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Loudspeakers
Dali Ikon 7 MkII - £1,699
Ed Selley  |  Aug 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Magnificent Seven DALI's IKON 7 MKII boasts proprietary drivers and Danish assembly, a combination that as Paul Messenger finds, gives them high-end sparkle DALI (the name is actually an acronym for Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries) debuted its new IKON range at the May 2010 Munich High End Society show and while the overall sizes and configurations of the various MK2 models do correspond closely to those of the original IKON range (first launched in 2005), they also incorporate plenty of engineering and cosmetic changes. The IKONs are Danish-made loudspeakers, so manufacturing isn’t cheap. Furthermore, the value of the Danish Krone (linked to the Euro) has appreciated significantly compared to sterling in recent years, so a significant price rise for this MK2 range was inevitable. Even so, an increase from £999 to £1,699 over a six-year span is pretty hefty, especially for a speaker finished in vinyl woodprint.
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Loudspeakers
XTZ 99.26 - £670
Ed Selley  |  Aug 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Aural XTZ Ed Selley discovers a high-value standmount that combines a SEAS driver and a ribbon tweeter to sparkle in the sub-£800 price bracket Hailing from Sweden, XTZ has expanded rapidly to produce a bewildering array of electronics and loudspeakers. The company focuses on trying to provide strong value for money and its products seem to be very competitively priced. The 99. 26 is the second most costly standmount in the range, but still only sells for £670.
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Loudspeakers
Kudos X2 - £1,350
Ed Selley  |  Jul 27, 2011  |  0 comments
Kudos X2 The new X2 is the first model to bring the Kudos sound to the value-led consumer Founded by ex-Neat personnel, Kudos might be a relative newcomer on the UK speaker scene, but its progress with the upmarket Cardea models has been both steady and impressive. Though far from cheap – the only components sourced from outside Europe is the terminal pair – the £1,350 X2 is the first to make the Kudos sound available at a rather more affordable price. This very compact two-way floorstander has recently undergone a few changes. The drive units from Norwegian manufacturer SEAS remain the same as before, but the enclosures now come from respected Danish cabinet-maker Hornslet, while the crossover network now uses Mundorf resistors from Germany, and both these changes are claimed to improve the sound quality.
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Loudspeakers
Neat Motive 1 - £1,490
Ed Selley  |  Jul 27, 2011  |  0 comments
Neat Motive 1 Neat by both name and nature, this compact floorstander is physically, rather than sonically laid back A well-established operation, Neat’s reputation was founded on a small, but very communicative standmount called the Petite. The product portfolio has expanded considerably since then; the four stereo pairs in the Motive range consisting of three ultra-compact floorstanders and a standmount. Though still quite small by any standards, the two-and-a-half-way Motive 1 is the largest of these, a little taller than the two-way Motive 2, in order to make room for an extra bass-only driver beneath the main bass/mid driver. The twin 135mm drivers have 95mm cones, while the tweeter has an inverted 25mm titanium dome with integral-pleated surround.
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Loudspeakers
PMC GB1i - £1,525
Ed Selley  |  Jul 27, 2011  |  0 comments
PMC GB1i Transmission line bass loading distinguishes this compact floorstander from most of the competition Since its beginnings in the late 1980s, PMC has grown into a major player on the UK speaker scene, focusing on ProAudio customers and the more upmarket hi-fi sector with its ATL (advanced transmission line) speaker systems. Although it’s no larger in width and depth, the £1,525 per pair GB1i is a little taller than the other two-way models that use small bass/mid drivers. The reason has all to do with the transmission line bass loading technique, which squeezes a carefully damped 2. 4m line into the enclosure volume behind the main driver, by folding it twice and terminating it with a large port at the front near the floor.
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Loudspeakers
ProAc Studio 140 Mk2 - £1,690
Ed Selley  |  Jul 27, 2011  |  0 comments
ProAc Studio 140 Mk2 Substantial floorstander’s twin 165mm bass/mid drivers ensure a very muscular performance with superb headroom array A long-established British speaker brand with roots back in the 1970s, ProAc has only made the occasional appearance on the Hi-Fi Choice review roster. That’s mainly because the company has long been primarily export-oriented, with representation in more than 50 countries worldwide. The three Studio models – two standmounts and this floorstander – are among ProAc’s less costly models and although this Studio 140 Mk2 pricetag of £1,690 per pair is at the top end of our test group, the speakers themselves are as large as any of the others, as well as the heaviest in the group. The dimensions are partly dictated by the twin 165mm drive units that operate in tandem right through the bass and midrange here.
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Loudspeakers
Rega RS7 - £1,685
Ed Selley  |  Jul 27, 2011  |  0 comments
Rega RS7 Rega’s RS7 combines several new developments, in both its tweeter design and its bass loading The RS7 sits at the top end of Rega’s loudspeaker range. First reviewed in these pages during 2009 (HFC 322), the price per pair has increased since then from £1,469 to £1,685 (partly thanks to VAT changes) for the regular cherry or black wood-veneered versions; high-gloss black or white are also available at extra cost. The front view of the sharp-edged enclosure is exceptionally slim, but the RS7 is also unusually deep and quite tall. Fore’n’aft stability is inherently excellent, while moulded outriggers improve the lateral stability and provide reasonably secure spike fixing, though the thumbwheel lock-nuts unfortunately loosen rather readily.
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Loudspeakers
Spendor A3 - £1,295
Ed Selley  |  Jul 27, 2011  |  0 comments
Spendor A3 Spendor’s new compact floorstander has much in common with the company’s successful SA1 baby Spendor’s baby SA1 sub-miniature has already proved quite a hit, commercially and critically (Group Test Winner HFC 334), so it’s hardly surprising that the company should use some of its elements as the basis for this very compact floorstander. There’s much more to it, of course, than simply transposing drivers and crossover network into a larger box. Although the tweeter is the same for both models – the unusual wide-surround unit that Spendor now favours for most of its models – and the bass/mid driver is built on the same chassis, there are substantial changes elsewhere. The very compact, sharp-edged enclosure is set low, with the drivers comfortably below seated-ear height, but the optimum listening axis is deliberately arranged to fire slightly above the horizontal to compensate.
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All-In-One Systems
NAD VISO Three - £750
Ed Selley  |  Jul 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Fade to grey NAD's VISO Three is far removed from the grey boxes that the company is famous for. Ed Selley finds out if the house sound has made the jump NAD has been at the forefront of entry-level hi-fi components for decades and still produces its famous battleship grey components at a variety of price points to suit most pockets. More recently, we have seen a move towards more – dare we say it – stylish components with the Masters series at higher price points and an entry into more lifestyle components with the VISO series. Following on from the DVD-based VISO Two and Five systems, the new £750 VISO Three is the first two- channel audio member of the family.
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Integrated Amplifiers
Unison Research S6 - £2,995
Ed Selley  |  Jul 07, 2011  |  0 comments
Irresistible force The latest single-ended Unison S6 offers audiophiles pure Class A operation and a honey-rich glow says a smitten Jimmy Hughes Although solid-state amplifiers offer many practical benefits – smaller size for a given power output, cooler running, higher maximum power output and potentially lower noise – tube amplifiers promise a certain extra ‘something’ that many audiophiles seem to find irresistible. But is it all imagination and hype? While tube amps might seem to hark back to the golden era of high-fidelity, do they really offer any tangible benefits over a good transistor design? With its pure Class A output stage, the Unison Research S6 has all the right credentials. It undoubtedly talks the talk, but does it walk the walk? Gutsy sound Like most modern amplifiers, the S6 keeps things simple. It offers five unbalanced line inputs, a set of tape outputs and a single set of loudspeaker outputs.
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