Neat Acoustics Mystique Classic speakers
A new loudspeaker from British stalwart Neat Acoustics is always an exhilarating moment and I was excited when the new Mystique Classic arrived to try in my own system. I had seen a prototype of the compact floorstander at the Munich High End show in May and knew that it would not be long before Bob Surgeoner had perfected his latest design.
Neat Acoustics was founded by Bob in 1989 and something that stands out to me is that, as a self-taught musician, he knows what instruments sound like; both when playing and when attending many live performances as I know he does. He’s also into a variety of styles, such as blues, rock, jazz, folk, country and bluegrass, and this again increases his ability to create loudspeakers that reproduce, as closely as possible, what the recording engineer has crafted.
For over twenty years now Neat loudspeakers have been hand-crafted by a dedicated team based in Teesdale in the north of England and I have been impressed by the vast majority of the models I have heard. The Mystique, tested here, is the third model in Neat’s Classic range which already includes the shoe-box sized Petite Classic and its floorstanding sibling, the Elite Classic; both two-way designs featuring an Air Motion Transformer tweeter.
The Neat approach
As with the development of all its designs, the Mystique Classic is the result of the hundreds of hours of listening tests and refinements that Bob and his team go through before signing off a new loudspeaker. 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 ready for production.
Neat’s unusual take on the art of loudspeaker design involves the process of listening to many different types of music and allowing the music to govern the tuning and voicing of the loudspeaker, almost to the exclusion of other criteria. In a world where most hi-fi equipment is designed to conform to a set of widely accepted parameters, Neat’s approach is refreshing and driven not by a marketing department anxious to create the new ‘wow factor’ model to ‘excite’ the listener with inordinate amounts of bass and almost ear-piercing treble.
Neat’s in-house recording studio, where bespoke recordings can be made, provides a reference point for the voicing of Neat’s loudspeakers. On hand is a huge variety of musical instruments, including piano, pump organ, harp, double bass, synthesisers, and a range of electric and acoustic guitars as well as other stringed instruments. High-resolution recordings can be made and instantly played back in the listening room for a fabulous A/B comparison.
Mystique Classic design
The Mystique Classic stands at 78cm tall, making it one of the most discreet floorstanders on the market if not quite as diminutive as the company’s own Iota Alpha which I still admire and use.
Within a UK-made cabinet is the tried and tested Tymphany-Peerless 134mm treated/doped paper-cone mid/bass driver from the Far East and used in Neat’s Motive range. Here though, instead of surface-mounting the unit (as with the Motives), it is recessed and fitted with a trim ring which looks smarter and brings it more in line cosmetically with the other Classic models.
The second drive unit is the 50mm AMT tweeter from the USA/China, which is so far common to all three Classic models. The tweeter technique was first developed by Dr. Oskar Heil, a German physicist, in the late 1960s. It operates on a different transduction principle from other ribbon designs as the diaphragm of the AMT is pleated. It pushes air back and forth in a similar manner to an accordion, resulting in an extremely rapid response rate. It also means that more air is moved than would be the case from a similar sized planar diaphragm.
The new speaker is reflex-ported at the base of the cabinet which is raised above a plinth by four aluminium spacers. Because of its size it sits a lot lower than most floorstanders, below the level of my TV screen and is far less obtrusive than so many speakers, making it far more acceptable in a domestic setting.
As we have come to expect from this manufacturer, the crossover has been carefully refined after hours of listening tests, being first-order on the woofer and second-order on the tweeter. Inductors used are generally air-cored, save for the bass inductor which has an iron-dust core because it sounded better than the original air-core; the components are made by Jantzen and include high-quality inductors and polypropylene capacitors, it’s refreshing not to see cheap ferrite cores or electrolytics being deployed.
Set-up
Unpacking and setup proved a cinch, as I would expect from a competent manufacture although, still, many seem to rely on inadequate packaging which simply isn’t up to the job. Using the Allen key supplied, it was a simple task to attach the plinths using the aluminium spacers and bolts. Then it’s just a case of fixing the base spikes before connecting to an amplifier using the single-wire terminals which are supplied as standard. A bi-wire option is available to special order.
Neat suggest a run-in period of some 200 hours and I left the speakers on for a whole week before I settled down to listen. And then, the first few days were just to become acclimatised to the sound so the run-in continued before the listening panel assembled. The sensitivity is a modest 86dB but the Mystiques present an easy load to the amplifier with impedance that is nominally 8 Ohms and dips no lower than 5 Ohms.
Neat helpfully remind users that bass will increase with the speakers close to rear/side walls while stereo depth improves as they are moved into free-space. They recommend a starting position of 30cm from the rear walls and 60cm from side walls. I followed the latter but do not have side walls in close proximity to cause issues. I did concur that a very slight tow-in was beneficial, but only a few degrees and not the 10 degrees that Neat say can work well.
Mystique sound quality
Before the panel assembled, I spent several days enjoying the Mystique Classics on the material of my choice, notably a lot of human voice courtesy of news, current affairs and radio drama as well as small-scale classical and oratorios.
My immediate sensation was that the new design is very much a Neat through and through, with all the hallmarks that I have come to expect from the brand. There is a noticeable absence of colorations which can so affect a poorly-executed design. We have no sibilance, no chestiness and no nasty boxy sounds to the human voice, speech is rendered in a most natural and highly believable fashion.
With BBC Radio 3, I wallowed in Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major when I should have been doing something else because the lustrous sound was so captivating as it ravishes the ears through an affectionate warmth. The Mystique Classics reproduce instruments faithfully and sound realistic, but not in a clinical way. These are not studio monitors to analyse the sound; these are speakers from which to enjoy the performance from a full-immersion perspective.
Something which stands out about the design is the AMT tweeter which is clearly very well integrated with the main driver and provides treble output up to a quoted 22kHz. The tweeter produced an excellent transient response and has extremely low perceived distortion. It creates a delightful sonic experience over a wide area, creating an excellent off-axis response that removes the ‘hot spot’ scenario common with dome tweeters. The treble generated was smooth, detailed and easy on the ear. This quality was noted in Shostakovich’s Waltz No. 3 (arr. Atovmyan from The Return of Maxim) during a live Radio 3 concert. On lesser speakers this can sound brittle, harsh and grating on the ear. From the Mystique Classics, though, it was smooth, vibrant, detailed and a delight to enjoy.
Certainly, the highly-refined and well-mannered Mystiques are easy on the ear and will not generate listener fatigue; such it was that I ended up on several occasions listening for far longer than I intended. This is the hallmark of not just a ‘good’ loudspeaker but an ‘excellent’ one. I immersed by self in O magnum mysterium (the responsorial chant from the Matins of Christmas) and the fabulously rich performance by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, under the late maestro Stephen Cleobury from 2019. This can be spinetingling stuff although, of late, several speakers I’ve reviewed have not reproduced it well. Thankfully, the Mystique Classics proved themselves worthy of the task and the hairs on the back of my neck began to tingle as they do when this recording is shown for what it is. The choral sound is amazingly rich and vibrant, well-balanced, and really beautiful in its way.
Once the panel arrived the repertoire became much more varied and with The Bangles’ Eternal Flame the Mystique Classics seemed to wake up and show what they were made of. Yes, they were still refined but now with a ‘get-up-and-go’ characteristic that I hadn’t heard so far. This track has a great range on it and all was handled so proficiently by the Neats: from the clear ting of a bell near the start to the full orchestra part way through, and a very detailed vocal too which came through so realistically it was as though the singer was there with us, in the room. Such reproduction is exemplary.
Next the panel chose Spandau Ballet and Through the Barricades, here the timing ability of this little floorstander shone through and, as I’d already witnessed, the soundstage spread far beyond the confines of the cabinets as we became aware of considerable width and depth to the sound.
To show that these speakers can produce bass, and more than expected at first glance (quoted down to 30Hz and we easily obtained something akin to 45Hz), I turned to the highly-compressed BBC Radio 1Xtra channel to catch Fundz by Amaria BB feat; Skillibeng. Goodness, the bass output was ample for my medium-sized room and the Mystique Classics were pumping some air through those base ports. The catchy opening chorus shows the Neats’ ability with female vocalists while the Dre Skull beat fills the room with low-frequency energy that gets the toes tapping such is the Mystique Classics’ ability with rhythm and pace.
To confirm this, I moved up one channel to Radio One proper where we were entertained with That’s What I Want by Lil Nas X. Here the timing credentials were confirmed as there was admirable reaction to fast transients in a foot-tapping bass line. We were entertained with energetic guitar and a synth-heavy instrumental which the Mystique Classics take in their stride, while the equally cheerful rhythm in the vocals come through without apparent coloration to cement Neat’s design credentials and reveal that they could produce much more bass energy than their size might suggest. They’re not a head-bangers delight but for anyone living in modern accommodation they will create sufficient bass to be enjoyed but without the neighbours banging on the door to complain. Those wanting more thunderous output can always add a subwoofer.
Conclusion
In the Mystique Classic, Neat has created a loudspeaker which I could happily live with, it is so delightfully and competently engineered. Bob Surgeoner has done it again and leads the way in a world where, I am sorry to say, so many modern designs fall short. The Mystique Classics are capable of entertaining in such an absorbing and enjoyable way without also wanting to excite, a trait which all-too-often distracts from what the recording engineer intended. Here we can enjoy the pure sound, a natural and wholly believable sound which brings the performance home, literally.
In this latest Neat creation, we also have real value-for-money and surely something anyone contemplating the Classic Petite and a pair of stands needs to consider carefully, if they have the space, because the overall cost will be about the same. That makes it a real bargain in my book.