R&D Stories: Developing an Electrostatic Transducer

This article discusses how Warwick Audio Technologies designed a completely new type of transducer for high-end electrostatic headphones using the latest materials, validated with computer simulation tools from Comsol. The design process for the High-Precision Electrostatic Laminate (HPEL) transducer was first available in the outstanding Sonoma Model One, the world’s first headphones to use HPEL audio transducers, and all subsequent Warwick products, now expanding also to automotive applications. This article was originally published in audioXpress, April 2018.

Warwick Acoustics, the company behind the multi-award-winning Sonoma Model One electrostatic headphones has launched the APERIO, its new flagship integrated headphone system. Launched at the 2019 High End show in Munich, Germany, the APERIO headphone system introduces the unique Balanced-Drive High Precision Electrostatic Laminate (BD-HPEL), which takes Warwick's original HPEL to a whole new level, complemented with a completely new electronics unit where nothing is missing. The whole system costs US $24,000 but sounds like a million dollars.