Technics SB-AFP10 — The Flat Panel Pioneer

FLAT PANEL SPEAKER · TECHNICS · VINTAGE · REVIEW

The SB-AFP10 is the base model in Technics’ Audio Flat Panel series — a category that stood apart from everything else in its era. It is a translated-from-Japanese description, and that translation is part of what makes it fascinating: you feel the engineering rigour behind every sentence.

The Twin-Cavity System

Traditional acoustic theory held that ideal low-frequency reproduction was impossible with large-area diaphragms in small-capacity cabinets, regardless of cabinet type. Technics solved this with the twin-cavity system — a single cabinet in which a sealed part and an open part coexist simultaneously. The back of the diaphragm is sealed; the open section uses a rear duct to allow back radiation to escape with a large phase difference from the front, preventing sound pressure cancellation.

The AFP’s large-area diaphragm radiates bass in plane-wave form, making it less susceptible to room reflections and slowing attenuation with distance.

The Diaphragm Material

The woofer and mid-low range diaphragms use a multilayered structure combining expanded mica — known for large internal loss — with chitin, a natural polymer found in crustacean shells. Chitin shares a structural similarity with cellulose, and when processed with a crosslinking agent achieves rigidity 1.2 times that of conventional materials with three times the internal loss. Chitin is also found in cricket wings and, notably, in the varnish of Stradivarius violins.

The high-range 2.7cm flat tweeter uses mica with a diamond coating applied by CVD (Chemical Vapour Deposition) for faithful reproduction to extreme high frequencies.