An offshoot of a better known speaker brand, the newest floorstander from 5degrees finds Trevor Butler enraptured by the finesse of a ribbon tweeter that he just can’t stop enjoying. This is my fifth, or possibly sixth attempt to commit this review to print. Why? Because before each one I thought I would just reacquaint […]
I have happy memories of Acoustic Energy from its inception back in 1987 and the AE1 mini monitors which founder Steve Tayler brought to me as a young, enthusiastic reviewer. It was a product that quickly became iconic. He was an Ealing neighbour of Virgin’s Richard Branson and I soon found myself helping the airline […]
I first met Kevin Scott in my early days at Hi-Fi Choice, he was at least as keen on valves and vinyl as I was and selling Audio Innovations amplifiers with Snell speakers from a house in Nottingham. When Snell stopped making its classic valve friendly designs Kevin was left needing a speaker that was […]
When Kudos launched the original Titan (now dubbed 808) it was a big step for the company. The biggest and most ambitious loudspeaker that Derek Gilligan had designed, it looked like that would remain the brand’s flagship, the only one of its kind. But then it spawned a smaller model, the 707, and then the […]
Once a loudspeaker company gets to a certain size it can start to use the tech developed for its most advanced designs in the more affordable ranges at the opposite end of the scale. It’s not exactly an economy of scale more an economy of research, it takes time and money to come up with […]
Having visited the Diapason headquarters a couple of years ago I discovered first-hand the commitment involved in each and every pair of hand-made speakers from this renowned Italian brand. So, when the opportunity arose to look closely at the new Adamantes V two-way bookshelf model, I jumped at the chance. After a brief listen at this year’s […]
Launched last year, the 607 is the smallest and most affordable model in Bowers & Wilkins’ latest 600 Series. The line-up includes seven designs in total, including subwoofers and a centre channel for surround sound set-ups. Straight out of the box and even before they’re wired and fired, the 607s impress. Smartly turned out with […]
Walk into any British audio retail emporium and ask the people running it what they don’t need any more of, and I’ll wager that at least 8 out of 10 will say “Another loudspeaker brand”. You can see their point. I bet that almost everyone reading this could count into double figures the number of […]
The Q Acoustics Concept 300 is a revolutionary loudspeaker. Not because of the cabinet or the drivers or even the tripod stand, although that is radical from a design perspective. It’s a game changer because this is the first loudspeaker that incorporates a damped spring isolation system in the world ever. For a decade or […]
In the interests of full disclosure I need to preface what you are about to read with a couple of facts about me. First, as you can see in my bio on this website, I am a Harbeth owner, and have been since 2014. My main loudspeakers are Harbeth Super HL5+ 40th Anniversary editions and I also […]
Entering a crowded market place, French brand Elipson goes head-on to compete with some stiff competition with its latest two-way stand-mount. Trevor Butler takes a listen to see if there’s any chance of entente cordiale. When the single carton containing a pair of these French speakers arrived I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive. […]
There are several ways to start a loudspeaker company, the classic approach is to toil away in the shed until you develop a loudspeaker that sounds great and hopefully appeals to other music lovers as well, build a few pairs and try to sell them into the trade and slowly build up a customer base. […]