AIR D1

An incredible showpiece of Orbitsound technology

A new standard for audio realism

Unmatchable high fidelity sound

The AIR D1 has been designed and built to be one of the highest fidelity speakers in the world, every part of it is built to sound as crisp and as clear as possible.

Stunning floating pivot design

The AIR D1 'floats' above the ground to create a clean, uninterrupted sphere of air all around it, enabling the sound waves to hit your ears with minimal distortion.

Simple plug and play

The more speakers you have, the more possibility there is for audio distortion. That's why the AIR D1 is so easy to set up - it's a single unit, so just plug and play.

Single speaker HiFi

The AIR D1 is the only speaker of it’s kind. It combines our two unique technologies; our patented Airsound technology and our brand new amplifier technology; Airamp.

Airsound

Airsound™ delivers a full and compelling stereo image — exactly as the artist intended — to each listener wherever they are in the room. This means that you hear music perfectly, regardless of positioning, and there is no need for a second speaker in order to enjoy authentic and accurate stereo sound.

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Airamp

Airamp is a revolutionary amplifier system that senses the electrical response of the loudspeaker driver, actively eliminating harmonic distortion and extending the acoustic performance.

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Tilt to your desired listening angle

The higher the audio pitch, the more directional the sound is. That's why we've developed the AIR D1 with a tilting stand; simply unlock and pivot the speaker to best direct the sound towards you.

Easy connect and simple play

Being a single speaker, the AIR D1 couldn’t be easier to use. It has high quality physical connections, combined with both Bluetooth and Wifi, giving it the advantages of a wireless speaker, with all the advantages of a studio-grade HiFi system.

aptX Bluetooth

WiFi + Ethernet

2 x Professional AUX

Digital Optical

Beautiful physical dials

The way you interact and use the AIR D1 couldn’t be easier. A beautifully weighted volume dial, a sound adjust dial and source dial give you complete control.

Sound Adjust

Tune the AIR D1 to your space. You have total control to add or reduce the amount of Airsound, Treble, Mid and Bass to your preference.

Design, ten years in the making

The purpose of the AIR D1 has always been to create the ultimate listening experience. While Airamp overcomes acoustic distortions from the individual loudspeaker drivers, the whole unit has to communicate seamlessly within the listening space.

We have learnt a great deal more about the unique approach to acoustics that Airsound technology demands. The following pages contain some insight as to why the AIR D1 is designed the way it is, and why we believe it cannot be bettered in delivering pure acoustic truth.

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The stand

By raising the loudspeaker off the ground, the bass frequencies are exposed to a sphere of air, as opposed to air with some boundary (i.e. the floor). This ensures that the bass frequencies are kept as linear as possible from the speaker to the listener. The ‘tilt’ mechanism of the stand allows for easy accommodation to a seated or standing listener, reducing the difference in acoustic distance from the tweeter and midrange drivers to the listener.

Materials

The AIR D1 has been meticulously designed for strength and acoustic purity. We use wood as the main construction material; the very structure at a microscopic level is organic and irregular. Whereas any man-made material has a much more structured composition. A basic requirement of a quality loudspeaker is non-resonance that is naturally minimised by wood’s core composition. Down to a cellular level, the cabinet resists resonance and distortion.

Power vs fidelity

The AIR D1 is powerful. For a truly high quality loudspeaker, it requires a large amount of power to communicate ‘transients’ in audio accurately. However, too many sources, or drivers that are too large, adversely affect the fidelity of the whole system. The AIR D1 has been designed to achieve the highest quality audio experience in any space, at any listening level.

Made in Britain

The AIR D1 is hand-built by specialists in the UK. Great care and attention is given to fitting the components to achieve the best audio possible. Every detail is examined and tested to ensure that whenever you hear the AIR D1, you know it will deliver the ultimate experience.

Mid / Tweeter

The tweeter and midrange drivers are hand-picked for their performance with Airamp amplifiers. These drivers are positioned vertically and closely together in order to minimise any distortion and to optimise the crossover frequency. As a point source loudspeaker, using a single driver for each frequency range ensures total freedom from distortion from multiple sources.

Acoustic spaces

There are four acoustically optimised spaces inside the AIR D1. Each one has been designed for the required performance of each driver. The largest is the bass cavity (A) which, at a sealed 31 litres, provides enough volume for a superb linear response from the custom built 10” neodymium bass drivers. The critical tweeter and midrange space (B) is shaped to minimise harmonic distortion and allows for linear movement. Each Airsound driver has its own sealed space (C/D) which are smaller, for tighter control of the spatial frequency range.

Airsound driver placement

Something of a trade secret, the position of the Airsound drivers, their acoustic volume, and their tuning are all highly critical to the stereo soundscape that the AIR D1 produces. These drivers turn the precision point source loudspeakers into one capable of delivering a true and consistent stereo image.

Inertial balance

The custom designed, powerful bass drivers are arranged to eliminate the inertial forces from each other which maximises efficiency and linearity.

A word from the creator

“The AIR D1 is an audio experience. Our mission has always been to realise Ted Fletcher’s dream of recreating the truest possible sound in every sense - in dynamics, fidelity and breadth.

At Orbitsound we have extensively developed Airsound™ technology, and more recently Airamp technology, to greatly benefit our consumer and experimental systems. As a result, we are extremely proud of all our products, but they all have been built to a certain size, price or some other set of requirements.

There has always been the question of ‘what if we don’t compromise?’. In the early days of this project, we quickly realised that the developments and our understanding of sound made through Airsound and Airamp technology might allow us to create something truly remarkable if we single-mindedly followed this goal — to create the greatest sound possible.

There was no rulebook for making the AIR D1. We had to invent so much, draw on unique experiments, thoughts and experiences from the past forty-two years. Its design is unrestricted by anything as mundane as budget, physical size, or market. It’s about Ted’s dream. The story of its making is in some ways the personal journey of Ted and I. The AIR D1 is special in its entirety. It represents Ted’s life work, and the sum of my career to date.”

Daniel Fletcher
Co-Founder

Available soon...

Available to order in the near future, each AIR D1 will be handmade to order in the UK and tested to the upmost highest standard by our highly trained audio engineers. Exceptional quality, always.

Matte Black

Solid Bamboo

Technical specs

Frequency response

Electronically limited to: 35Hz - 25kHz

Response controls

LF: +/- 12dB @180Hz Low Shelf

MF: +/- 12dB @900Hz Parametric 0.9Q

HF: +/- 12dB @4100Hz High Shelf

Airsound: +/-12dB drive trim

Drivers

2 x 10” Custom designed woofers

1 x 5” Mid range driver

1 x 1” Textile dome tweeter

2 x 4” Airsound drivers

Connections

WiFi

Bluetooth aptX

Ethernet

Digital optical TOSLINK

2 x Professional AUX

(AUX1 has +4/-10 sensitivity switch)

Dimensions (including stand)

Height: 1130mm

Depth: 560mm

Width: 340mm

Weight

50kg

Acoustics

Bass: 32Litre sealed and reinforced enclosure with opposed drivers for inertial cancellation

Mid/Airsound: Sealed individual acoustically designed enclosures

Tweeter: surface mounted

Pre-amplification

Digital input PCM 16-24bit, 36-96KHz. Upsampled internally to base rate of 96KHz

Processing is 24bit 96-192KHz depending on operating mode

Analogue input THD+N >100dB (input level dependent). Level sensitivity -10/+4 switch available for AUX1

WiFi / Ethernet / Bluetooth with aptX audio routed digitally

Amplification

Bass: 2x150W Class A/B Analogue bass / sub-bass power amplifiers

Mid/Airsound: 2x100W Class A/B analogue amplifiers with transconductance feedback (Airamp)

Tweeter: 1x70W Class A/B analogue amplifier with transconductance feedback (Airamp)

500W DC switch mode power supply with large power reservoir for transient power delivery over 1000W