 x 250mm bass drive units with ultra low distortion neodymium magnet systems Enclosure constructed from 6mm, super-formed aluminium. Internally braced and critically treated with damping elements. 1 x 250mm lower midrange drive unit with ultra low distortion neodymium magnet system and response tailoring, chromed phase plug 1 x 165mm Uni-Q driver array incorporating a 165mm midrange unit and a 25mm high frequency unit 2 x 250mm rear mounted bass drivers for low frequency directivity control Input Impedance: 4 Ohms...