Hardware Reviews

Neat Momentum JS: simply delicious speakers

Neat Acoustics Momentum JS speaker review https://the-ear.net

Neat Acoustics Momentum JS speakers

A new loudspeaker from Neat Acoustics is always something I get excited about and none more so when it’s a two-way that draws on the company’s top-of-the range Ultimatum range. The Momentum Jet Series is born, of which the Momentum JS stand-mount is the only bookshelf model.

Neat Acoustics

In rural Teesdale, northern England, Neat have been creating loudspeakers for over 30 years. They are hand-crafted and, rather than slavishly following historic design principles, owner/designer Bob Surgeoner uses his knowledge and love of music to create hi-fi loudspeakers that ‘communicate’ with the listener. Thus, extensive listening rather than merely following frequency response plots, impedance or distortion curves is what makes a Neat loudspeaker what it is. Crossovers are generally minimal, a far cry from the heavily populated circuit boards found in some designs.

The development of a Neat product such as the Momentum JS invariably involves hundreds of hours of listening tests. The Neat listening room is the starting point, though a new design must prove itself in a variety of different rooms and systems before it is signed off for production. This unusual approach also involves listening to many different types of music and allowing the music to govern the tuning and voicing of the loudspeaker – to the exclusion of almost all other criteria.

Neat Acoustics Momentum JS speaker review https://the-ear.net

Few hi-fi brands feature an in-house recording studio and yet, at Neat, it allows for bespoke recordings to be made, providing a reference point for the research and development work. A huge variety of musical instruments is to hand, including piano, pump organ, harp, double bass, synthesisers, and a range of electric and acoustic guitars (Bob plays guitar) as well as other stringed instruments. High-resolution recordings are created and instantly played back in the listening room.

Design

With the new range initially comprising two models, one standmount and one floorstander, the Momentum Jet speakers are based on the company’s flagship Ultimatum range which have received high acclaim in the many markets Neat supports worldwide. The main changes from the Ultimatum models are the use of MDF cabinets here instead of the considerably more costly Finnish birch-ply, plus substitution of the dual 25mm soft dome/EMIT super-tweeter arrangement with the Jet AMT tweeter.

The bass-mid drive unit in the Momentum JS has been carried over from the top-line designs, along with the distinctive decoupled sub-baffle which helps reduce the effects of cabinet resonance. Both models also feature the Ultimatum’s hallmark Isobaric bass loading technique which aims to extended bass response with well-defined low frequencies.

Neat Acoustics Momentum JS speaker review https://the-ear.net

The Momentum JS is essentially a slightly more compact and simplified version of the Ultimatum XLS (£7,755). The front baffle, which is coupled to the cabinet via a polyethylene membrane, houses the tweeter and an Ultimatum type 170mm drive unit handling bass and midrange frequencies. Inside, mounted behind the main drive unit, is another identical unit. The space between these units is sealed, in isobaric configuration. The rear port is a low-Q type, which also incorporates an acoustic filter to restrict airflow and give greater control to bass frequencies.

The crossover is hard wired, with point-to-point connections to maximise integrity. The components are of premium audiophile quality and include high-voltage polypropylene capacitors and low-loss air-cored inductors. Neat have created the Momentum JS to be easily accommodated in small rooms, yet they also see it as able to fill larger spaces with the ease of a large floorstanding model.

The Momentum JS review samples were finished in an exquisite ebony macassar which is a man-made veneer, manufactured by crushing up bits of discarded wood and then pressing it all flat and staining it. So, all very eco friendly. A smart, gloss finish is to be added to the finish options soon.

Set-up

A single pair of binding posts per speaker make connection quick and I began with the Hegel H190 streaming integrated amplifier as a mid-ground companion. Described as ‘bookshelf’ loudspeakers their depth makes stands a better option and a pair of open, wooden frames from Bavaria’s Tontraeger did the job.

Neat Acoustics Momentum JS speaker review https://the-ear.net
In-room, nearfield plots: on-axis (red) and 15 deg off-axis (green)

Very little toe-in was needed thanks to the speaker’s excellent off-axis response as revealed in some in-room nearfield measurements. These also highlighted a mild dip in the presence region (around 4kHz) which Neat explain is intentional. It’s the consequence of first/second-order crossover design which causes a phase anomaly at the actual crossover point. The design choice being that the overall benefits of a low-order crossover outweigh this mild response error. I have to say that I prefer this approach to the often adopted ‘in your face’ presence region boost which puts performers rather unnaturally in the listener’s lap, to my mind, and I commend Neat for the choice made here. The designer’s aim is to ensure that the sound does not become a little dark and recessed and the choice will be favourable to less-expensive electronics that might lack warmth.

Just as the listening panel were assembling, the brand-new Cambridge Audio EXA100 (£2,000) integrated amp with onboard DAC arrived and was substituted for part of the session. That these Neats worked so well with electronics at this level says a lot about both the amp and the transducers. If anything, the Cambridge was a mite more open sounding on some material and Neat say that they have noticed how amplifiers with very high damping-factors, such as Hegel, can sound slightly stilted.

First impressions

Using the Momentum JS for several days in my system I was already acclimatised by the time the listening panel came. My immediate thoughts were how close to the back wall I could place them without the rear reflex port causing any issues, its output clearly very well-controlled thanks to the use of an acoustic filter.

Neat Acoustics Momentum JS speaker review https://the-ear.net

Sonically, this custom version of the Elac AMT tweeter is just a joy to listen to and its impossible, dare I say, to hear any nasties produced by it at all. And the bass. Well, from just a 14-litre cabinet, what is produced is just astounding in terms of both quantity and quality. I also appreciated very much how only bass on the original material was reproduced, and then with care and clarity. Too many loudspeakers seem to generate their own LF which makes the overall sound unnatural.

Much of my everyday material is speech-based and the Momentum JSs were clearly very at home with this kind of signal. They retrieved dialogue from analogue soundtracks on 1970s and ‘80s drama and comedy with aplomb, and far better than almost every speaker I have tested in recent months. This was to such an extent that I became aware of very subtle details on recordings I thought I knew well but had not noticed before; often noises-off, FX or wild tracks as that gorgeous tweeter unearths extremely fine, low-level detail from recordings but without distressing the listener with overbrightness or a hyped emphasis.

Delicious performance

With the first snowfall of winter outside, the panel decided to begin with the album Winter by the British choral ensemble Voces8. This immersive sonic landscape features composers from northern latitudes including Latvia, Iceland and Estonia. Featuring generally smooth and slow music there are hints of Vaughan Williams in Judith Bingham’s The Darkness is no Darkness which was reproduced with such clarity, depth and detail that we sat, mouths open, at what we were listening to. In these Neats we have not only a clearly very competent loudspeaker but one that’s extremely good value. The soundstage is lusciously three-dimensional with pinpoint imaging and a mesmerising overall presentation.

Neat Acoustics Momentum JS speaker review https://the-ear.net

 

As we sat, transfixed by the naturalness of the Holst’s radically reharmonised In the Bleak Midwinter the Momentum JS treble was exquisite, the midrange masterful and the bass response beyond all our expectations. We were truly captivated by the soundstage. Without sounding like a marketing mandarin from Neat, it’s hard to convey just how good these little boxes are. We rounded off the album with the warming masterpiece that is Winter by Rebecca Dale, and continued to enjoy the superbly integrated sound that was forthcoming. Everything was in correct proportion but, again, we came back to how much detail was being generated as we were immersed in the delicious performance.

After a coffee break it was time for the album version of Justin Hayward’s Forever Autumn which I haven’t heard sound this good in a long time and certainly not on anything at this price before. The panel noted the Momentum JS’s faithful reproduction of the melody which sustains through the heart of the song. I was in awe of the midrange quality which made it sound as though JH was there, in the room, with us. That AMT unit is also blemish-free, no nasty sibilance to distract from the music as it was laid down by the recording engineer.

As much as the panel and I tried to unsettle the Neat Momentum JS, whatever we threw at them they lapped up. We tested their dynamic abilities with Chris De Burgh’s Spanish Train song, but they were unflustered and we were also able to tick them off as having good timing abilities. We thought they might not cope with the micro detail in Trans X’s Living on Video, the cult electronic hit from the ‘80s. But, no, they were not fazed by that either. In fact, they just presented us with bass notes that made us jump, they were so unexpectedly deep and powerful. Neat really are the past masters at isobaric design. Their dynamic capabilities are incredible and they sound like a loudspeaker costing at least twice the price.

Neat Acoustics Momentum JS speaker review https://the-ear.net

I had already tried the Momentum JSs with copious piano works and they passed with flying colours every time when so many loudspeakers seem to find it impossible to replay a piano with any realism. They were just as realistic on small ensemble and major forces as well. A true all-rounder of a loudspeaker.

Conclusion

Beautifully built, and clearly very well designed, the new Neat Momentum JS is probably the best thing from this stable in a long, long time. They tick every box for me and I really don’t want to let them go; I would happily have them as a daily reference, they are that good. They have no pretence of being broadcast monitors, but they do achieve accuracy of reproduction but in a way that’s somehow more musical and presents the entire picture rather than laying the spectrum in front of the listener and revealing imperfections in the recording. The Neat Momentum JSs are for enjoying music not analysing it.

On recordings which I listen to often, and have had for decades, the Neats dug out nuances that I wasn’t even aware were there. While the treble is a dream, the midrange as natural as anyone could hope for, the bass is the unexpected standout. That so much, of such quality, can come from such a compact cabinet almost defies the laws of physics. But that’s isobaric loading for you, and Neat do it so well.

Specifications:

Type: 2-way isobaric loaded standmount loudspeaker
Crossover frequency: not specified
Drive units:
Mid/bass: 2x 170mm
Tweeter: AMT
Nominal frequency response: 25Hz – 45kHz (-6dB)
Nominal impedance: 8 Ohms
Connectors: single-wire binding posts
Sensitivity: 86dB @ 2.83V/1 Watt
Dimensions HxWxD: 370 x 220 x 270mm
Weight: 11kg each
Finishes: black oak, satin white, natural oak, American walnut, ebony macassar, gloss
Warranty: 5 years (transferable)

Price when tested:
£4,995
Manufacturer Details:

Neat Acoustics
T 01833 631021
http://www.neat.co.uk

Type:

standmount loudspeakers

Author:

Trevor Butler

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