Vintage speaker ID request and Wharfdale question please

KiM3Ce

KiM3Ce

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First, this looks familiar and I think it is British:

1-t.jpg
I have a vague recollection that someone made this to compete with the Quad electrostatic. Please give my memory a nudge!

2. Here is a photo of a Wharfdale speaker from an upcoming estate sale. I have no affiliation. I will be posting it in Dollars and Sense. The seller lists the model as SFB. I'm just curious, is that Sand Filled Box? It looks more like an open-baffle design. Alas, the sale lists only one. Thanks!
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From the article:

SFB stands for Sand Filled Baffle. Briggs discussed with Peter Walker of QUAD on the sonic merits of various materials – slate, marble, metal – but finally dismissed anything weighing above his age, then 67, so as to facilitate heaving the SFB/3 in and out of his car! The success of this design is in no small part due to the baffle construction, as
Briggs explained:

“…because sand makes the baffle inert it effectively damps all vibration. There is no cabinet resonance because there is no cabinet of the ordinary type.”

Thanks kfa888!
 
Briggs was very impressed by the Quad Electrostatic, but wondered if its merits might be the lack of enclosure as much as the outstanding transient response of the electrostatic elements. So he built the SFBs, using dynamic drivers (a 12 inch, 8 inch, and 3 inch tweeter) and the sand filled baffle technic of his better box enclosures to make sure even the baffle didn't resonate. There were several versions - the original is seen in the first picture, the aesthetics of which seem peculiar to me and there was one that was sold in the US with a twelve(ish) inch frame around it with cut outs on top for the top firing Super Three tweeter, which I have.
They sound very nice, and set up properly, disappear into the room. They are more airy and romantic than the Quads, with less instantaneous transient response and not as good imaging, but the bass goes lower and they can play louder without any fuss.
They are also bigger than the Quads, which aren't exactly small themselves, and they need to be out from the wall and angled, and judging from my experience, they really need a good size room. Which is probably related to why the series didn't last long into the stereo era - two would eat up an awful lot of real estate in many people's living rooms. Certainly the don't suit my room.
 
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