I want to hear them.” That intuition had kicked in once again.īut it hasn’t been easy. I kept looking at those photos and thinking, “Those look cool.
The Smiths enjoyed the KIMs and gave them a strong review. I’ve discovered that my taste in high-end audio gear is very similar to that of Stuart and Linette Smith, especially since we both love Lab12 gear from Greece. The FinkTeam KIM first showed up on my radar when a pair were reviewed by Hi-Fi Pig a couple of years ago. These aren’t wild conversation pieces, but tasteful and reserved speakers that still possess the wow factor. (The Heil/AMT folded membrane tweeter is making a comeback, and I couldn’t be happier.) My review pair came with an olive finish with some big, vibrant grain, matched visually with an unexpectedly thick white baffle, and I’m going to come right out and say this finish, this combination of colors with unexpectedly stunning contrasts, makes the Kims among the most gorgeous speakers I’ve had in here over the last couple of years. The shape of the cabinet isn’t boxy at all with its shapely baffle and gorgeous drivers, including an AMT tweeter with a Mundorf core. Of course, that classic ES-14 design is now available in an updated form from FinkTeam. In fact, the overall heft of the FinkTeam KIM monitors reminds me of another slightly over-sized but otherwise remarkable monitor, the Epos ES-14. I like the proportions of many larger-than-average two-way monitors, perhaps because it reminds me of some of the classic BBC monitor designs or maybe even the Snell Type J bookshelf speakers I owned back when I was in college. It’s fairly beefy and substantial for a two-way stand-mount, and on its fixed stands it sits low and tilted back at a graceful angle. Right off the bat, I clearly dig the look of the FinkTeam KIM monitor. And now, I have had that same intuition with the FinkTeam KIM. It happened again with the Fern & Roby Ravens just a few years ago-I saw an image of these retro-looking single-driver speakers in a magazine advertisement for a high-end audio show and I said, “That’s going to be the first room I visit.” The Ravens, of course, set me off on my current adventures with solid-wood enclosures that is just now hitting its stride.
I had to take a listen, and now I’ve owned a pair for well over a dozen years. This happened the first time I saw the Trenner & Friedl ART monitors, with their small front baffle visually offset by an unusually deep cabinet. It’s a sign, at least to me, that someone is thinking out of the box. Usually, it has to do with an unconventional appearance, or unusual proportion, a sort of transducer swagger that comes along less frequently than you would think in a hobby that’s being taken over by lifestyle products. It’s a feeling that doesn’t happen often, but when I have it I wind up being right. The FinkTeam KIM from Germany reminds me that I have this weird intuition about speakers, that I can take a single glance-even a photograph-and determine it’s a design I need to hear.
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