Whatever happened to NXT Loudspeakers

[Neil McCauley]

Ten or so years ago they were supposed to be the next big thing. Electrostatic levels of clarity without the cost or the deadly voltage. After hearing QUAD ESL 57s I had a crazy idea about putting together a system using NXT satelites and twin subs but searching for NXT reveals nothing except some out of date ads for a Mission home cinema system.

Way back when I recall HFW reviewing a TDK system with a small sub and two little NXT panels and heaping great praise on it. I also recall Mission doing a big panel speaker with a conventional bass driver. Well they never show up used so either they never sold any or they are so good everyone keeps them forever.

Seems strange to me that this promising 'speaker technology sems to have died a death. Anyone got any insights into this?

The technology did in fact appear, albeit briefly, in the audio world in the form of 12 pairs of speakers, each being roughly 6' tall x 2' wide. They used NXT 'exciters' Relevant links include:

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=po...w=1090&bih=628

http://www.hifianswers.com/2017/03/a...g-bass-weight/

http://www.hifianswers.com/2016/07/a...gn-the-agency/

It is thought that of the 12 original big pairs (Model #1) 11 remain with their original owners and presumably without evidence to the contrary, still making them happy. Re the smaller units (Model #0.5) we can find no reliable information.

Some reports suggest that the original designer was Mr. Paul Burton, formerly of Sumo Aria speakers, Sequence Speakers and subsequently of an ill-fated project you can read about at https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=po...w=1090&bih=628

Mr. Shelly (possibly incorrect spelling of first name?) Katz (the man in the images) did, it seems, claim to be the designer and that Burton disputed this claiming that Katz's involvement was 'a damn nuisance' or something like that. Also we heard that 'he made the things look nice but in so doing emasculated the sound' but we cannot substantiate this.

The two men stopped working together. Possibly that's why we see nothing these days re the Podium Loudspeaker project.

For our interest, we have made thorough (or so we like to believe) searches for the enigmatic Mr. Burton - all without success. A pity because he was, as we perceived it, something akin to a design genius, a gentle decent bloke and an interesting subject for an interview.

From what we can glean (possibly a little uncharitably, it seems) Katz 'tinkles the ivories - a bit and waves a thin stick about'. He might be found via http://www.queensu.ca/bisc/castle-li...ians-residence

Also FYI https://alumni.surrey.ac.uk/page.aspx?pid=1504

Reports that he played keyboards for The Stray Katz turned out to be confusion re The Stray Cats. However we did hear that he was, for a while involved the band Sky along with drummer Tristan Fry.

Finally .... we discover that yes, possibly NXT technology has been / is being resurrected @ https://www.symphonova.com/ Looks to me like a clever idea.

That's it; nothing more to report.

Neil