News about Audio visual/Hi-fi and audio/Hi-fi and AV speakers:
Review: Wharfedale Diamond 10.0
The original Wharfedale Diamond appeared in the 1980s and this really is the 10th incarnation, though the name has come to denote the whole range.
As tiny as ever, the 10.0 is the smallest in the range. It presents a smart face to the world, especially without the grille fitted, thanks to the polished-metal surround to both drivers against the piano black front panel. A wide variety of veneers is available.
Review: Roth OLi 10
One of the most obviously miniature of the speakers around, the Roth OLi 10 actually has the same overall width as the Q Acoustics 2010, but presents a narrower face to the world as the front panel is only 130mm across; the sides are tastefully bowed outwards.
Review: Q Acoustics 2010
Q Acoustics is a recently formed house brand of Armour Home Electronics, the home of QED, Goldring, Alphason and many others. The speakers are all at, or around the budget end of the market and are aimed equally at sound-only and video applications – though the centre speaker, for instance, is clearly a little more specific.
Review: Cambridge Audio S30
We know Cambridge Audio as a manufacturer of electronics, with some tasty mid-range offerings; but speakers? We’d missed that one, principally because the available models are all deeply budget offerings and as such are unlikely to appear in our normal Tests.
Review: Spendor A3
Spendor’s baby SA1 sub-miniature has already proved quite a hit, commercially and critically, so it’s hardly surprising that the company should use some of its elements as the basis for the A3 compact floorstander.
Review: Rega RS7
The RS7 sits at the top end of Rega’s loudspeaker range. We first reviewed these speakers in 2009, however the price per pair has increased since then from £1,469 to £1,685 (partly thanks to VAT changes) for the regular cherry or black wood-veneered versions; high-gloss black or white are also available at extra cost.
Review: ProAc Studio 140 Mk2
A long-established British speaker brand with roots back in the 1970s, ProAc has only made the occasional appearance on the Hi-Fi Choice review roster. That’s mainly because the company has long been primarily export-oriented, with representation in more than 50 countries worldwide.
Review: Neat Motive 1
A well-established operation, Neat’s reputation was founded on a small, but very communicative standmount called the Petite. The product portfolio has expanded considerably since then; the four stereo pairs in the Motive range consisting of three ultra-compact floorstanders and a standmount.
Review: Roth OLi 50
Roth is a youngster in audio terms. From its founding in 2007, the company has produced a wide range of iPod ancillaries and lifestyle products, and has now moved into loudspeakers.
We have previously reviewed a full 5.1 system of Roth OLi 3‘s, and although they were not without their issues, they would suit a home cinema setup well for the money.
Review: Epos Epic 5
Back in the early 1990′s Epos did rather well out of its ES range of loudspeakers. Well thought out and well designed, the ES models were distinctively finished with a wood cabinet and black front panel.
Nearly twenty years later the Epic 5, tested here, has more than a little of the ES models in its aesthetic. Like other examples of the current trend for revisiting past designs, the Epic 5 is very much of the moment, internally.
Review: Image Audio IA 8/5/C
I cannot begin to understand those people for whom actual visible speaker cabinets – enclosures with loudspeaker drivers in them – are anathema. Personally, I love huge veneered boxes, shiny piano black monoliths and tweeters in sexy tapering tubes stuck on the top.
Review: Teufel Columa 100
Compact bookshelf speakers are all well and good if you don’t have much space, but for bigger, bolder home cinema thrills you’ve no choice but to make room for a decent set of floorstanders. While that would normally mean upping your budget, Teufel’s new Columa 100 speaker system can be yours for a wallet-friendly price.
Review: Cambridge Audio Minx S325
At first glance, the Minx S325 looks no more remarkable than the speakers you get with an all-in-one home cinema system made by various Korean or Japanese mass market brands. But we need to look West rather than East in seeking a comparison: think Bose rather than Sony or LG and you get the idea.
Review: Tannoy Revolution DC6T
The Tannoy Revolution DC6T is an impressive newcomer dual-concentric full range driver, with a 150mm bass-only unit (similar in specs to its sister product, the Signature DC6T). All this is contained within a compact 30-litre, rear ported enclosure and the detailing throughout is excellent.
Review: Pioneer S71 Package
Pioneer’s efforts as a speaker manufacturer can often be overlooked in favour of its more widely recognised efforts in electronics and the great – if doomed – Kuro plasma project.
Despite this, the Japanese giant has produced a number of interesting designs over the years and, in both construction and performance, its high-end TAD models are on par with most rival high-end speakers.
Review: Canton Vento 800 Series
German loudspeaker brand Canton was one heck of a startup, having hit the deck running back in 1972, with 35 folks all busily making what they knew to be terribly posh speakers. Meanwhile, Acoustic Energy, as I recall, started with just three blokes.
Review: Monitor Audio BX5
Monitor Audio has been producing the Bronze series, its entry-level full-size speaker range, for some years now. And the latest update takes the line-up from BR to BX status and features a full choice of standmounts, floorstanders and supporting multichannel equipment.
Review: Dynaudio DM3/7
One of several ranges from this upmarket speaker brand, the ‘plain-Jane’ DM-series loudspeakers are primarily intended to combine Dynaudio’s core technologies within cost-effective suits of clothes.
The DM3/7 is certainly no exception, being a straight two-way that combines two 170mm bass/mid drivers operating in parallel and a 28mm doped fabric dome tweeter inside a decidedly plain and understated enclosure.
Review: XTZ 99 Series
I was once lucky enough to go to Sweden to make a TV show about tractor pulling. Blokes go along, eat smoked eels, get drunk with true determination, then hoot and holler while mad tractors fling mud around, and some announcer shouts: ‘Fuuuull Puuuull!’
Review: Jamo D500 THX Select2
To be fully THX approved, every single aspect of the system that plays a movie has to meet the THX criteria – and pay a fee to wear the coveted badge. The certification on the Jamo D500/D500 SUR speakers is proudly reproduced in their printed manuals.
Review: EMP Tek Impression 7.1
US brand EMP Tek was founded as recently as 2007, but was set up by audio boffins with over 30 years’ experience, designing speakers for esteemed names such as ParaSound, McIntosh and JBL.
They’ve been brought to the UK by distributor Aldous Systems, which has set the ball rolling with the Impression series. Although this range includes four off-the-peg packages, this 7.1-channel system has been pieced together from the individual components.
Review: Bowers and Wilkins CM8
Bowers and Wilkins currently has four main ranges of hi-fi speakers: the budget-priced 600 series; the super-slim, metal-jacket XTs, the upmarket 800 Diamonds and the CM-series, one of which (the sensibly priced CM8) is exclusive to Hi-Fi Choice this month.
Review: Sharp HT-SB400
Sharp’s skinny HT-SB400 soundbar looks like the ideal upgrade for your TV. It’s a smart-looking system and only slightly longer than your average 40-inch TV, so it would suit anything from a 37-inch to 46-inch set.
It’s shallow too, with brackets and screws included for easy wall-mounting. Throw in a nifty credit card-sized remote control and you have a very convenient TV upgrade.
Review: Samsung HW-C450
Samsung’s flashy HW-C450 soundbar is designed to complement its own glossy black TVs with glowing touch-sensitive controls and a narrow profile.
There’s no grill so, hopefully, you won’t mind the drive units being on display. What’s more, Samsung has solved the problem of trailing cables with a subwoofer that operates wirelessly.
Review: Panasonic SC-HTB10
Panasonic’s unassuming black monolith doesn’t look much, but it’s one of the most sophisticated offering HDMI inputs for greater convenience and signal quality.
And instead of a separate sub, you have two dedicated 8cm woofers firing forwards and back against the wall to deliver the bass channel.
Review: Tannoy DC8
One of the oldest names in British hi-fi, Tannoy is currently part of the Danish TC Group and is probably best known for its unique Dual Concentric single-chassis two-way drive unit technology, which first appeared way back in 1948.
Review: Spendor SP2/3R2
Spendor arrived on the scene at the beginning of the 1970s, bringing a strong BBC heritage along with a number of interesting innovations that its competitors arguably didn’t fully appreciate. One of the most significant among these was a radical approach to enclosure design.
Review: Dynaudio Contour S 1.4
The Dynaudio Contour speaker ranges have occupied Dynaudio’s middle ground for many years. We previously reviewed ancestors of this Contour S 1.4: a Contour 1.3 way back in 1993 and its MkII successor in 2001.
But the latest S-type variations with their shield shaped metal front driver mounting panels look considerably different from those earlier Contours.
Review: Audiovector Ki 3 Signature
The Ki-series is relatively new and also relatively inexpensive by Audiovector’s standards. The Ki 3 Signature are the sole floorstanding models in a range that also includes a standmount and home cinema oriented variations.
Review: Bowers and Wilkins MM-1
The basic size of the Bowers and Wilkins MM-1 (10cm square by 17cm high) is no great surprise, and the look doesn’t give much away.
The first hint that this is something a little clever is the inclusion of a USB cable: yes, this speaker system is computer-oriented to the point of having a USB digital input, plus a single analogue input on a mini-jack connector.
Review: Panasonic BFT800EBK
Since the advent of flat TVs, manufacturers have been coming up with audio solutions that fit the new ‘hang on the wall’ ethos. But few, if any, have done so as comprehensively as this system.
The centrepiece is essentially a long black bar, into which Panasonic has crammed two stereo speakers, a Blu-ray player capable of playing back the latest 3D discs, an FM tuner and even an iPod/iPhone dock.
Review: Klipsch HD Theatre 500
The popularity of this type of compact speaker package has mostly been driven by the switch from CRTs to flatscreen TVs.
For, while the case for flatscreen TVs is overwhelming on most counts, sound quality has suffered because even large flatpanels don’t lend themselves to good acoustic design.
Review: KEF T-Series T205
KEF’s new T-Series range of home cinema speakers are definitely a sign of the times. They’ve been designed with a clear purpose in mind – to be an aesthetic match to newer, thinner, flatscreen TVs, enabling buyers to couple their hi-def movies with authentic 5.1 sound without their living room looking like a branch of Sevenoaks.
Review: Monitor Audio Bronze BX Series
Way back in the mists of home cinema history, when Dolby Pro-Logic’s centre channel was a marvellous thing and LaserDisc, in analogue, was the best AV source around, I got my chance as an AV reviewer. This was because traditional hi-fi dudes spurned multichannel, and I was involved in another field of audio that loved lots of speakers.
Review: Acoustic Energy Neo V2
Neo V2 is a pimped-up version of Acoustic Energy’s original Neo system, which is named after Neodymium, the material from which its driver magnets are made.
Neo Mk 1 was the first budget speaker range to use this high quality, low-distortion material, and its implementation on this new version is still big news given Neo V3′s invitingly affordable price tag.
Review: BK Electronics XXLS400DF
This subwoofer has a classic sweet-sounding, ‘hi-fi’ analogue class AB amplifier in its guts, plus the suddenly trendy driver from Peerless called the XXLS 12. (The very same driver was used in the XTZ subwoofer).
Review: Canton Vento 820
Despite a number of serious attempts, the majority of German loudspeaker brands have hitherto had very little impact upon the UK marketplace.
Canton, however, certainly has the muscle to change that, via its newly appointed UK distributor Computers Unlimited. The Canton catalogue might be exclusively speaker-oriented, but it’s no less comprehensive. The hi-fi section alone comprises no fewer than eight distinct ranges and more than 60 models and the Ventos are close to the top.
Review: Monitor Audio Apex
Most people wouldn’t expect to pay over £2K for a compact speaker system, but then Monitor Audio’s Apex is anything but average.
It’s a slice of pure audio luxury, with each speaker housed in a precision-engineered enclosure and furnished with some of the best driver tech Monitor Audio has to offer.
Review: EB Acoustics EB2
A new name to most readers, EB Acoustics is no relation to PMC (which lists an EB1i in its product portfolio), but is actually part of Worcester-based Arcaydis.
Unlike its parent company, the two EB Acoustics models are only available direct from the manufacturer, controversially bypassing the traditional dealer and his demo room and hence saving a significant chunk of money.
Review: Mission MX5
Mission has a long-held reputation for producing keenly priced entry-level speakers and its brand new MX series pitches in to this hotly contested area. The six-strong range includes three standmount and three floorstanding models, of which the MX5 is the largest and costliest.
Review: Velodyne CHT-15Q
I love a purist. When I buy kit I want it to be the offering of those obsessive designers, who create trends that get the ultimate kudos of being copied. That’s why I love Velodyne – for its approach and its purity.
Review: Stealth Acoustics LR Series 7.2
There are plenty of ‘almost’ invisible systems about, but Stealth Acoustics has produced a range of flat panel speakers which cover all ranges and can all be flush-fitted into a wall.
Admittedly, all this technology costs. Not only for the product, but also for the installation, which could cost about £80 per hole in a stud wall and £150 for solid brick. Multiply this by the number of speakers to get a rough idea.
Review: Eclipse Time Domain MK2 5.1
This is not the first time we’ve auditioned Eclipse’s speakers, but there have been changes made to the system, in particular the TD712 main/satellite speaker, which demand a new look. Plus, this the first time that a complete 5.1 channel system based on the latest and greatest models in the range have all been available in one place at one time.
Review: Teufel T500
Teufel is by far the best-known exponent of direct-sell loudspeakers and has been steadily raising its profile in the UK over the last couple of years with great models such as its Columa 900 5.1 surround sound speaker system and Ultima 800.
Review: Totem Sttaf
Superficially, at least, there’s nothing particularly unusual about the Sttaf, with little to distinguish it from, say, the Teufel Ultima 7, or Kudos X2.
