LATEST ADDITIONS

Budget two-way speakers the LX-2 and LX-3 (shown) are the debut models from Mission’s latest entry-level loudspeaker range, the LX Series. Despite their affordable price tags, Mission informs us that the new models have been designed to deliver compelling musicality. For the LX Series the company has produced a tweeter with a neodymium magnet (selected for maximum magnetic force in such a small space) and a 25mm microfibre dome. This is partnered with the 130mm mid/bass driver unit (one in the case of the LX-2 and two for the LX-3), sporting cones fashioned from an advanced fibre formulation apparently selected for its superior self damping and excellent stiffness.

In the 1986 hit, Huey Lewis and the News famously sang: “It’s hip to be square”, but is it really? Could it be that the man behind the eighties powerhouse The Power Of Love hadn’t quite managed to get his facts straight? There’s no doubt that when it comes to the most popular shape for loudspeakers, square – or perhaps more precisely rectangular – is the way to go. But what if someone were to break from the norm and come up with something a little bit more exciting looking? Could it really be possible to get a high-end performance from a shape other than those boring four straight lines that make up an oblong? And while they’re carrying out the process ofreinventing the audio equivalent of the wheel, how about making just one of the things, rather than the pair that we’ve hadto make room for up to now? Enter the clever folk at Geneva, who with the AeroSphère Large (HFC 407) have created something that looks more like a piece of high-concept furniture than a way to impress your friends and terrify audio traditionalists. Beneath that slightly flattened 40cm orb, is a rather more angular forward-facing structure that houses two 25mm tweeters, a brace of 102mm mid/bass drivers and an upward-firing 152mm subwoofer. These are configured within three separate acoustic chambers and powered by individual, DSP-optimised Class D amplifiers capable of some cunning fine tuning to suit your room via a free app that can be downloaded from the Geneva website.

Representing Noble Audio's flagship universal-fit in-ear monitor (IEM), the new lauminium- chassis, 10-driver Kaiser 10U is now shipping directly. Replacing the acrylic K10U, the Kaiser 10U is a 10-armature, low impedance, four-way design that's claimed to deliver a wide frequency range and the best-ever performance from a portable IEM. The 10 drivers are assigned to bass, midrange, mid/high, high and super-high frequencies and the IEMs are claimed to have an impedance less than 35ohm. Featuring a detachable cable with industry-standard two-pin configuration, a Pelican 1010 case (which is claimed to be crush-proof), a black velvet soft pouch, 12 pairs of ear tips (four kinds in three different sizes), two Noble Audio bands or amp bands, a cleaning tool and an ownership card, the K10U is available to buy now for £1,150.

The hybrid Unico range from Italian valve specialist Unison Research combines valves with other solid state devices to provide more power and features than traditional valve technology alone can offer. The Unico CD Due joins the range as the new flagship source, and shares the same 'three-panel' design of the range-topping Unico 150 amplifier. The CD player supports apt X Bluetooth streaming and also incoporates a DAC equipped with USB, S/PDIF, AES/EBU and Toslink inputs, which all route through the built-in ESS Sabre ES9018K2M chip. The USB input uses XMOS to handle PCM signals up to 384kHz and DSD256.