Yamaha has utilised its vast expertise in music, acoustics and especially as the world’s leading manufacturer of musical instruments to develop a new high performance speaker: the Soavo-1.Yamaha has a half-century of experience in creating “Natural Sound” speakers and other audio components, and the Soavo-1 not only embodies but re-energises the Natural Sound concept. Our primary goal was to achieve realistic reproduction of music. We accomplished this through a combination of advanced design technology, the selection of superior materials, and an extensive testing/tuning process. The Soavo-1 sound is characterised by: no colouration, so the sound is completely unembellished; high resolution, for good detail even at low levels; transparency, for a crisp, bracing feeling; and a deep stereo image with well balanced depth and width.

Yamaha’s exclusive A-PMD (Advanced Polymerinjected Mica Diaphragm) cones are extremely light, rigid and sturdy thanks to the use of a low specific gravity material called PMP (Poly-Methyl-Pentene) that is much lighter than the commonly used polypropylene. It provides very fast response time (sound rise and fall), as well as excellent midrange clarity and bass response. Outstanding internal loss characteristics decrease unwanted resonances to achieve the smooth frequency response that results in natural sounding vocals. The base resin mix of mica and talc has been perfected by Yamaha over long years of development and testing, and also contributes to the beautiful quality of sounds in the vocal range. The midrange creates a feeling of presence as if someone is actually singing in the room. The dual woofer design delivers deep and tight bass.

The edgewise-wound ribbon wire voice coil contributes to high resolution, exceptional sound detail and excellent imaging. The spider is a high performance model made by Kurt Müller. The midrange driver is powered by a newly designed, compact and powerful neodymium magnet. Diecast aluminium baskets ensure solid support for high stiffness, improving sound image localisation and depth reproduction.

The wooden port is carved from high quality wood, and has thick walls and a flared shape, for smooth sound flow, low port noise and a spacious and massive bass feel.

One of the keys to Soavo’s ability to deliver Natural Sound music reproduction is the cabinet design. While maximising sound clarity and imaging, the designers strived to drastically reduce internal standing waves and produce an expansive sound with an exceptional feeling of depth. Their solution was to create a cabinet with non-parallel sides, divide the woofer and midrange sections by a slanted partition, and strengthen the interior with large, vertical ladder-type bracing.

Yamaha’s excellence in woodworking is used to good advantage in the three-way mitered construction of the cabinet joints. This technique ensures extremely tight joints so the entire cabinet behaves as a single unit, providing tight bass reproduction.

A diecast aluminium tweeter plate isolates the tweeter from cabinet vibration and provides a solid attachment for the tweeter unit, preventing unwanted movement, so the high range sound is clear and transparent, with no colouration.

Birch is an acoustically excellent material that is used in Yamaha pianos. Yamaha’s long decades of woodworking expertise have confirmed the superior performance of birch veneer for speaker cabinets, particularly in the shading of bass sounds. The cabinet is given the same luxurious and environmentally friendly open-pore finish used on Yamaha’s finest wood-grain pianos.

The Soavo-1 is equipped with diecast aluminium stands that provide the necessary solid floor contact for stability.