Fyne Audio F5E speakers The thought of a sub-£400 coaxial driver loudspeaker had me intrigued, but that’s the selling price of Fyne Audio’s latest model, a compact stand-mount two-way but featuring their Iso-Flare coaxial technology. Could a design at this level be any good, and were they wise to put their reputation on the line […]
Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature speakers Every five or so years Bowers & Wilkins revises its top flight 800 series models, this move is usually preceded by a Signature version of the current models which incorporates some of the upgrades that will be seen in the next version. A couple of years ago the […]
Elipson 402 Tribute speakers The French have always been a bit more outgoing when it comes to design, you only have to look at the Citroen DS or the creations of Philippe Starck to see that imagination thrives as well as cuisine in that part of the globe. The same is true of audio gear, […]
Acoustic Energy AE300.2 speakers You know you’re getting old when you recall hi-fi brand launches dating back to 1987, that was the year that Acoustic Energy started, in London. One of the founders, I recall, was a neighbour of Richard Branson who I ended up helping with his antenna array. At the time I had […]
Piega Premium 301 Gen2 loudspeakers You could be forgiven for thinking that Piega sounds like it should be based in either Spain or Italy, but in fact it’s a Swiss company, based in Horgen on the shores of Lake Zurich. Piega was founded back in 1986 by Kurt Scheuch and industrial designer Leo Greiner, who […]
Neat Iota 2 speakers The laws of physics underpin this industry in a way that is, for me at least, entirely reassuring. Regardless of how many times a manufacturer sneaks the word ‘quantum’ into a product description, it is fair to say that devices are bound by the restrictions that the rest of the planet […]
Elipson Planet L Performance speakers Following the success of its rather unusual looking Planet coaxial loudspeaker, French brand Elipson launched an improved version; Planet L has an audiophile filter and uprated internal cables. Now we have the even better Planet L Performance range which boasts an upgraded crossover network and new driver. But is it […]
Sonus faber Concertino G4 speakers The latest addition to Italian brand Sonus faber’s Concertino series is the G4, a two-way, standmount reflex design which come complete with matching stands. With a nod towards sustainable veganism, the G4 sports a patented, plant-based leather alternative from Italian start-up Ohoskin to wrap the wooden cabinets. The first 300 […]
Tannoy Prestige Autograph Mini-OW loudspeaker While they looked compact in the photograph, it was not until Tannoy’s Prestige Autograph Mini-OW loudspeakers arrived in the flesh that I appreciated just how compact. They are truly small-scale transducers. Front-on, the cabinet resembles that of an LS3/5A-sized box but their volume is less because of the triangular rather […]
Fyne Audio F701SP speakers With the news that Scottish brand Fyne Audio outgrew its factory and had to expand to larger premises, I was keen to try the latest stand-mount model from this burgeoning manufacturer. Boasting a dual-concentric driver with new HF waveguide, the F701SP also incorporates an overhauled crossover network and downward firing reflex […]
Perlisten R4b loudspeakers As a company, US-based Perlisten may only have been manufacturing its speakers since 2016, but it has enjoyed a growing reputation in home cinema for its THX Dominus certified speakers and subwoofers, designed to reproduce very low distortion in larger home cinema systems. It’s no coincidence that the same virtues have won […]
Q Acoustics 3030c speakers A new loudspeaker from Q Acoustics is something that’s become a talking point, especially now that the brand is approaching its twentieth anniversary and achieving worldwide recognition for its value-for-money loudspeakers. Among the newest products is the compact, two-way 3030c stand-mount which enters a crowded marketplace and was previewed at Munich […]