Launched at the last High End event to be staged in Munich, the 2019 show, the Micra III Excel is the latest addition to Italian specialist Diapason’s Classic Series. At the Bavarian event it was somewhat overshadowed by other announcements from this manufacturer, but I knew it was a model worthy of further investigation. And, […]
To my knowledge PMC is the only audio manufacturer of any repute to have used Townshend Seismic bases under its loudspeakers at a hi-fi show. It’s a brave move given the tendency for the audience at such events to ascribe disproportionate benefits to ancillary components. But PMC clearly understand the improvements that genuine isolation can […]
To have the SCM7 two-way bookshelf as an entry model in an expansive range speaks volumes about ATC’s ability to create natural-sounding loudspeakers which are not only British designed but also British built and based on their own, proprietary drive units. This company has gained a formidable reputation in both professional and hi-fi circles, and […]
The IMF 100 is an interesting project for Falcon Acoustics. A few years back owner Jerry Bloomfield decided to build an LS3/5A, the classic BBC monitor that has been around for years but which in Jerry’s opinion hadn’t been done properly because KEF were no longer making the drive units that were designed for it. […]
There is nothing quite like a German Physiks loudspeaker either in or beyond the audio world, the DDD driver with its omnidirectional dispersion remains distinctive and radical decades after its introduction. The first example of the Dicks dipole driver (DDD) was produced by German Physiks in 1992 but the development of this driver design dates […]
Another under-rated Polish loudspeaker brand has Trevor Butler enraptured by its evolving dynamics as he puts Sveda Audio’s active Blipo monitors through their paces. The four boxes which arrived from Sveda Audio filled my exterior porch but thankfully Greg from UK distributor G Point Audio was on hand to help me unpack and assemble these […]
Italian heritage, crafted in the Czech Republic, finds Trevor Butler sampling a compact two-way which really gets the feet tapping. Xavian is a company which has interested me for a while, and whose Classic Series visually resemble the BBC-style monitor loudspeakers I so adore, especially now that it has launched this compact infinite baffle, or sealed […]
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 […]
The reincarnation tale of a genuinely classic loudspeaker reads almost like a thriller. Two retired men started a project to bring back the BBC developed LS3/5a loudspeaker, originally designed for nearfield monitoring in mobile studios to judge voice recording during interviews. That little monitor somehow survived all others and in the Far East it has […]
Denmark is famous for many things, apart from Vikings, and not least some discerning high-end hi-fi, including Jern loudspeakers. Their latest model is the 12XF and, as Trevor Butler discovers [in this worldwide scoop review], good things do indeed come in small packages. To save you dashing to the conclusion first, which is what I […]
It doesn’t seem all that long ago that PMC launched the twenty5 range of loudspeakers that form the entry level in its extensive catalogue, yet at the Bristol Show in February (possibly the only hi-fi show that we’ll see this year) they revealed the twenty5i range that is due to replace it. The changes aren’t […]
I have been aware of the Swiss loudspeakers brand Piega for a few years now but had never previously had the opportunity to hear a pair, so jumped at the chance to review the Coax 311, a handsome stand (or shelf) mount model, which sits in the second tier of Piega’s hierrachy, below the Master […]