Bowers & Wilkins 702 S3 Signature shines bright
Bowers & Wilkins 702 S3 Signature Bowers & Wilkins have established a working pattern over the last decade or so that sees certain models from their upper ranges upgraded to Signature status after they have been on the market for a while. We saw this most recently with the 801 Signature and this year the […]
Ophidian Ffion: dare to be different
Ophidian Ffion speakers As a reviewer who has form for turning the spotlight on less well-known brands, I find a particular pathology often on display in audio dealer showrooms really quite fascinating. Say a customer auditions three contending models of speakers; among them is one that isn’t the creature of a big brand A or […]
Art Emotion Carbon 6: fast, compelling, well balanced
Art Emotion Carbon 6 loudspeakers The latest range of loudspeakers from Art may only have been in production for a matter of months, but they owe their existence to an ongoing quest by the company to refine its innovative cabinet designs and choice of drive units. This has resulted in the current comprehensive line-up of […]
Rega Aya: bargain speakers of the moment
Rega Aya speakers After decades of reviewing audio products, I cannot believe that this is the first Rega design to pass through my hands: the British company is long-standing and has a loyal following. It was therefore with more than the usual excitement of receiving a new item that I unboxed the floorstanding Aya loudspeakers, […]
Vivid Moya M1: everything, all the time
Vivid Audio Moya M1 loudspeakers The Moya is by far and away the largest loudspeaker that Vivid have ever made, in fact it’s one of the biggest speakers that anyone has ever made outside of the wild world of horns. Each one is made up of six parts; a plinth, four bass cabinets weighing 60kg […]
Diapason Ares Excel: tiny towers of power
Diapason Ares Excel speakers Having revelled in what several bookshelf Diapason loudspeakers from Italy can achieve, I was intrigued to note an inexpensive floorstander in the catalogue, the only other one being a £55,000 design and (way) over my pay grade. The Ares Excel is probably the narrowest floorstanding loudspeaker I have ever used (5 […]
Fyne Audio F703SP: more is more
Fyne Audio F703SP loudspeakers Surface area equals pi times the square of the radius is one of the equations that imposes immutable constraints on passive loudspeakers. Forgive the maths refresher, but the size of the driver or drivers has an effect on the lowest bass notes a speaker can produce, together with other parameters the […]
Audio Physic Codex reveals hidden depths
Audio Physic Codex loudspeakers I last reviewed Audio Physic speakers some twenty-odd years ago. I remember that this German company had novel ways of solving problems, and the speakers were so good I was sad to see them go. In the intervening years their presence had all but faded away in the UK, so they […]
Oephi Immanence 2.5: the speed of sound
Oephi Immanence 2.5 loudspeakers Reviewing Oephi’s standmount Transcendence 2 earlier in the year gave me a taste for the fast, dynamic and frankly thrilling sound of this Danish cable maker’s loudspeakers, it didn’t take long before a request was put in for something bigger. That bigger speaker is the Immanence 2.5, which is not the […]
Morel Avyra 633: big sound for a small price
Morel Avyra 633 loudspeakers Having enjoyed so much the new Morel two-way Avyra 622 stand-mounts I was very excited at the prospect of trying the larger Avyra floorstanding loudspeakers. I had heard them in the Editor’s room and was impressed by what they could do on the end of some pretty heavyweight electronics that he […]
Neat Elite Classic: speakers to go
Neat Elite Classic loudspeaker In 2022, Neat launched the first model in its Classic range with a new version of the legendary shoebox-sized Petite. I enjoyed what this mighty mini could do and was not surprised that the giant-killing little speaker became an immediate success. This led to demand for a floorstanding companion for the […]
Acoustic Energy unleashes Corinium
Acoustic Energy Corinium loudspeakers The name Corinium derives from way back in the day, when the Romans were in power and used it for what is now Cirencester,. Apparently it was a significant place at the time, a Londinium of the west according to those in the know. Acoustic Energy have been in and around […]