Proac Response DB3 loudspeakers Up until the DB3s arrived it had been several decades since I used a Proac loudspeaker; in fact, it would have been around 1997 when I began freelance work at a radio station which used the highly-respected Proac Studio to make promotions and commercials. Having lived only with BBC designs until […]
Compact subwoofer that delivers serious bass without breaking the bank
Revival Audio Atalante 5 loudspeakers French company Revival Audio may be a freshly launched brand, but the two main protagonists have decades of experience in the audio industry behind them. Principle designer Daniel Emonts has an impressive portfolio, being part of design teams responsible for many acclaimed models, in particular from Focal and Dynaudio. Strategic […]
This is the fourth iteration of Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin sound system, officially announced in October 2021 – almost 20 years to the day after Apple introduced its very first iPod. Why is that significant? Some of you may remember the first Zeppelin, launched in 2007, represented a new category of audio product that was specifically made […]
The Italians have always had a certain flair when it comes to things cultural and artistic; from da Vinci to Michelangelo, Monteverdi to Vivaldi, Versace to Enzo Ferrari. And that extends to contemporary loudspeaker design as well, as we shall see. At various hi-fi shows around the world, I have been wooed by the sounds […]
Celebrations are always exciting and we have a double one in the shape of Triangle’s 40th anniversary two-way standmount speaker, the £1,500 Comète. It has been created to mark the founding, by Renaud de Vergnette, of the brand and is a very special edition of a model which has survived 25 years of constant production. Rather […]
It hardly seems like two years since my review of the Audel Magika Mk2 loudspeakers was published and they were awarded a well-deserved 5 stars. So when John Simm, the UK distributor of Audel, asked me if I would like to hear the Magika’s smaller sibling, the Sonika Mk2, I was more than pleased to […]
For French loudspeaker brand Triangle, it all began in 1980 with the high-end 1180 floor-standing model followed a year later by the CX2, famed for having its tweeter outside the main cabinet and appearing like something of an afterthought. That was then and, still based in its purpose-built facility in Soissons, the company has grown […]
If a new product is exciting news for a reviewer then one from a brand-new company is even more so. Coppice Audio was officially launched at the UK Hi-Fi Show in Daventry last year where they showed pre-production samples of the floorstanding X2 and the two-way standmount X1 on test here. The most striking thing […]
Having heard loudspeakers from Finnish manufacturer Amphion at various shows around the world, I was very excited to be loaned a pair to try at home for long-term evaluation. The two-way bookshelf Argon1 was a model I enjoyed over many weeks and was particularly struck by its ease of placement, impressive bass extension from a […]
2021 may not have been the year that many of us had hoped for, there was only one hi-fi show in the UK and not many more elsewhere, but that hasn’t stopped manufacturers both large and small who have produced some absolutely outstanding audio components in that time. Our best of the year round up […]
Back in April of this year The Ear published my review of the Kudos Cardea C20 floorstanding loudspeakers. To save you the trouble of trawling that far back, I’ll summarise my findings – I loved them. Fast forward to September and I was offered the chance to hear the smallest of the current Cardea family, […]