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 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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
At first glance the Node Hylixa is a variation on loudspeakers we’ve seen from Bowers & Wilkins, Eclipse and a few others, an aerodynamic ‘head’ style cabinet with a pair of drivers at the front. The difference here is that not only is there a third driver in the Hylixa but it also has a […]
As John Simm of Audio Pinnacle explains it he went to the Munich High End audio show in May 2019 with the intention of finding products to complement his existing portfolio. He saw Audel sharing a stand with another company and was struck by the pleasing aesthetics of their loudspeakers. Only when he approached did […]
I first heard the then recently-launched Fyne brand at a breakaway show in Munich, staged in the upmarket Marriott hotel a few miles away from the main event at the MoC complex. It is a firm I was interested in since, in reality, it has its routes in Guy Fountain’s legendary Tannoy company which dates back […]