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If the Scansonic name seems vaguely familiar it's because the brand has an illustrious history, being deeply rooted in Danish loudspeaker design and engineering. Scansonic goes back some 45 years to when it was introduced as the name on a then-new line of loudspeakers from famous Danish drive-unit manufacturer ScanSpeak. Now owned by Dantax, the same parent company as Raidho, the brand’s loudspeakers are designed by the creator of the renowned Raidho range, acoustic designer Michael Børresen. As a result, Scansonic has plenty in common with the respected Raidho family DNA and pedigree, but at a fraction of the cost.

The new active M BTL-series comprises a standmount and two floorstanders equipped with wired analogue, digital and wireless aptX Bluetooth connectivity. The M-5 BTL (£599) is a 2-way standmount, while the M-6 BTL (£1,199) – shown above – and M-9 BTL (£1,799) are 2.5-way and 3-way floorstanders respectively. 

One of each pair of speakers features a built-in amplifier stage, but not the Class D design that one might expect in this price range. Instead, the three models in the series sport a powerful class AB amplifier that claims to deliver 50W in the 2-way M-5 BTL standmount, 60W in the 2.5-way M-6 BTL floorstander and 80W in the 3-way M-9 BTL.

All three models are designed around the same ultra-light ribbon planar tweeter as used in the Raidho-inspired Scansonic MB-series with a membrane design formed by a kapton-aluminum sandwich just 20µm thick, which has an extremely low mass – around 50 times less than any conventional textile, ceramic, beryllium or diamond dome tweeter design, says Scansonic. This lower mass translates directly into higher resolution and less material coloration for improved high-frequency performance, it says. 

The tweeter is partnered with a paper polypropylene-coned 4.5in mid/bass driver (one in the M-5 BTL standmount and two in the M-6 BTL and M-9 BTL floorstanders) and the M-9 BTL floorstander adds an 8in sideways-firing bass driver.

The cabinets are heavily braced and have a front-loaded port. All models are available in either piano white or black and are supplied with a learning remote control. You can click here to find out more.