Loudspeakers come in many materials but not often concrete. In Germany high end audio gets extreme and in Weimar a company is building concrete loudspeakers. Heavy and beautifully made they have real designer appeal and real mass. Investigating the Concrete Audio N1 speakers at home was not an option, they weigh 80 kilos each and […]
René waxes lyrical about a giant slaying, flax powered slice of affordable high end with a totally new Focal sound. Over a year ago I listened to and greatly enjoyed the Focal Aria 948 loudspeakers, the biggest model in the Aria range. The Aria 905 is the smallest speaker that Focal has made with a […]
Somehow I have never managed to experience one of the great BBC loudspeaker designs like the LS3/5a or the LS5/9. Although I have heard many speakers that claim to come close to these originals from the likes of Harbeth, Rogers and Spendor. So when the chance to lay my hands on a pair from a […]
Ask most people the question: “Does size matter?” And the answer will be: “Yes it matters; loudspeakers should be small, preferably invisible”. The sonically sensitive however, have no concern about size at all and could live happily with anything from a Bose Acoustimass to a Focal Grand Utopia. But to deal with domestic circumstances we […]
Look around any audio shop or AV outlet in any country and you find loudspeakers all over the place. In all sizes, from very cheap to extremely expensive, some are painted while a lot are veneered or look like they are covered in real wood. So why in the world would anyone start another brand […]
The moment four talented minds decide to get together to develop an active loudspeaker system, based on all the knowledge they have accrued, you expect something special. Grimm Audio is a Dutch company established by Eelco Grimm who is experienced in building studios, Guido Tent of Tentlabs is well known for his D/A converters, Bruno […]
When I discovered that the Cambridge Audio Aero speakers were equipped with a BMR driver my interest was more than usually piqued. This type of driver is a pretty rare beast, you can find it in Naim’s Ovator speakers and on one other speaker that I know of, so the fact that Cambridge have put […]
Hanging loudspeakers on a wire from the ceiling is nothing new. Neither is the use of reflectors under or above driver cones to create an omnidirectional sound pattern. But a combination of both techniques in one design is different. NACSound is the only company offering these sorts of speakers. Originally based in Italy, now stationed […]
Some things will never change and we have little need to alter them. An instrument played in 1977, the year Dudley Harwood started his loudspeaker company, will sound the same in 2013 given the same room and the same conditions. So, if we were able to reproduce the instrument plausibly on a Harbeth loudspeaker then, […]
After several visits to the Blumenhofer Acoustics company deep in the Bavarian forests, I finally got the chance to listen to their Genuin FS 2 horn loudspeakers in my own living room. Size and weight were always a problem since I live on the third floor of an apartment building without an elevator, but we […]
Most audio enthusiasts are aware that Acoustic Energy made its name with the AE1 in 1988 but fewer are aware that this classic speaker has been transformed into a luxury model with high gloss ebony wood panels. Changes have also been made inside the box and therefore time has come to see what the AE1 […]
Eminent Technology first came to my attention with a parallel tracking, air bearing tonearm which is apparently still available in limited numbers. So it was surprising to discover that they are now a speaker company, something that became apparent when I was asked to review the floorstanding LFT-8B for another publication a couple of years […]