• The Gaudi MK II
• The Loreley MK III
• The PQS Series
  • The PQS 402
  • The PQS 302
  • The PQS 202 MK II
  • The PQS 201 MK II
  • The PQS 100 Plus
  • The PQS 100 Centre
  • The PQS 100
  • The PQS Sub
• The Carbon MK IV
• The Borderland MK IV
• The Unicorn MK II
• The HRS 120
• Unlimited MK II
• DDD - Driver

THE CARBON MK IV

The Carbon was originally introduced in 1997 and like the Borderland, is another long running German Physiks success story. The Carbon Mk IV uses a carbon fibre cone DDD driver with an updated crossover and a new carbon fibre reinforced cabinet and achieves a level of resolution and dynamics unrivalled in a system of this size. This together with its hallmark musicality and three dimensional stereo imaging should ensure that the Carbon Mk IV will continue to set the standard in its class.

Extended Bass with Low Distortion

The Carbon Mk IV uses a single 12 inch woofer of the same type used in our prestige Loreley model. This is coupled with a Helmholtz resonator and produces clean and well controlled bass down to 28Hz from a relatively compact cabinet.

The DDD Driver

The DDD driver is used on all German Physiks loudspeakers and the same quality of driver is used on all models from our entry level product, to the top of the range Gaudi. This revolutionary driver gives the same very important advantages to all German Physiks designs and is what sets them apart from our competitors.

The DDD driver’s very low moving mass enables it to operate linearly over an extremely wide frequency range. The Carbon Mk IV’s DDD driver covers the range from 190Hz all the way up to 24,000Hz. In a conventional design, this range would be covered by two or even three different types of driver and most importantly there would be a cross over point in the mid range, the area where our hearing is most sensitive. The DDD driver’s wide operating range allows this vital region to be kept free from the level and phase anomalies that multiple drivers and a necessarily more complex crossover would create. This enables the Carbon Mk IV, like all German Physiks loudspeakers, to produce very accurate and realistic stereo images.

Another key advantage of the DDD driver is that it is omni directional, so these excellent stereo images can be enjoyed from a wide range of listening positions, unlike conventional designs which have much smaller “sweet spots” due to the tendency of their drivers to beam the sound. The benefits of the Carbon Mk IV can be shared with friends and family.

The DDD driver’s omni directionality also makes the Carbon Mk IV less sensitive to room position than conventional designs. In addition, toe-in adjustment becomes unnecessary and this combined with the loudspeaker’s small foot print, make it relatively easy to set up in the listening room.

The DDD driver’s very low moving mass provides the further benefit of exceptional impulse and phase response characteristics and allows it to reproduce both the attack of the music and resolve low level detail very accurately. This is essential in order to faithfully reproduce the delicate nuances and timbral characteristics of a performance and make it sound like music, rather than just good hi-fi. The driver’s excellent impulse response also ensures that the stereo image remains focussed and stable, even when the loudspeaker is reproducing complex passages at high levels.

Advanced Carbon Fibre Reinforced Cabinet

The Carbon Mk IV’s cabinet is an enhanced version of that used in the Borderland. It uses an octagonal section column constructed from heavy MDF panels with additional internal bracing for increased strength. The octagonal construction means that the individual panels are smaller and therefore stiffer than they would be if a conventional square or rectangular construction was used. The increased stiffness greatly reduces cabinet resonance and the radiation of sound through the panels (cabinet talk), both of which would otherwise degrade the loudspeaker’s performance. The cabinet’s panels are further reinforced with multiple layers of bi-directional, resin impregnated carbon fibre, which are applied using techniques originally developed for the aircraft industry. This produces a cabinet that is immensely rigid and strong. It is also practically free from resonances within the audio frequency band and shows very low levels of cabinet talk. This provides a useful improvement in the loudspeaker’s ability to resolve low level detail. Any residual cabinet talk is minimised by applying a special damping material called Hawaphon to the inside of each panel. Hawaphon is a polymer sheet containing a matrix of small cells filled with very fine steel shot and was originally developed as an anti-surveillance measure for use in military and government buildings. It adds mass to the panel to reduce the resonant frequency and the ability of the shot in each cell to move against each other provides a very effective way of converting vibration energy into heat. Hawaphon achieves a broadband attenuation of structure-borne sound of more than 50dB.

To damp resonances of the air within the cabinet, the whole of the inside of the cabinet is lined with a thick layer of high density felt.

Adjustable High Frequency Output

High quality jumpers on the rear panel allow the high frequency output level to be adjusted in 4 steps; -2dB, flat, +2dB and +4dB. This enables the user to easily compensate for the variations in the absorption of high frequencies that occur due to different types of furnishings and room construction.

Hand Finished for Ultimate Quality

The Carbon’s cabinet is coated with several layers of lacquer and hand polished to a high lustre finish. This produces a stunningly beautiful and luxurious finish and it also has the advantage that it can be re-polished in the event of it receiving minor damage.

The CARBON MK IV Specifications