Peak Consult Loudspeaker Cabinets
Form & Function
The cabinets for all Peak Consult loudspeakers are produced in our own artisan’s workshop in Denmark. This supreme craftmanship is at the heart of the Peak DNA and design philosophy. Originating from outstanding Danish furniture tradition, this craftsmanship, innovation and obsession with quality is second to none. The purpose of a loudspeaker cabinet is two-fold, to provide a controlled acoustical enclosure for the drivers to operate most efficiently, and to provide a physical structure to hold all the drive units in place while positioning them optimally for the listener. By enclosing the speaker, it prevents negative phase sound waves from the rear of the speaker from interfering with the positive phase sound waves at the front. The cabinet enclosure plays a vital role in shaping the sound that is produced by the speaker. It can affect the overall frequency response, as well as the volume and clarity of the sound and plays a significant role in determining the quality of the sound that you hear.
One of the primary functions of a loudspeaker enclosure is to control resonance and vibrations coming from those negative (backward firing) sound waves. When a speaker plays a sound, the trapped energy produces vibrations that can dramatically affect the quality of the intended sound to the listener. If these unwanted vibrations are not properly controlled, they cause distortion and reduce the potential clarity of what you want to hear. All Peak Consult cabinet enclosures are engineered to help to absorb and dissipate these unwanted vibrations, resulting in a cleaner, more accurate and natural sound reaching the listeners ears.
Peak cabinets are constructed from multiple layers of HDF with a solid wall thickness of 36-50mm depending on the application. For bonding the laminated layers together, Peak use a special foam vibration damping glue (proven in industrial applications) that never hardens. This significantly reduces the resonances in the structure whilst remaining stable over a very long period. Inside the cabinets the engineers use several accurately calculated bracing points to make the cabinets extremely rigid. For the overall construction 2 types of glue are utilised in a hybrid way, a hard carpenter glue in a mix with a thick acoustic glue, once again to minimize any structural resonances. All cabinets are then finished with a 14mm solid hard wood and acrylic finish outer skin. This is bonded to the framework of the cabinet with a stable industrial grade adhesive. These extreme measures result in Peak loudspeakers possessing an extreme weight for their given footprint. The goal being to eliminate any unwanted vibration or noise coming from the cabinet itself, which will interfere with the positive phase sound waves produced by the quality drive units – which they achieve with great success.
Peak Consult Cabinet design
There are three main criteria for Peak loudspeaker cabinets: solid traditional construction using intelligent innovative design and offering a beautiful quality aesthetic.
The construction is aimed at eliminating all unwanted resonances (colorations), which is the opposite to a musical instrument, where the resonance of the corpus defines the beautiful sound of the instrument. Resonances in a speaker cabinet will negatively affect the music reproduction. Peak engineers put a lot of effort into eliminating any unwanted colorations to the least possible level, for the sole purpose of not negatively affecting the overall listening experience.
The second aspect of all Peak loudspeaker cabinets is their innovative design. The size and shape of the loudspeaker enclosure can significantly affect the sound quality of the speaker system by altering the frequency response. Perfect phase response is critical to ensure all sounds reach the listeners ears at exactly the right time. A drum kit covers the following frequencies 50-90Hz (kick drum) 70-140Hz (floor toms) 80-180Hz (rack toms) 160-240Hz (snares). When a drummer plays, if these frequencies do not reach the ears at precisely the correct time, you will hear a very poor rendition of that performance – it doesn’t sound real.
The critical placement of the drive units combined with the shaping of the front baffle and the fine tuning of the crossover on every Peak Consult loudspeaker ensures that you hear that drum kit as the drummer intended. The third criteria for a perfect Peak Consult cabinet are the meticulous fit and finish and overall design aesthetic. The timeless and elegant design of every Peak Consult loudspeaker exudes quality. The use real hard wood materials, in particular American Walnut is finished to a standard that the owner can touch and smell. Leather, stainless steel, ceramic, highly polished acrylic and solid wood are just some of the materials that are skillfully combined to create the perfect environment for the high-performance drive units and remain looking beautiful. A fully completed Peak Consult cabinet is the perfect environment for the proprietary high-performance drive units and hand-crafted crossover network. These cabinets allow the drive units to perform with no limitation in dynamics and musical balance. The result is simply
breathtaking and highly addictive – no sound signature, just what the artist intended.
In summary, the Peak Consult loudspeaker cabinet is more than just a housing for a speaker system; it’s a critical component that affects sound quality and the overall listening experience.
"These cabinets define inert, with the woofers, each midrange driver and the tweeter all having its own individual cabinet made from 1.5 – inch to 3 inch thick HDF board covered by another inch of solid acrylic, with additional resonance suppressor milled into the cabinetry. If that weren’t enough, there are no parallel surfaces to be found anywhere with these enclosures."