FinkTeam's KIM costs £8,900 in the UK and is the follow-up to the company's Borg which was pretty much everywhere you looked at High End Munich last year thanks to it joining Steve Wilson on the show's banners and posters. The Borg is available in the UK now, by-the-way.

KIM is FinkTeam's third commercial loudspeaker model following the WM4 and Borg models and aims to be more readily integrated into the listener's home.

Previewed at February's Norddeutsche HiFi Tage 2020 in Hamburg, KIM borrows much of the Borg's DNA. For instance, you get a 2-way reflex design using a paper-coned woofer powered by an oversized magnet that's partnered with an AMT tweeter. Again you'll find a high-quality crossover along with Mundorf and other top-notch components.

Obviously, the big difference is KIM's 854 x 300 x 310 mm (HxWxD) size and less challenging shape. However, FinkTeam still wanted to be able to fit an 8-inch woofer and use a front baffle shaped to minimise diffraction issues, just like its Borg sibling.

Unlike the Borg, that uses corrugated cloth to surround the woofer, KIM's bass driver is surrounded by rubber to get the resonance frequency down to the level required for the cabinet. The resulting frequency response is a quoted 35Hz-25kHz -10dB.

KIM's cabinet walls are a sandwich of two panels with a damping glue filling. Internally, they feature optimised bracing and resonators that mitigate standing waves “without killing the fun” factor of the speakers which could happen if excessive damping material was used instead. The rear port is made using the same principles developed for the Borg and woofer damping can be modified, as can the HF level, via a pair of three-way switches. Also, at the rear, is a single set of pure copper binding posts.

The FinkTeam KIM's crossover follows the tradition of Linkwitz–Riley filter 4th order at a low 2200Hz. Additionally, the AMT is connected via a passive delay to adjust the phase relative to the woofer - as demonstrated with the Borg. Air-core has been used on all critical inductors and capacitors which are a mixture of Mundorf components as well as custom made items to get the tonal balance correct. The resistors are all low inductance bifilar types, bespoke for FinkTeam and made with copper lead wire and low tolerance.

Finally, KIM sits at a slightly tilted angle upon its stainless steel stands. The rake ensures that the soundstage has “the correct height and size” when you are sat in a typical listening position, says Karl-Heinz Fink. Furthermore, the stand is said to be designed with minimal surfaces that could radiate resonances and is light enough not to store energy.

If you were wondering about the name, like the Borg, there is a Star Trek link. Initially, FinkTeam dubbed the new loudspeakers 'Canale Grande' due to the internal construction looking like a map of Venice. That later changed to KIM, after Star Trek: Voyager's Ensign Harry S. L. Kim. This friendly character suits the speaker's image of wanting to integrate into a situation rather than forcing others to “assimilate”.

The FinkTeam KIM will cost £8,900 in the UK and be available from August.

For more information, visit FinkTeam.