20/02/2026
We here at VAF have been very busy over the last 12 months. Fresh from finishing work on the latest (and multi award winning!) i93 MKV, we turned our attention to another very special member of the VAF Signature Series, the i66.
The i66 was actually the first Signature Series loudspeaker to be released, in the late 1990’s. (It later spawned the creation of the i93 when an i66 owner asked us, ‘can you throw another woofer on top of the i66 cabinet?’)
When we started throwing ideas around for the new i66 amongst the team, we knew that just doing a new tweak on the crossover to improve the performance a bit, along with maybe some new timber finishes, wasn’t going to cut it. VAF has always had the reputation of thoughtful, deeply considered speaker design with a strong focus on the time domain, with the goal of extracting otherworldly, true-to-life performance out of beautifully built speakers. We are not just another speaker company. And so, this new i66 had to show off what we are capable of. It had to not just equal, but FAR surpass any i66 we have ever designed before, and offer audio performance that outshines speakers costing double, triple the price.
12 months later and thousands of hours of discussion, design work, prototypes, and most importantly listening, we have done it. The best i66 we have EVER built.
So, how did we do it? Settle in with a nice cup of tea, as this is going to be a long one.
It is not just one element, it is all of the elements which has created something better than the sum of its parts. But let’s start with the drivers. We wanted to move the i66 away from just being the ‘little brother’ of the i93. We wanted it to stand on its own. So, we elected to not use our famed magnesium i93 drivers, and instead use SEAS Nextel-coated paper cone drivers. Just what the heck is Nextel? Well, if you ask Google, it will tell you that it is a specialised two-component, matte, and light absorbing paint that creates a unique, soft, suede-like texture on surfaces. For speaker cones, it is applied to the front and back of the cone along with the roll surround, in order to dampen any native resonances and minimise unwanted high-end harmonic content, for a smoother sound. We selected those drivers for their wonderfully smooth native response and high power handling. The drivers were then further modified by SEAS just for us, to our specifications. To pair with these new Nextel midrange drivers and woofers, we chose the famed SEAS ‘Crescendo’ soft dome tweeter, considered one of the best soft dome tweeters ever produced.
Next step was to integrate these into a newly designed cabinet and dial in the precise mechanical time alignment of the drivers. In order to facilitate this, we stepped out the lower half of the front baffle around 12mm, to align the woofer and midrange driver’s acoustic centres. We also completely redesigned the internal midrange chamber, removing any parallel surfaces to avoid internal destructive standing waves. To improve directivity and off-axis response, we chamfered the outside edge of the midrange section 45 degrees which also helped to avoid any nasty diffraction effects.
On to the heart and soul of the loudspeaker – the crossover. Several different types of crossover topologies were designed and tested during the 12-month development process, along with countless hours of listening. What we ended up with, is something extraordinary. Yes, it has a ridiculously flat frequency response (35 Hz- 20kHz +/- 1.5dB). But that is just the start. Where the magic lies, is its superb step response, along with its phase response – near linear in the critical midband area – something extremely hard to do with a passive loudspeaker. Both are also not achievable without perfect time alignment of the drivers.
The impedance curve is equally impressive, with the 6 ohm nominal i66 MKV providing a near-resistive load on a power amplifier, meaning it is easier to drive than ever.
This combined effort of driver selection, cabinet design and crossover design has resulted in extremely involving, accurate, smooth and natural music reproduction, completely devoid of any colouration whatsoever. The soundstage is as deep as it is wide, with instruments carved out in space with precision. Once you start listening to your music collection, you do not want to stop.
Pictured is our development ‘pre-production’ pair, sporting the serial numbers #100 and #101 – the numbers we always assign to development mules.
More cabinets are on their way, and as always will be available in beautiful timber finishes such as Tasmanian Blackwood, American Walnut, Feature Eucalypt and Australian Jarrah – expertly handcrafted by our friends at Pfitzner Furniture.
Pricing starts at $19,999 for a pair in Black Oak. Shipping to your door is FREE for all metro areas, Australia wide! We can also offer attractive trade-in deals with your current VAF speakers, to move up to the new i66 MKV.
If you live in NSW, ACT, QLD, NT, WA or TAS and fly to Adelaide to demo and choose to place an order, we will deduct the cost of your flights from the purchase price.
To book a demo, don’t hesitate to call us on 08 8363 9996 or email [email protected].
