Forsman writes: “VSS5 is an intoxicating sight for the eye and fits well into any home. It has been designed with classical lines and geometry and appears timeless and very exclusive. Forsmans designer; Anne Cecilie Hoppstock has created a visual language which is perfectedly suited and adapted to the Vertical Split Dipol technology.
In all its might and glory – it is available in Walnut, Black ash and White ash.
The speakers are a modest 32cm in diameter and stand 147cm tall. Sure, they weigh 47Kg a piece, but stand on 5 feet with acoustic decoupling from the floor, in addition they are easy to move and reposition.
Wave Guiding
The inside of the vertical split of VSS5 is a masterpiece in itself. All surfaces are organic and designed for maximum adaption of the frequency distribution areas. The curves are smoothing out the extent of the speaker elements and provides a seamless integration of all frequencies. The resulting ultra-high-resolution velocity through the frequency spectrum is unique and provides a listening experience that is almost unheard of.
Turbulence And Edge resonances
Just at the edge of the vertical split it is shaped with a sharp angle. Unlike a normal loudspeaker design where it is often a right angle, at best the edges have been rounded a bit. When the sound pushes through Forsmans Vertical Split, the sound pressure will drag the air from the outside of the speaker. These two air streams meet in the sharp transition and melt together much like the air leaving the edge of an airplane wing. There will be no turbulence or noise and breathing sounds. The same happens when the diaphragm pulls back, the air is split at the sharp edge and divide without turbulence and noise.
The Crossover
The crossover in Forsmans speakers are especially designed for dipole speakers. We have developed a unique expertise around crossover theory and dipoles, which we use in all our speakers.
The crossovers are designed in a manner so the end result is homogenic rolloff, timing and correct phase transitions and homogenic spreading of resulting sound impression. The last part is extremely important for the listening experience. It does not help anything if the elements are in phase at the crossover at -6db, they also have to be in phase 1 octave above and 1 octave below, measured in the real listening position.
Every component is measured to satisfy the demand to linearity in the specific frequency ranges for which they are utilized.
Impedance matching is done for the bass elements with a proprietary primary inductance with three parallel conductors. The circuit board on which the crossover is mounted is of double thickness and fasteners have been situated so that they dampen the resonances the most. Terminal connections go right into the crossover without wires or other connection points inbetween.
VSS Acoustical Baffel Equivalent
For a dipole to be able to play well it is neccessary with a certain amount of lenght on the baffle, or the centreplate as it is also called. The ideal shape of a dipolar baffle is an ellipsis. By folding two ellipses into a cylinder a design which is first class is achieved and at the same time the ideal acoustics are more than handled.
Ideally a speaker should have the same acoustical extend as that of a microphone. This is not possible due to physics. Only few other than Forsman has worked on this. It is of enormous advantage to reduce the horisontal extent of elements. The stereo perspective gains more detail, the positioning and pin-point presicions are increased dramatically. This is the effect which makes it possible to point exactly to where the musicians stand in the room. At that moment the speakers “dissapear” in the soundscape and the music is simply present in the room. This is what is known as listening free of the box.
When measuring the distance from any point on a membrane around the speaker and onto the same point on the rear, we get the acoustical membrane lenght. On Forsmans speakers the acoustical horisontal lenght is less than 30 mm! This means all basic frequencies emanates from the same spot, and you believe you are at a concert.”