FANTOM

Kabuki

Bass-Horn Loudspeaker

Our Newest Statement Horn loudspeaker...Might best be described as: Mid-Century Danish Modern, meets Vintage Japanese audio Avant-Garde.

FANTOM incorporates all of Viking Acoustic's proven acoustic innovations. FANTOM sets the bar higher than ever before delivering perfectly balanced sound from the lowest lows to the highest highs with a massive soundstage, open airy detail ,and inexplicably real sonic textures.

Each and every angle and corner is purposely designed to recreate a live performance in the right scale with the right energy (dynamics), tone and wide-bandwidth...We set out to make another game-changing loudspeaker whilst strictly Not following the status-quo.

Kabuki FANTOM is a large speaker but of the "right" proportions and an interesting audio form to look at from any angle. Fantom will fit into even modest sized listening rooms. The driver placement is optimized for a realistic sound stage; where the players are the right size and scale.

The bass-horn's five drivers are physically and electrically aligned for the best possible coherence and timing. The ribbon super tweeter is loaded within the mouth of the bass-horn on an internal baffle shielded from any bass turbulence and is furthest away from the listening position. At the rear of the large horn is a second solid wood baffle with a by-pass port to the internal resonating damper.

SPECIFICATIONS: Passive Bass-Horn Loudspeaker

Driver Compliment: 5-way true bass-horn design

13" sub-bass driver (at bottom, vents through top horn)

10" wide-band mid-woofer (at center, vents through top horn)

2.25" midrange to low-tweeter dome

1.25" high frequency dome tweeter

Hidden ribbon super tweeter mounted within the mouth of the top of the bass-horn (not visible)

Cabinets: made of void free ply from Finland, joints with wood dowels and hardwood internal bracing.

Cabinet colors: Near-Black "Just-off-white" Kabuki red, or custom colour.

Semi-active tone-wood baffles: Solid wood (front and back) and horn extensions blades in clear maple, American cherry, and Claro walnut

Internal resonator/damper with rear by-pass port

Binding posts

4 way low-mass tellurium copper + driver frame earthing post

Internal wire: 20 awg solid-core copper in cotton dielectric + silver solder (upgrade possible)

Sensitivity: 94.5 db

Impedance: 8 Ohms

Bandwidth:

18 Hz - 40kHz

Recommended Power:

40-100 tube watts per channel

100+ transistor watts per channel

Dimensions:

64.25"H 28"W 26"D

Weight:

128 LBS each

Price per pair $35,000 as shown (upgrades possible) Build time 3 months

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David's First Impressions:

My love affair with the original Kabuki runs deep with fans in many different Countries... The look to me was what I had imagined: a Japanese motif but nothing like what we called a "Kabuki speaker" back in the 1970's which was a dowdy 5-7 way speaker box and a little bit morose.

The original Viking Acoustics Kabuki was quite good..though I was never as happy with the sound as the reviewers and customers. I'm perhaps too critical and rarely fully pleased and for this reason we don't offer a small monitor as I don't see the need for a loudspeaker with truncated capability. The sound of the original was generally excellent but I wanted more and less.. More output, more mid-bass snap, less cabinet resonance, wider stage and better coherence (imaging) this has been achieved in the new but the new version really looks nothing like the original Kabuki. The original Kabuki was pretty, well-proportioned and proper: whereas Fantom is big, raw, and a little unruly. Fantom's hard angles, heirloom woods, and size makes a definitive audio statement.

Test music went from subtle acoustic Jazz, Jazz vocals, Rock and Techno, and monster classical pieces including one of my favorites: Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini" FANTOM Absolutely crushed every genre we threw at them! Bass, detail, drive, dynamics, and sonic balance. Classic strings are reproduced with the deepest emotion, texture, the correct weight and at the same time Fantom could play techno and house music a near club level with just a 40 watt amplifier. Now switch to orchestral music or opera or pop vocals again unbelievably good, right, and dead real.

The accuracy, flexibility, and bandwidth of this loudspeaker are rivaled only by its big brother the Gottenburg.

Kabuki FANTOM 5-way design with optimized time phase alignment. Hidden ribbon super tweeter in mouth of the horn vent at top, massive sub-woofer at the bottom. Both mid and sub woofer vent out of the top of the horn along with the super tweeter.

Kabuki FANTOM's Horn Blades are fully adjustable for near-field far-field and wide-field listening positions as well as different room sizes/configurations and completely fold back for moving or shipping.

Rear baffle with bypass port to internal resonating damper