As part of our 50th anniversary, we’ve been spending quite a lot of time in the What Hi-Fi? archives, poring over back issues of the magazine. We have been reliving good times and the bad and revisiting some of the most memorable audio innovations from the past half-century.

But let’s return, for a moment, to the present. Recently, we’ve had a bulky, impressive-looking pair of PMC M2B SE speakers in our test rooms for review. You can read all about them on our hi-fi and audio editor, Kashfia Kabir’s, most recent Substack post.

Those speakers got us thinking: of all the eye-catching models that have come through the What Hi-Fi? test rooms over the years, which are the weirdest-looking pairs of speakers we have ever laid eyes upon? As it happens, there have been a few strong contenders, many of which arrived around the dawn of the new millennium.

As the year 2000 rolled around, a unique hysteria swept the globe. Fearing the effects of the so-called ‘millennium bug’, many people refrained from booking flights while others stockpiled supplies in case of an apocalypse. Speaker manufacturers, it seems, also went slightly off-piste.

We highlight here five pairs of speakers which we think fit the bill. What do you think? What are the strangest-looking speakers you've ever laid eyes on? Let us know in the comments!

NOTE: To read the full-size text of the magazine images below, click on the arrow sign on the bottom-left corner.

Beauhorn Virtuoso Reference (2000)

Is it a wardrobe? Is it a door? Nope. Somewhat unbelievably, it's a speaker.

Designed by British manufacturer Beauhorn, the Virtuoso Reference showcased the company’s affection for the art of cabinet making – perhaps a little too blatantly for some tastes.

With a 20cm Lowther DX4 driver taking care of the speaker’s entire frequency range, and a sensitivity of 106dB/W/m, this speaker packed some unusual but hefty punches. The doorknob at its centre, we should clarify, is actually an outsize phase plug, designed to improve high-frequency dispersion for a more even and natural sound.

The driver alone cost £540 at the time of writing, and the speakers would have set you back £4946. Not an inconsiderable price even now.

In our review, we said the Beauhorn Virtuoso Reference were capable of producing “wall-shaking levels of volume”, even while connected to an amplifier with a power rating of just seven Watts per channel.

Sonically, we thought these speakers were “fantastically fast and direct”, their lack of a crossover paying dividends, “with sky-high levels of detail and wide-ranging dynamics”, when listening to classical music.

Their gifts don’t come in a small package, however, with the speakers measuring more than a metre tall and 70cm deep.

While playing pop music, as you might have guessed from their gaudy aesthetics, their performance wasn’t “quite as flawless” and they lacked a “certain degree of weight and drive”.

Still, it’s hard not to admire that, as humanity faced a new horizon, Beauhorn stuck to its guns and built these retro wooden giants.

Artifice Audio A1 (1997)

There is always a bit of preamble before you can get your speakers sounding their best. Conventionally, we would anticipate needing to spend time nailing the positioning and a few days of running them in. Less often does spending five minutes exhaling into a blue PVC bag come to mind.

But that’s exactly what you had to do to get the inflatable Artifice Audio A1 up and running. Of course, you also needed to spend about the same amount of time balancing the pressure between the speakers.

Their materials, or lack thereof, meant that these speakers could be released at a bargain price of just £85. For those savings, however, you would have to negotiate a particularly idiosyncratic quality of the speakers.

Namely, we said that, given a loud signal, the Artifice A1 started “jerking in time with the music like a demented weeble”. But that was part of the plan. By dissipating resonances in the air, the speaker operated under something closer to an ‘infinite baffle’ principle.

Their heavy bases also meant that, despite their grooving tendencies, they stayed put on speaker stands – but if they did fall, they could bounce away unharmed.

In our review we said, “The bouncing speaker performs especially well with high-impact dance music, which benefits from the ever-changing direction of the 15cm doped-paper drive units.”

It wasn’t all good news. We thought the Artifice A1 were “about as attractive as swimming pool armbands”, and found the movement of the drive units caused serious trouble in terms of sound-staging.

B&W Emphasis (1997)

Pushing the concept of a horn speaker close to its visual limit, the B&W Emphasis was the brainchild of Morten Villiers Warren, a furniture designer who approached the company to see if his design fantasy could be made into a functioning reality.

The Emphasis used the same metal dome tweeter as B&W’s Silver Signature Series, mounted on a metal tube growing out of the body next to the main driver, which was a 16.5cm gold Kevlar unit. The more astute hi-fi heads among you will recognise that it was the main driver from B&W’s 600 Series of the time.

Behind the main driver, the horn technology came into play, using the folded fibreglass body as a quarter-wave loading device. In practice, this meant that the body used the rear-firing energy from the mid/bass driver and tuned it for low frequency extension.

But, as Christopher Nolan’s version of J. Robert Oppenheimer once said (repeatedly), “Theory will take you only so far.”

At a price of £6500 in 1997 – an eye-watering £13,200 in today’s money – it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect these speakers to deliver truly top-tier sound. Despite a “good degree of treble clarity”, however, we thought that the Emphasis’s “bass extension [was] hardly reasonable” for the price.

We also found that the speakers “lacked some of the dynamic appeal” that other speakers could deliver, struggling to keep pace with hacking rock and roll test tracks.

Nonetheless, the speakers received a solid overall rating of four stars.

CarfraeHorn (1999)

A seriously premium offering, the CarfraeHorn loudspeakers cost £12,000 in 1999, which would equate to £23,600 today.

Standing at 2.2m tall, these door-sized horn speakers based their design around a tractrix contour – a mathematically derived shape that gives sound waves a clear path through the horn.

The horn itself was made from curved sections of birch ply, while everything else was built from solid maple, a material chosen for its sonic character and good looks.

As the price tag foretells, no expense was spared in the design of the CarfraeHorn. The speakers’ Lowther DX3 drive units, which cost £600 each, were mounted directly into 4cm thick tubes of solid hardwood.

Thankfully, all those premium materials resulted in a listening experience that we described as a “real treat”.

In our March 1999 review, we said that “the detail these speakers produce is breathtaking”. With “a wonderfully evocative soundstage” and “tremendous presence”, the only real issue we could see with the CarfraeHorn loudspeakers was their unwieldy proportions.

KEF KHT 2005 (2001)

Picking up What Hi-Fi? in the early 2000s, you would have been hard pressed to find a magazine that didn’t include several surround speaker systems. As DVD continued to take the world by storm, many of our readers were on the hunt for their first home cinema sound system.

But, as we noted in this June 2001 review of the KEF KHT2005, not everybody wanted to pack their living room with audio hardware. Indeed, many who did may have had partners, or flatmates, who didn’t… some things never change.

As such, we thought this KEF system was one of “the most attractive” subwoofer/satellite combinations we had ever come across, replacing as it did dull rectangular boxes with something curvier and different. Then, as now, a balance between looks and sound was crucial to earn the five-star review that these speakers gained.

So how much tech did £800 get you at the start of the century?

In this case, five egg-like, cast aluminium satellites each used a 10cm KEF Uni-Q driver and featured rotatable, wall-mountable stands, while the 150W subwoofer employed a single, downward-firing 20cm bass driver, and included a healthy variety of connections. The subwoofer even featured a phase-invert control, for easier positioning within a room.

Sonically, we found that the KEF KHT2005 delivered a “quite sensational performance for a package of its type”. At the time, many such speaker systems lacked in midrange performance, whereas the KEFs shone in this regard, making vocal nuances and inflections all the more audible.

They performed equally well with movies and music, and we found these speakers capable of a “meaty sense of cinematic scale”. Closing emphatically, our review said: “It's superb, we can’t really put it more clearly than that.”

MORE

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12 of the world's most expensive loudspeakers

TAD was originally founded in 1975 as a premium sub-brand to help Pioneer sell high-end speakers to the professional market. The brand’s name is an acronym for Technical Audio Devices – not a particularly poetic name, but that hasn’t stopped the company from developing into a standalone high-end manufacturer of considerable repute. Currently, its product range includes pretty much every part of the audio chain from digital electronics to stereo speakers.

The original Micro Evolution One speaker first hit the market in late 2016. The new TX version on test here was introduced last year, and features many detail improvements without changing the basic formula. The TAD ME1TX remains a beautifully made, immaculately engineered standmount that puts detail resolution, sonic precision and transparency at the top of its priorities.

It may come as a surprise to many that a speaker costing this much is only the entry model in TAD’s speaker range, though that fact does provide a good indication of the brand’s positioning in the hi-fi hierarchy.

Build & design

Standing just over 41cm high, the ME1TX speakers are relatively compact, but unusually for such small speakers, they are a proper three-way design.

The midrange and higher frequencies are handled by TAD’s CST (Coherent Source Transducer) driver array that positions a 25mm beryllium dome tweeter in the throat of the 9cm magnesium cone midrange. It is a similar arrangement to KEF’s Uni-Q technology and offers plenty of advantages on paper.

Aligning the acoustic centres of the two drivers improves overall dispersion characteristics and benefits integration.

In practical terms, this means the ME1TX should deliver a wide listening sweetspot and maintain its sonic characteristics more consistently as the listener moves around the room.

A 9cm driver is too small to deliver much in the way of bass, so TAD’s engineers have chosen to partner its CST array with a 16cm woofer.

This woofer uses a multi-layer aramid composite cone with a corrugated surround made of foamed polycarbonate, and vents through the enclosure’s sides behind the 5mm-thick steel plates mounted on either side. Having the vents on either side is said to cancel out any vibrations generated by them.

The ME1TX’s cabinet is a substantial affair and weighs in at a hefty 21kg each. Be careful when you lift them out of their packaging, as that weight can catch you by surprise. The impressively rigid construction consists of MDF panels braced internally by birch plywood.

The addition of those steel plates on the sides adds mass and rigidity, while also giving the engineers a fixed boundary for the air coming out of the vents to interact with.

This TAD speaker’s build quality is exquisite, just as the price demands. The monitor’s fit and finish is flawless, as is the attention to detail, right down to the quality of the biwire speaker terminals and shorting wires used between them to allow single-wiring.

There are two finish options for the ME1TX: the deep gloss black of our review sample and a silver-white combination that looks just as smart.

Compatibility

At this level, careful system matching is a must. The ME1TX has a lowish claimed sensitivity at 85dB/W/m coupled to a demanding 4-ohm nominal impedance, so in electrical terms, it makes sense to go for an amplifier with plenty of drive.

The bulk of our testing is done with Burmester’s 088/911 MkIII pre/power (180 watts per channel), though even PMC’s 95 watts per channel Cor integrated also drives these speakers well. Our main sources are Naim’s ND555/555 PS DR music streamer and a Technics SL-1000R/Kiseki Purpleheart MC record player.

The performance of any standmount speaker is highly dependent on the quality of the partnering support. TAD makes dedicated metal column stands for the ME1TX, and they work well in visual and sonic terms.

Given the price of the speakers, it will come as no surprise that these chunky stands are pretty premium too, selling for £2995 (around $2900 / AU$3599) for the pair.

While it is tempting to position relatively small speakers right up against a wall, we would avoid doing that in this case. In our 3 x 7 x 5m (hwd) test room, these speakers sound best around 50cm into the room and angled in towards the listening position. Such a placement retains a convincing tonal balance but also gives us a focused soundstage.

Sound

If you are expecting sonic fireworks, then these TAD speakers will leave you disappointed. These monitors are as understated as they come, preferring to allow the music and recording to take the limelight.

Their presentation sounds pure and unvarnished to our ears, almost a blank canvas that leaves any energy and drama to come from the music itself.

If the source material doesn’t bring the fun, the ME1TX won’t help out. Equally, that applies to the partnering system. If there are any shortcomings anywhere in the system chain, then these speakers won’t hide that fact. That just isn’t their purpose. We would avoid bright or lean electronics in general, as such a balance just doesn’t work with these speakers.

However, given that these are impressively transparent and highly revealing monitors, they will also allow the listener to dig deep into the production of a piece of music and analyse every aspect for good or bad.

It wasn’t long before we started to think of these TAD speakers as an audio microscope, something that allows us to hear low-level details with a class-leading clarity most alternatives just don’t have.

Time after time, we hear a small piece of detail, a subtle reverb or an extra sense of space between notes that other speakers simply ignore. It is the TAD’s superpower, and goes some way to justifying this speaker's high price.

We also appreciate the ME1TX’s tonal neutrality. They sound wonderfully even-handed throughout their operating range, giving them the ability to render voices and instruments in a convincingly balanced way.

As we work our way through Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, the live recording of Keith Jarrett’s Köln concert, and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard And Soft set, we marvel at the effortless way these speakers bring instruments and voices to life.

Their exceptional composure leaves the listener confident that the speaker won’t fudge any aspect of the sound, even when the music becomes demanding. When it comes to control and sonic stability, we have heard little that betters these standmounts.

We are big fans of coincident driver arrays, and our time with these TAD monitors just reinforces that view. Once optimised, these speakers deliver excellent stereo imaging and a wide listening sweetspot.

Their soundstage even stays stable when we move around the room, and the tonal character doesn’t shift notably. Image focus is terrific, as is the way the ME1TX layer their expansive presentation to create a proper three-dimensional soundfield.

These are relatively small speakers, but unlike many rivals, they don’t exceed the expectations set by their size by producing a generous dose of bass. The laws of physics aren’t bent, and you certainly won’t be looking around for an additional bass driver or subwoofer hidden in the room’s corner.

However, the bass they do produce is proportionate, articulate and beautifully integrated. If you have a larger room, we would suggest adding a subwoofer or, preferably, going for one of TAD’s bigger models.

The modest amount of bass also limits the sonic authority on offer, and to a certain extent, contributes to the speaker’s slight restraint with large-scale dynamics.

The JBL Summit Ama and the Fyne Audio F1-8 are similarly sized to the ME1TX, but both convey the dynamic contrasts of the Beethoven symphony with greater conviction and muscle. Billie Eilish’s thumping basslines come through with greater heft, too, through these alternatives.

Rhythmic drive is surefooted rather than enthusiastic, though these TAD speakers still do a good job of conveying the musical momentum and bristling energy of a song like Michael Jackson’s Jam. We can’t recall an alternative that does better when it comes to outright clarity and the ability to unravel this song’s dense production. Every crash and bang on this track hits the mark, without a hint of exaggeration.

Even so, it is hard to escape the feeling that these speakers prefer to deliver the music in a slightly aloof, dispassionate way rather than to get on the dance floor, metaphorically speaking. The ME1TX are about control, precision and organisation more than they are about verve or drama.

Verdict

There is no denying that these TAD ME1TX standmount speakers are beautifully engineered and offer more insight into the production of a recording than pretty much any standmount we have heard. Given a carefully chosen partnering system and recording, they can certainly deliver moments of musical magic.

However, their measured approach won’t appeal to all, so take a good, long listen before you consider buying.

Review published: 6th August

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 5
• Compatibility 4

MORE:

Read our review of the JBL Summit Ama

Also consider the Wilson Benesch Discovery 3Zero

Read our Fyne Audio F1-8 review

Best bookshelf speakers: top standmounts for every budget tested

Picking a pair of floorstanding speakers is quite the challenge. We have rated the latest efforts from PMC, Fyne Audio, and ProAc all rather highly as of late, and there are some impressive options from Q Acoustics and Acoustic Energy to be mindful of, too.

With an overwhelming influence of British audio brands present on our list of the best floorstanding speakers, I have been searching further afield to scope out some alternative options. And one of my most recent voyages took me all the way to Mississauga, Canada.

This city, 28km southwest of Toronto, is home to speaker manufacturer Paradigm, as well as its sister brands Martin Logan and Anthem. Paradigm's latest speaker release is its Premier v2 range, and as the name may suggest, it’s a successor to the brand's original Premier speaker range.

Along with a fascinating factory tour and some interesting discussions with key members of the Paradigm team, I had a chance to listen to the top-of-the-range floorstanding speakers from this newly updated series.

The Premier 820F v2, as you’re about to find out, made a strong first impression, but with this much competition in the market, can it displace some of the British stalwarts on our list?

Price

Paradigm has shared pricing for its Premier V2 range in the US, but UK pricing is currently unconfirmed. What I can say, though, is that the Premier 820F floorstanders I heard cost $1300 per speaker, so that's around £980 based on current currency conversion, or $2600 (around £1960) for a pair.

That puts these speakers in the mid-range of the hi-fi speaker market and in direct competition with the Award-winning Fyne Audio F502S (£2300 / $2800 / AU$3000) floorstanding speakers.

The PMC Prodigy 5 also loom large as 2024 Award-winners, priced at £1995 / $2510 / AU$3399.

Paradigm also sells another, slightly smaller, set of floorstanders in this range – the Premier 720F v2 – as well as two pairs of standmount speakers (the 120B v2 and 220B v2), alongside two centre channel options: the 520LCR (which can be used as either a centre, left or right channel) and the dedicated 620C v2 centre channel speaker.

With Premier in the name, it should come as no surprise that this series is destined for use in home theatre rooms in a 5.1 surround sound (or larger) arrangement.

Build quality

The Premier 820F v2 are a sensibly styled pair of speakers and, in many ways, they look and feel a touch more premium than their price tag may suggest.

At the core of the design is the vortex-like spiral waveguide, which has become a staple on the company’s other, more premium speaker ranges. It looks good, and it serves a purpose, which we’ll divulge shortly.

These speakers sport clean, sharp lines with prominent, protruding metal-spiked feet on the bottom edge of each speaker, which look pleasingly industrial and help to reduce unwanted vibrations.

I saw these speakers in both walnut and black-walnut finishes, and found them eye-catching yet not too distracting for those who want speakers to blend into their listening space. Paradigm will also offer these speakers in a piano-black option for fans of high-gloss finishes (and dusting).

Features

Paradigm has loaded the Premier 820F v2 speakers with a helping of trickle-down speaker technology from its more premium ranges.

These include combined aluminium, magnesium and ceramic (‘AL-MAC’) tweeters, alongside an aluminium and magnesium (‘AL-MAC’) midrange driver, which are designed to produce lifelike and natural-sounding vocals and instruments.

The phase-aligning waveguide (the vortex-style one that I mentioned above) plays a key role in focusing sound towards the listener without having to worry about awkward room layouts.

Paradigm has also outfitted these three-way floorstanders with its 7-inch Carbon X bass drivers, which, alongside the high-volume enclosure, move a considerable amount of air to produce “visceral, controlled bass and expansive soundstaging”.

The inclusion of a rear-facing port also aids bass. These speakers weren't placed too far into the room, and as you can see from the photographs I took in Paradigm's home theatre room, they're not all that far from the corner of the room.

Despite this, the bass doesn't feel boomy or overblown, as we'll continue to find out in the sound section below.

Finally, the industrial-styled feet I touched on earlier also have a special role. They are officially called "Outrigger Shock-Mount Isolation Feet", and they work by physically decoupling the speaker from the floor to control vibrations and resonance.

Inside each foot is a system of springs and an isolation layer, which Paradigm says will achieve “cleaner, more detailed soundstage and tighter bass across any surface”.

Sound

Paradigm’s goal here was to produce speakers that prioritise the original artist’s intent, and that became quickly evident during my demo session.

I must reiterate that this hands-on review doesn’t reflect our final judgement. We’ll need to test these speakers in our dedicated listening room with our reference amplifier and the appropriate comparisons as we do with all What Hi-Fi? reviews, to attach a final star rating.

Paradigm paired these speakers with an amplifier from its sister company, Anthem, for this testing, with music being streamed on Tidal via the Control4 wireless home automation system.

With that in mind, these speakers ticked a plethora of boxes during my listening session, which took place in Paradigm’s sound-treated home theatre space. Aside from a few specially selected tracks, I was also given free rein to stream tracks to the speakers for quite some time.

Paradigm suggested a live rendition of Trouble's What You're In by Fink, which exposed the 820F v2’s strengths immediately. The sense of space revealed here was superb; this recording takes place in the Union Chapel, London, before a live audience, and the Paradigm speakers did a stellar job of recreating the ambience of the venue with this track.

I also felt that the speakers balanced warmth and crispness nicely, with a full-bodied and textured approach to vocalist Fin Greenall's lyrics.

Despite sounding crisp and detailed, the speakers didn’t verge into sounding too revealing or analytical, which also meant that they really drew me in – especially during this track.

I then switched to Taylor Swift’s The 1 (I know; I couldn’t help myself). This is still a fairly slow and stripped-back track, all things considered, but it certainly has more elements compared with the previous track.

The track is underpinned by a melodic piano and simplistic looping percussion, both of which had plenty of texture and depth when being played through the Premier 820F v2.

Swift’s vocals were equally textured, especially during the harmonised sections of the track, and without sounding reductive, these speakers just sounded very listenable and enjoyable. The comforting, warm sound and oodles of detail certainly helped, as I'm sure did the comfy leather recliner I was sitting in.

Finally, I tried Alaska by Maggie Rogers on these speakers, which once again adds more elements compared with the previous track. Here, I got a sense of how the speakers handle the low end – and Paradigm’s mission statement seems to ring true.

The size of these cabinets and the larger bass drivers did their job in delivering a controlled and punchy dose of low end, which juxtaposed Rogers’ sweet and crisp vocals that lean towards the higher frequencies on this track.

Early verdict

We’ll need to properly test these speakers on our side of the pond to draw up any sort of final verdict, but my initial run-in with the Premier 820F v2 left me feeling quite positive.

While I am most interested in trying them in a surround-sound arrangement alongside some cinematic content, this musical demonstration of the stereo pair proved to me that these floorstanders are worth keeping an eye on.

MORE:

Read our full Fyne Audio F502S review

As well as our PMC Prodigy 5 review

And check out our picks for the best floorstanding speakers

Q Acoustics’ new 3040c floorstanding speaker completes the brand’s most affordable 3000c speaker range, two years after the first model launched.

A step down from its 3050c sibling, it promises to bring the “performance, design, and technological advances” of the 3000c series to a floorstanding form factor.

Like other models in the 3000c series, it features Q Acoustics’ C3 driver platform. C3 (‘C-cubed’) stands for Continuous Curved Cone, and combines the powerful bass response of a traditional straight cone with the superior midrange clarity and high-frequency control of a flared cone. This makes for a “controlled bass performance, expressive midrange and smoother integration with the high-frequency driver,” according to Q Acoustics.

But it also takes technology from the brand’s flagship Concept series. Its tweeter has a floating design that is hermetically sealed and mechanically isolated from the baffle, reducing internal pressure and midrange vibrations. Combined with the vented inner chamber, it should create ultra-low distortion and less colouring, as well as a lower crossover point and seamless transition between drivers.

Point to Point (P2P) bracing on internal areas of the cabinet creates a more focused stereo image and wider soundstage, while Helmholtz Pressure Equaliser (HPE) tubes nullify internal pressure to improve the frequency response.

Like the 3050c, it has a solid aluminium stabiliser design, with top-adjustable spikes for making it level. And it benefits from the 5000 series’ low-profile terminal panel with recessed binding posts that let you place it closer to a wall in order to maximise floorspace in smaller rooms.

The speaker cabinet features Q Acoustics’ signature curved profile, with no visible joints or bolts for a streamlined, minimalist look. And it comes in four finishes: Satin Black, Satin White, Pink Oak or Claro Walnut.

The 3040c is out now in the UK; it comes to the US in October. At £599 / $1099 (AU$TBC), it's priced just below the 3050c (which costs £749 / $1199).

MORE:

Read our Q Acoustics 3000c series hands-on review

And our Q Acoustics 3050c 5.1 with Q SUB100 review

The best floorstanding speakers around

KEF is to active speaker systems what Spain is to international football at the moment.

From the Award-winning LSX II active wireless stereo system to the Bluetooth-ready Coda W active standmounts, the brand’s blending of features and performance is where KEF has really shone over the past few years.

Acting as a step-up from the fiercely talented (and multiple Award-winning) LS50 Wireless II, the new KEF LS Luxe once again integrates amplification and streaming into a compact stereo system, incorporating all of KEF’s know-how into what is a decidedly more premium standmount package than the company has made before.

At £3500 / $4000 / AU$6375, we’re moving into more high-end territory compared with the £2199 / $2999 / AU$4295 LS50 Wireless II, with KEF claiming that the LS Luxe is the result of six years of research and development. Given how well the product performs, that time has been extremely well spent.

Build & design

“A presence designed to hold the room before a single note is played.”

That’s how KEF has described the LS Luxe’s looks, and while subjective tastes are likely to dictate exactly how you feel about the cabinets’ distinctive styling, there’s no question that the speakers themselves are capable of drawing the eye before they even have a chance to grab you by the ears.

The cabinet exteriors have been designed in collaboration with Ross Lovegrove, the Welsh designer with whom KEF previously joined forces when crafting the mighty Muon floorstanders, the portable Muo Bluetooth speaker, and the distinctive Mu headphones/earbuds range.

The LS Luxe very much continues the distinctive design language of Lovegrove’s previous collaborations, typified by their rounded, edgeless cabinets which, when sporting their ‘Dusk Titanium’ finish, positively gleam thanks to their luxuriously polished exteriors. That pebble-like speaker design will not be for everyone, and it may depend on which of the three finishes – Eclipse Black, Dusk Titanium or Mineral White – you choose.

What’s less up for debate is the tangible high quality of the speakers’ construction.

Pick up each speaker and you’ll feel how weighty and substantial they are, with everything about the LS Luxe – from the finish of their curved shells to the seamless integration of the driver array and front baffle – speaking of a product constructed with genuine care.

That design isn’t just for show, either. That curved form aims to improve performance by reducing the build-up of internal standing waves within the cabinet, whereas the use of durable ‘Bulk Moulding Compound’ (BMC) composite material reduces the need for excessive internal bracing, allowing for greater internal volume within the speakers to aid their low-frequency performance.

Turn the speakers around and you’ll see an equally distinctively designed aluminium heatsink, which is crafted to provide a greater surface area to more efficiently dissipate heat generated by the active electronics within. A flared reflex port also sits at the rear of each unit, designed using KEF’s ‘Flexible Port Technology’ where the port’s walls use a flexible material to reduce internal resonances.

At the heart of each speaker is KEF’s 12th-generation Uni-Q driver array, where the tweeter sits in the middle of the mid/bass unit in pursuit of more even sonic dispersion, better integration and improved time alignment. KEF’s now-familiar Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT), which absorbs rearward sound from the back of the tweeter dome, is also incorporated in pursuit of a cleaner, purer sound.

In terms of power, 280 watts of Class D amplification are directed to powering the mid/bass unit, while 100 watts of Class A/B amplification drives the tweeter.

That Uni-Q driver assembly is mechanically decoupled from the cabinet to reduce panel vibrations. Incorporated within the driver assembly is a decoupling chassis that damps the vibrations of the motor system, preventing them from feeding into the cabinet panels. The aim is to improve clarity and reduce distortion.

KEF has included a suitably premium-feeling remote control with the LS Luxe, as well as a speaker interconnect cable to optimise performance and an HDMI cable for use with your TV or home cinema set-up. Two power cables are also included, with both speakers requiring mains power – something to bear in mind when setting up your system.

What you don’t get included in the LS Luxe’s standard sale price are dedicated stands. If you want to get hold of a pair, KEF sells a set of S-Luxe stands for £800 / $800 / AU$1230 which you’ll have to put together yourself and screw into the base of each speaker.

That’s a considerable outlay on top of an already premium purchase, but our testing found that these stands help to optimise performance, secure the speakers in place and, thanks to their complementary aesthetic, and help them look their best. In other words, we feel that these stands would be money well spent.

Features

The KEF LS Luxe offers a suitably well-stocked connectivity suite to go with the system’s premium outlay.

KEF has been generous with the array of physical connectivity options on offer. Around the back of the primary speaker unit, you’ll find HDMI eARC, 3.5mm analogue, optical and coaxial inputs, while each of the two speakers has a dedicated output for adding a single subwoofer or a pair if necessary.

On the streaming side, the system uses KEF’s W2 Wireless Platform, which we’ve already experienced in the brand’s established LS wireless range. This grants access to popular streaming services such as Tidal Connect, Spotify Connect, Qobuz Connect and Deezer, along with internet radio.

There’s also the further convenience of AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast and Bluetooth 5.3, while UPnP compatibility means you can stream hi-res music from a connected external NAS drive. Roon Ready support is slated to arrive in 2027.

Hi-res file support depends on how you choose to set up and listen, with KEF’s new system capable of handling PCM files up to 24-bit/384kHz alongside DSD128. If you’re using a wireless connection between your speakers, those higher resolution files are internally downsampled to 24-bit/96kHz, whereas connecting the master and slave speakers using the included interconnect cable pushes playback up to 24-bit/192kHz.

Further technologies seek to enhance the LS Luxe’s performance beyond mere hardware. This is the first speaker product to feature KEF’s ‘Velocity Control Technology’, as seen in the brand’s five-star XIO soundbar, where the speed of cone movement is measured, and any differences between that and the expected value are compensated for in real time. The result is lower distortion levels.

Additionally, a proprietary ‘Music Integrity Engine’ tech uses digital signal processing algorithms to maintain accuracy and tonality no matter the volume at which the LS Luxe is played.

For getting the most out of your shiny new set-up, you’ll want to download the comprehensive and easy-to-use KEF Connect app, from which you’ll be able to control and set up your speakers. You can tweak the sound yourself using a customisable equaliser, while KEF’s ‘Room EQ’ digital signal processing helps you fine-tune your sound to your listening space.

It’s worth spending a bit of time with the app’s calibration settings, as, while the LS Luxe isn’t a prima donna in terms of positioning, you’ll certainly notice a difference when you tinker with the app’s various parameters, such as room size, the distance you’ve placed your speakers from your wall, and how damped your listening space is.

Sound

We decide to give our review sample the best chance possible to showcase its talents by screwing each speaker tightly to their dedicated S-Luxe stands, using the provided inter-speaker cable for the highest transmission rate possible (24-bit/192kHz), and kicking off with some hi-res wireless streaming via Tidal.

Naturally, we experiment with positioning, and find that they perform best with the speakers firing straight ahead and sitting roughly 30cm from the back wall of our 3m x 4m x 7m listening room.

Thanks in part to that updated Uni-Q driver array, the LS Luxe is gratifyingly unfussy about placement, producing a supremely well-integrated sound that remains consistent no matter our listening position.

What we discover is a wireless system with poise, control and, dare we say it, genuine grace. Like a fine wine or one of those acclaimed French arthouse movies, the KEF LS Luxe needs a little time for its true spectrum of talents to be appreciated.

The LS Luxe does not reach out and grab us by our lapels; instead, it reproduces our music with an even-handed, mature yet authoritative nature that slowly but inevitably places us under its bewitching spell.

This is a sonic signature we’ve heard before, from the more affordable LSX II and LSX II LT stereo systems and the established LS50 Wireless II. But the Luxe piles on extra helpings of detail and precision to that confident, articulate presentation we’ve experienced from KEF in recent years.

Listen to Massive Attack’s Atlas Air, and you’ll get a clear indication that for clarity, textural detail and overall scale, the LS Luxe is considerably ahead of the LS50 Wireless II, anchored by a taut, authoritative bass reproduction that sinks low without sagging like a bulldog’s floppy jowls.

While what we’re dealing with is a standmount speaker system, the scale and authority showcased belie the Luxe’s compact form. We load up Hans Zimmer’s Why Do We Fall? from the Dark Knight Rises soundtrack, and our reward is a rendition that soars with so much power, scope and grandeur that it’s hard to resist the urge to don our cape and cowl and go out looking for bad guys to bring to justice.

Punch and panache live side by side, with the LS Luxe knitting music together so expertly that even truly demanding tracks can’t catch it napping. Whether it's the gale-force hurricane of Slipknot’s Before I Forget, the magisterial grandeur of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture or the carefully curated strangeness of Yosi Horiko’s Bubbles, the Luxe barely breaks a sweat.

Interlocking rhythms are expressive and nimble, while dynamic ebbs and flows are communicated confidently without sounding artificial or overdone.

We use our Cyrus CDi player connected to the optical input to test the internal DAC, and again, that core character is firmly intact as we spin Jeff Buckley’s Grace, and the LS Luxe excels at revealing the intimacy, delicacy and emotion of the seminal record. We also connect the Luxe to the Cyrus using a 3.5mm to RCA adapter cable, and we continue to receive a high standard of performance.

While most of our listening is done using the S-Luxe stands, we also place the speakers on our tried-and-tested FS104 Signature plinths, and while the performance remains impressive, it isn’t as crisp and dynamic. The speakers themselves are just about compact enough to be placed on a desk, but at this premium price, they’re best suited to being listened to on stands.

Switching to Bluetooth will also result in an inevitable drop-off in clarity and precision, but the LS Luxe still retains its even, mature nature when playing through this less-than-ideal streaming medium. They do their best to shine, but it’s clear that we’re placing a limit on the system’s considerable abilities.

Verdict

The LS Luxe feels like another milestone in KEF’s recent history of providing outstanding wireless stereo speaker systems.

Yes, it’s a good deal more expensive than the LS50 Wireless II, and no, that distinctive curved design won’t be for everyone – but in terms of performance, this is a mightily impressive addition to KEF’s catalogue.

If you’re willing to pay that premium price – and fork out a bit extra for some dedicated stands to get the best out of them – then slick performance and outstanding sound will be your reward.

Review published: 30th July 2026

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Features 5
• Build 5

MORE:

Read our review of the KEF LS50 Wireless II

KEF LS Luxe versus KEF LS50 Wireless II: which five-star wireless speaker system is better?

Also consider the KEF LSX II

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Quad has announced the release of two new speakers as part of its Elegan Series: the standmountable Elegan 1 and the floorstanding Elegan 2.

According to the company, the Elegan Series are “spiritual successors” to its L Series speakers, which gained popularity in the early 2000s.

The Elegan 1 are priced at £749 / $995 / AU$1699 per pair, while the Elegan 2 cost £1499 / $1995 / AU$3499. Both speakers are built around the company's woven Kevlar driver technology, which sees the speakers’ cones formed from lattice-woven Kevlar.

Quad claims that using Kevlar, which has a high tensile strength and light weight, allows the speaker cone to deliver “precise pistonic behaviour over a wider bandwidth, reducing unwanted resonance and improving midrange clarity”.

The Elegan 1 is a two-way design, pairing a 16.5cm Kevlar mid/bass driver with a 25mm fabric-dome tweeter. Quad says the Elegan 1 speakers are best suited for smaller rooms and near to mid-field listening.

The Elegan 2, on the other hand, is a three-way design, which uses dual 16.5cm bass drivers alongside a 12.5cm midrange driver and the same 25mm fabric-dome tweeter. All drivers other than the tweeter use woven Kevlar cones, and the midrange driver is housed within its own internal chamber, which Quad says ensures “clarity and expression” across the midrange.

Both models feature high-frequency waveguides, which the company claims “optimises dispersion and supports a smooth transition into the midrange”.

The speakers also employ high density cabinet walls, internal bracing and damping materials to control panel resonance. Quad says that the speakers’ structural integrity is reflected by their “significant weight”, with each Elegan 1 speaker weighing 8.9kg, while the Elegan 2 weigh 27.8kg per speaker.

The Quad Elegan 1 and Elegan 2 speakers are now available in deep matte black or walnut wood veneers, priced at £749 and £1499 per pair, respectively.

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If you've been eyeing a pair of Monitor Audio's statement Hyphn floorstanding speakers, your choice of potential finishes just got a lot more extensive.

That's because Monitor has announced that the Hyphn are now available in over 200 custom colourways. Customers can select from a variety of Matte, Gloss and Metallic finishes across a range of over 200 colours, with each custom-finished Hyphn cabinet painted and assembled by hand in the UK.

For those unfamiliar with the Hyphn, the heavyweight floorstanders were built to commemorate Monitor's 50th birthday. Each speaker boasts a total of 11 drive units in total, including a micro pleated diaphragm tweeter surrounded by six midrange units and four bass drivers.

The cabinets, which you can daub in practically any colour you like, are formed using mineral and acrylic stone and then precision milled, resulting in what Monitor Audio describes as a totally rigid structure "that provides the perfect platform from which the drive units can operate".

The three original Hyphn finishes – Matte Heritage Green, Matte Black, and Pure Satin White – remain available. The Hyphn will set you back £70,000 / €82,500 / $92,500 per pair for the standard paint editions, while adding a custom finish will bump that up to £80,250 / €92,500 / €102,500 per pair.

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Last year, we gave Monitor Audio’s Bronze 50 7G standmounter speakers a five-star review, singing their praises for clear sound and punchy presentation. Consequently, when the floorstanding speakers from the same range, the Bronze 300 7G, arrived at our testing facility, we found ourselves waiting with bated breath to see if they could carry the Bronze 50’s flame.

Priced at £1000 / $1400 / AUS$2199, these floorstanders situate themselves at the top end of an increasingly competitive price bracket. Rivals include the Award-winning Fyne Audio F501E, which deliver punchy bass and cohesive presentation, and the recently five-star-rated Dali Sonik 5 that impressed us with expressive dynamics from a compact size.

Through experience, we know that a competitive market can sometimes lead to exciting progress in audio. “Iron sharpens iron,” as the famous proverb goes. But the real question is, will these Monitor Audio Bronze 300 7G speakers manage to rise to the challenge?

Build & design

The Bronze 300 7G are large speakers, standing at 100.5 x 26.9 x 39.2cm. But thanks to their tasteful design, they look sleek and sit comfortably in our listening room, avoiding the dominant appearance of similarly sized rivals, such as the Fyne F501E.

The MDF cabinets are wrapped in a satin vinyl finish that is available in three colours: black, white and walnut. Our black test pair have a pleasingly well-constructed feel, and their real wood front ply panels contribute to an overall sense of solidity and understated style.

Care is taken with the internal bracing, which is strategically placed between the drivers and the back of the enclosures to improve structural rigidity.

The speakers also feature Monitor Audio’s proprietary rear-firing HiVe II ports, positioned at the top and bottom of each cabinet, which are lined with grooves to reduce port turbulence, preventing chuffing sounds.

Spikes can be screwed into the speakers’ robust metal feet, and height can be adjusted by spinning the circular rubber pads that the spikes screw into. Assembling these parts is simple, and we find that they hold firm throughout testing.

The Bronze 300 7G floorstanders are a two-and-a-half-way design, and see the lower driver solely dedicated to handling bass in order to augment the low frequency output of the midrange driver above it.

The bass and midrange drivers are both 15cm in diameter, while the higher frequencies are looked after by one of the company’s trademark 25mm gold dome tweeters. All of the driver diaphragms are made from the company’s C-CAM (ceramic-coated aluminium magnesium) material, which it claims is lightweight and rigid.

The drivers are linked through a bi-wired crossover, and the resultant sensitivity is 88dB/w/m, with a nominal impedance of 8 ohms – fairly typical figures for a pair of floorstanders of this type.

The minimum impedance of 4.4 ohms suggests these speakers will work best with a beefier amplifier, which is typical for floorstanders of this type.

Compatibility

When it comes to positioning, these floorstanding speakers are more or less par for the course.

Monitor Audio recommends placing the Bronze 300 7G in an isosceles triangle arrangement, with a gap of 20-36cm from the back of the speaker to the rear wall.

In our 3 x 4 x 7m (hwd) test room, we settle at the top end of that range, as that achieves our preferred tonal balance, gives an expansive stereo image and avoids a dominant, ponderous low end.

When it comes to partnering electronics, we find the Bronze 300 7G work better with the smoother, more relaxed Arcam A15+ stereo amplifier than they do with the somewhat more front-footed Naim Nait XS 3 integrated. In the case of the latter, the speakers edge towards a slightly relentless presentation.

Sound

Monitor Audio suggests giving the Bronze 300 7G a minimum of 50 hours to settle, and, indeed, we find that their sound improves drastically after a few days of playing, shifting from a somewhat clinical and lean sound to a more pleasantly balanced, texturally detailed presentation.

Listening to The Bill Evans Trio’s rendition of My Foolish Heart, cymbals sit atop the mix for a sparkling, well-proportioned shine, while the brushed snare swells from beat to beat with satisfying texture.

Separation is the Bronze 300 7G's forte, and across our music library, the speakers reveal individual instrumental parts with striking clarity. Listening to the Minnesota Orchestra’s performance of Rachmaninoff’s I. Non allegro, instrumental tones arrive defined and crystal clear. Even in dense orchestral arrangements, we have little trouble picking out individual parts.

These are a responsive pair of speakers, too, and they don’t miss a beat when it comes to transients. Throughout Leonard Cohen’s Steer Your Way, the plucked acoustic guitar is presented with a crispness that leaves us feeling as though we are sitting right in front of the guitarist’s fingers.

Although their low frequency performance is leaner than certain rivals, we enjoy the speakers’ agile bass handling, which allows their natural midrange to shine. Vocal lines take centre stage, and Cohen’s lyrics arrive with all the depth and melancholic passion we expect from the godfather of gloom, without blurring or exaggeration.

In the treble frequencies, these speakers bring recordings to life with a vivaciousness that keeps us on our toes, without becoming shrill or domineering. If poorly partnered, they can veer towards a fatiguing sound, but careful system matching will avoid this, highlighting their many strengths.

One of those strengths is the Bronze 300 7G’s stereo imaging, which we find to be layered and stable. While listening to Simon and Garfunkel’s Song For Kathy, we are confronted by a striking sense of focus, as if Paul Simon were sitting between the two speakers in our test room.

As we move around the room, we are pleased to find that the image remains distinct, within the expected constraints of a conventional driver array, which suggests that these speakers have well-controlled dispersion characteristics and good integration between the drivers.

Tonally, these Bronze 300 7G are balanced, with nothing unpleasantly standing out, but we feel they are somewhat lacking in natural warmth. During Song For Kathy, we would have preferred some more richness in the lower notes of the delicate acoustic guitar.

Across the genres we play during testing – from Rachmaninoff to D’Angelo’s Spanish Joint – we are in no doubt as to the Bronze 300 7G's many strengths. They routinely turn in a capable performance that brims with insight.

However, we don’t think these speakers are necessarily the most entertaining listen available at this price, with rivals such as the Dali Sonik 5 delivering music with greater enthusiasm and rhythmic drive.

Verdict

The Monitor Audio Bronze 300 7G pair an aesthetically classy, well-constructed design with a sound that is balanced and impressively detailed, to provide an enjoyable listening experience that shines during dense arrangements. But the standards of the class are so high that even an accomplished pair of floorstanders such as this doesn’t quite make the top grade.

Review published: 16th July 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 5
• Compatibility 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Fyne Audio F501E

Also consider the Dali Sonik 5

Best floorstanding speakers: budget to premium models tested by our experts

Active speakers – speakers with built-in amplification directly powering the drive units – have become more and more popular these days. Their space-saving form negates the need for separate boxes for amplifiers and trailing cables, reducing clutter and making for neater systems.

Most active speakers these days also come with built-in DAC and digital inputs, sometimes a phono stage, and more often than not hi-res network streaming or at least Bluetooth included for ultimate all-in-one convenience. Acoustic Energy bucks this trend by keeping its new AE Active speakers purely analogue.

This new model builds on the five-star, Award-winning AE1 Active speakers we tested back in 2018 and have highly recommended since, and features updated acoustic technology and refined design for a new generation.

Build & design

The Acoustic Energy AE Active are a fully active two-way design, with 50W of Class A/B amplification powering each drive unit. That’s a total power output of 200W, with the amplifiers being refined in this new generation to improve dynamic capability. Each speaker has its own mains plug for power, with the revised amps fed by high-quality linear power supplies to ensure a consistent, low-noise performance throughout the frequency range.

The 40-year-old Acoustic Energy brand continues its tradition of using metal drivers in its new active speakers. The 27mm aluminium dome tweeter has a new rear chamber for reducing distortion at certain frequencies in the crossover region, and is combined with a dedicated waveguide to deliver a wide soundstage.

These speakers use the same 12.5cm mid/bass driver that was developed for the recent AE1 40th Anniversary passive speakers. This is a “pure-piston” ceramic/aluminium cone that is low in mass but very stiff, and has been engineered to minimise cone flex and distortion.

The analogue filters have been improved to minimise any phase disturbances. There is a rear-facing bass slot port that has also been updated, while internally the cabinet has had extensive bracing and internal damping panels to further improve performance.

The cabinets themselves have been subtly refined, with a neater trim around the drivers that overall looks rather smart and subtly elegant. The speakers are available in three finishes: high gloss black or white, and a new natural walnut wood veneer. Our sample’s wood veneer finish feels lovely to the touch, with a smooth texture and high quality finish throughout.

The standmounts have a fairly compact footprint and look most at home on dedicated speaker stands, although they could be placed on a large, sturdy desk if you are using them as nearfield monitors. You’ll just need to make sure both speakers are within reach of a mains power socket.

Features

The AE Active speakers eschew any digital or streaming elements entirely. Acoustic Energy says it experimented with modern features such as wireless streaming, switch mode power supplies, Class D amplification and DSP, but ultimately didn’t want to compromise the pure audio performance. The AE Active have a fully analogue signal path that avoids any digital processing entirely in the quest to preserve the original audio file’s integrity.

As such, you get two analogue inputs: a pair of balanced XLR inputs and a pair of stereo RCA inputs.

On one hand, this purist approach is commendable, but it’s a little old-fashioned and won’t appeal to everyone, particularly those looking for an easy solution. There’s a reason most active speakers these days – such as the KEF Coda W, Fyne Cubitt 5 and Cambridge Audio L/R S – come with Bluetooth and a variety of digital inputs to work with modern sources including TVs and laptops.

On the other hand, this pared-down approach does keep the Acoustic Energy rather flexible and future-proof. The speakers have integrated volume control, which means you can directly plug in a source such as a CD player or hi-res music streamer. You can also plug in a preamp or an external DAC to widen the connectivity, and it allows for a potential upgrade path down the line.

On the back panel on both units, you’ll find bass and treble controls to fine-tune the sound to the room they’re in, especially if dealing with less-than-ideal placements. One new feature is the auto on/off switch that lets you choose between leaving the speakers on permanently or activating standby mode after 15 minutes of inactivity.

That the active speakers come with built-in volume control is great news – this means they don’t require a separate preamp with volume control to function, such as the more premium ATC SCM20ASL active speakers do.

The only real complaint we have is with the placement and design of the volume controls. The dials are placed on the speakers’ back panel – this might be fine if the speakers are within reach on a desk, but it’s not practical if they’re on stands and you’re on your sofa. No, there is no remote control included here.

The bigger issue is that there are independent volume controls for each unit, with no clear markings on the dials. This means there is more chance of the volume not being perfectly level and balanced between the units, as you have to set them individually. We would much prefer it if there was one volume control that controlled both speakers’ levels.

A preamp or source with volume control comes in handy here, such as the Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition music streamer we used throughout testing, so you can take the guesswork out of it.

Sound

Placed on stands and with the Naim Uniti Atom HE streamer playing a variety of radio, WAV and hi-res FLAC songs, the AE Active don’t take long to show their talents.

The control they have over every note is astounding at this level. The piano notes in Alicia Keys’ Fallin’ sound tremendously composed and land with solidity and confidence. Each note starts and stops with unerring punctuality, with the rhythm of every song we play being marshalled with a kind of military precision that is hugely impressive.

The amount and quality of bass coming from these not-particularly-large cabinets is also impressive, and we had a blast playing tracks with intense basslines just to hear what these AE Actives can do. There is real muscle and impact to the basslines of Major Lazer’s Pon de Floor, but there’s agility and texture here too. It’s all pulled taut and has the immediacy that is inherent in active speaker designs.

The busy arrangement and high-octane energy of the track are handled with ease by the speakers, too, with every note sounding crisp and positioned accurately in the soundstage – but without ever losing the party vibe.

Dynamically, the AE Actives are fantastic. The snappy transient response of these active speakers means sudden shifts in quiet-to-loud moments are brilliantly and speedily communicated, while slow-burning moments – such as Clint Mansell’s instrumental Moon soundtrack – sound fluid and retain their sense of tension.

Play Kate Bush’s Watching You Without Me and the AE Active reveal high notes with the right mix of clarity, headroom and bite, but without any undue brightness or sharpness. The overall sound from these active speakers is rather clean and with low-distortion throughout the frequencies, which also means we can enjoy listening at high volumes without hardness or woolliness creeping in.

The stereo imaging is similarly focused and composed, with voices showing off just how well integrated the AE Actives' drivers are. The speakers have no problem revealing the different voices, intonations and personalities in Eminem’s Stan. From The Unthanks’ delicate, nuanced vocals on Mount The Air to Eminem’s rapid-fire, ferocious rapping on Godzilla, the AE Actives reveal the character and intensity of every song with a good amount of detail and nuance.

The Acoustic Energy speakers are just about transparent enough that you are aware of the distinct recording qualities of albums from different eras, but they don’t make too much of a fuss over the quality of each track. The overall sound could perhaps be a little more fluid and airy-sounding, and they may struggle to fill very large rooms. When listening in our larger 3m x 7m x 5m (hwd) test room, the AE Actives sound a touch dynamically restrained, but they come to life in our smaller 3m x 4m x 7m room, with a bit of breathing room from the back wall to balance the bass performance.

We swap to a price-equivalent separates amplifier and speaker pairing of the Arcam A5+ and Acoustic Energy AE300 Mk2 (both current Award-winners in their respective categories), and find this offers a more relaxed and wider soundstage. They sound rather soft in the bass, though, and don’t go as deep either. Overall, they can’t match the speed, precision and agility of the AE Active speaker.

Verdict

The Acoustic Energy AE Active are a niche product in today’s audio landscape, but they are a tremendously talented and capable pair of active speakers. They are a viable alternative to a traditional separates pairing at this price, and could well be the last chain in your hi-fi system you’ll have to update. Highly recommended.

Review published: 14th July 2026

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Features 3

MORE:

Read our review of the KEF Coda W

Also consider the ATC SCM20ASL

Best active speakers: our experts pick the top pairs with integrated amplifiers

Danish hi-fi firm Dynaudio is exiting the US market just a few months short of its 50th anniversary.

According to a press release, Dynaudio has chosen "to focus its future market development efforts on Europe and Asia as part of its long-term business strategy."

As a result, it will "cease operations of its commercial activities in North America and permanently shut down its U.S. subsidiary in the fall of 2026."

Dynaudio cites "ongoing economic challenges and market uncertainty" for its withdrawal, despite sales having grown in the region. US president Donald Trump recently repeated his claim that Greenland should be controlled by the US and not Denmark – it's not known if tensions between the two countries played a part in Dynaudio's decision.

Dynaudio says it is committed to ensuring a "smooth transition" for customers and business partners in the region, and will soon share a plan for continuity of product support and customer service.

We've contacted Dynaudio for more information and will update this story if we hear back.

Founded in 1977 in Skanderborg, Denmark, Dynaudio makes a range of speakers for the consumer, studio, car audio and custom install markets. In 2022 it revamped its Focus active range, and about 18 months ago announced a premium concept soundbar – the Symphony Opus One – which it demonstrated at the recent High End Vienna show. It has previously made speakers for Volvo, Volkswagen and Bugatti cars.

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The size of the average UK living room is now just a third of what it was in the 1970s, according to a survey by LABC (a UK representative body for local council building inspectors). Of course, as living space constricts, so does the amount of room being allocated to hi-fi set-ups.

That’s where speakers like the Dali Sonik 5 come into play. With a compact design and a price of £899 / $1800 / AUS$1749 – just shy of the current Award-winning Fyne Audio F501E at £999 / $1299 / AU$1999 – these Dali floorstanders strike a pleasing balance between convenience, cost and quality.

The new series of Sonik speakers replace the discontinued and much-loved Oberon range, making the Sonik 5 the successor to the five-star Oberon 5. A tough act to follow, given the multiple What Hi-Fi? Awards under its predecessor’s belt.

On inspection, the apple doesn’t seem to have fallen far from the tree between these models, with similar dimensions and driver configuration. But the question is, will these new floorstanders throw down the gauntlet or leave us reminiscing about the good ol’ days?

Build

The Dali Sonik 5 are compact two-way towers, with fairly diminutive dimensions of 82.6 × 16.2 × 27cm (hwd). Their petite size means these speakers never dominate visually and will fit seamlessly into most spaces.

The internally braced MDF cabinets are clad in high-grade laminate and come in four finishes: natural oak, white, walnut and black ash. On our test pair, the walnut finish looks convincingly wood-like and complements the clean front panel cosmetics well, making it look notably more modern than the Oberon 5.

In terms of drive units, there are two 13cm mid/bass drivers loaded with a rear port, and a 29mm soft dome tweeter. The mid/bass diaphragms use Dali’s trademark mix of fine-grain paper pulp reinforced with wood fibres, which the company claims provides rigidity, good damping and light weight.

The drive units employ Dali’s patented SMC (Soft Magnetic Composite) technology in the motor system to reduce distortion, which should help with optimising detail, transparency and dynamics.

All three drivers are linked through a single-wired two-way crossover, resulting in a sensitivity of 88dB/w/m and nominal impedance of 6 ohms – identical to the Oberon 5. These are typical figures, and shouldn’t cause any problems when paired with decent, price-compatible amplifiers. That said, Dali recommends pairing it with an amplifier with a power rating of 30-150 watts.

Compatibility

In terms of positioning, we find the Sonik 5 sound best facing straight ahead, with a gap of at least 0.8m from our testing room’s rear wall. When angled in, the sound is a little narrower and brighter than we would like. Positioned too close to the wall, the bass starts to dominate.

If you are listening at close range – say, closer than two metres – then it’s likely that the tweeter will be well below your ear height. In which case, we recommend tilting the speakers slightly upwards, so that the tweeter axis lines up with your ears. If your listening position is further away from the speakers, this becomes less of an issue.

In terms of partnering electronics, we found the Dali speakers coped well with similarly priced separates. We got good results from both five-star Arcam A15+ and Naim Nait XS 3 stereo amplifiers.

For the bulk of this test, we were streaming hi-res tracks using the Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition music streamer, or playing compact discs from the Cyrus CDi CD player.

Sound

After giving the Sonik 5 a few days to settle in, we find ourselves thoroughly impressed by their performance. With an intricate and highly musical sound, these speakers are versatile, proving themselves a serious contender across genres.

Listening to Nude by Radiohead, we enjoy powerful but pleasingly tight bass for the speakers’ small size, vivid textural details across the frequency range, and a musical presentation that conveys each of the instruments with good separation, allowing their individual tonal qualities to shine through. At a similar price, the larger Fyne F501E produce deeper bass, but sacrifice a degree of precision in the process.

While listening to Johnny Cash’s I Won’t Back Down, backing harmonies have a pleasant, airy quality, while Cash’s voice holds its own in its chesty, elderly bass. Most impressively, his vocal remains crystalline, occupying centre stage with an eerily lifelike presence.

Dynamically, the Sonik 5 are responsive. We find that the decay of certain notes, dynamic swells and subtle ebbs in volume are all conveyed with a faithfulness that outperforms both the Oberon 5 and the Fyne F501E. No mean feat.

Dali’s speakers are not traditionally shy when it comes to treble, but with such refined textures and an ability to sparkle without veering into shrill territory, the manufacturer’s boldness has, once again, earned our respect.

Their midrange is another highlight, evoking palpable humanity and emotion from voices as varied as Tom Jones and Martha Wainwright. We enjoy the texture and natural warmth that the Sonik 5 reveal in vocal performances across our music collection.

Rhythmically, these speakers are highly adaptive, with the capacity to maintain a musical sense of momentum, even when faced with the raucous rhythms of Elvis Costello’s 20% Amnesia. But they cope just as well with the subtle undercurrents of John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, Pt. III – Pursuance.

These Dalis work well with classical recordings, too. Listening to Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No. 3, the cello’s delicate texture is preserved even when it plays incredibly quietly, as it does for extended periods in the piece. When the symphony swells to its dramatic climax, the scale and depth of field conveyed by the Sonik 5 leave us feeling the music to our very core.

The Sonik 5 maintain a stable stereo image, which by price standards is precise and well focused. Symphony No. 3 allows the speakers’ stereo image to shine, highlighting their layered soundstage, which retains focus and precision, even in dense arrangements.

Verdict

With a pleasingly compact size and excellent sound, we think the Dali Sonik 5 will make a superb addition to any home set-up, especially if you’re working with small spaces.

Provided you are willing to take some time to set them up carefully, these floorstanding speakers have plenty to offer, with a sound that transcends their dimensions.

Review published: 8th July 2026

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Compatibility 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Fyne Audio F501E

Also consider the Dali Oberon 5

Best floorstanding speakers 2026: budget to premium models tested by our experts

Sonus Faber has unveiled the third generation of its premium Olympica loudspeaker range, which features new acoustic technology taken from the Italian audio brand's flagship Suprema speaker system, alongside cosmetic refinements. The five-strong range consists of two floorstanders, a standmount speaker, a centre channel and slim on-wall unit.

All speakers in the new range feature the Camelia midrange that was first developed for the Suprema system. Inspired by the shape of the camelia flower, this non-circular driver is made from fibre materials and features a fabric surround, and its distinct, irregular shape is designed to reduce the unwanted resonances found in more conventional drivers.

It is left unpainted too, and promises "exceptional clarity, transparency, and vocal realism."

All speakers feature a silk dome tweeter, while the 16.5cm woofers in the floorstanders (three for the Olympica V, two for the Olympica III) are new for the third-generation and feature an 'organic basket' with a honeycomb structure.

This helps to maximise airflow around the woofers while providing exceptional mechanical stability, for tighter, cleaner bass reproduction. Coupled with an advanced aluminium phase plug and new damping ring technology, this should result in greater dynamics and clarity too.

Additionally, the two floorstanders – Olympica V and Olympica III – feature a cork lining in the closed tweeter and midrange housing, which absorbs unwanted energy and reflections within the chamber to further aid the natural quality and transparency of the midrange performance.

Both floorstanders are three-way designs, with the larger Olympica V promising "expansive scale, powerful dynamics and full-range performance" that is ideally suited to larger rooms. The step-down Olympica III floorstander aims to bring that sound to "room-friendly proportions" for a wider range of spaces, while the Olympica I is a compact two-way standmount speaker that brings the range's sound signature to a smaller rooms while still offering "exceptional imaging, clarity, and emotional engagement."

All three speakers feature a silk dome tweeter and have a ported design.

“What has always defined Sonus Faber is our belief that beauty and performance should never be separated,” says Jim Mollica, president of Luxury Audio at Bose, who are the new owners of Sonus Faber. “While others prioritise one or the other, Olympica G3 unites refined Italian design and handcrafted attention to detail with advanced acoustic innovation to bring listeners closer to the music.”

The three-way Centre channel is designed to deliver articulate dialogue for use within in a home cinema surround system, while the slimline two-way Wall speaker is designed to be more discreetly integrated in on-wall systems.

The Olympica G3 features hallmarks of the brand's luxury craftsmanship, such as the lute-shaped cabinet design, which now features a herringbone real wood veneer – taken from the celebrated Stradivari floorstanders – and aluminium accents for an elevated look.

The range comes in Walnut or Wengè finishes, and is available to buy now. Sonus Faber's hand-crafted speakers are firmly on the high-end side, and the new Olympica G3 is no different, although it's a far cry from the £470,000 / $850,000 price tag of the reference Suprema floorstanders.

Prices are as follows:

Olympica G3 V floorstanders: £25,000 / $30,000
Olympica G3 III floorstanders: £20,000 / $24,000
Olympica G3 I standmounts: £10,000 / $13,000
Olympica G3 Centre: £9300 / $10,500
Olympica G3 Wall: £6500 / $8000

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Focal's latest high-end floorstanders are "an ode to the art of listening at home”

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Focal has revealed the Scala Utopia Evo M floorstanding speakers.

An evolution of the brand's established Scala Utopia Evo, these new 'M' edition floorstanders are defined by two core innovations: the inclusion of Focal's new 'PRISM' tweeter and a new 'M-profile' W midrange driver.

That PRISM tweeter was first introduced recently in Focal's high-end Diva Alta Utopia wireless speaker system and now makes its way to the three-way Scala Evo M towers. This unit uses a combination of composite materials to strike the ideal balance between lightness and damping – Focals says it achieves an even higher level of rigidity than the beryllium tweeter used in previous generations.

The new M-profile W midrange unit is derived from the Utopia Main professional monitor range, with a structure that teases "exceptional rigidity" and ultra-low distortion. Focal claims this should result in a mid-frequency response that is "more transparent, precise and natural" than before.

The W woofer has also been completely redesigned, and uses a dual-ferrite motor that promises "powerful, deep, controlled bass."

Further technologies that have appeared in other high-end Focal speakers aim to add "balance and coherence" to the new floorstanders.

Focal's 'TMD' driver suspension limits cone deformation and reduces resultant distortion, while the proprietary 'Optimum Phase Crossover' technology diminishes phase issues and enhances the speakers' ability to adapt their tonal balance according to the size and type of the room in which they're placed.

The three-way towers employ Focal's 'Focus Time' configuration, which is an articulated spine structure that arcs the speakers' design towards the listener, aiding with time alignment with the various drivers in play.

The overall aim of the Scala Utopia Evo M is to deliver "even more faithful and dynamic reproduction, capable of revealing the full richness of the most demanding recordings."

Available in five high-gloss lacquer or natural wood finishes, the new Focal Scala Utopia Evo M floorstanders are available now, priced at €40,000 / $46,000 per pair (UK price to be confirmed).

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Most hi-fi enthusiasts have heard of the BBC-designed LS3/5A speakers. This tiny monitor was introduced in 1975 and has built a cult following thanks to its natural way with vocals and terrific stereo imaging. Given its small size and age, it will come as no surprise that it has limitations too, with restricted large-scale dynamics, an inability to play loud and limited bass reach, the most obvious.

The BBC also designed a bigger, more ambitious option, the LS5/9. It was released eight years after the LS3/5A and was intended to serve as a critical-listening monitor in modestly sized studios where the company’s bigger models just wouldn’t work. Its job was to allow the sound engineers to optimise all aspects of the broadcast/recording from microphone placement to overall sonic balance.

The BBC is a broadcaster rather than a speaker manufacturer, so as with its other designs, the LS5/9 is made under license by third-party companies such as Graham Audio. The Devon-based speaker manufacturer proudly proclaims its official licence on the packaging of these speakers.

Given that there are unofficial versions of this LS5/9 on the market, that seal of approval, at the very least, is a statement that the company has stayed faithful to the original design.

Design & build

The LS5/9 is a medium-sized, two-way monitor. It stands 46cm tall and has an internal volume of 28 litres, compared to the mere 5 litres of its smaller sibling. The front-ported cabinet follows the BBC’s favoured thin-wall construction method.

In this monitor, the enclosure’s panels are made of 9mm birch plywood and then heavily damped to move any resonances away from the all-important midrange region. Most current designs take the opposite approach, using thick panels that are more rigid but have resonances higher up the frequency range into areas where our hearing is more sensitive.

The LS5/9 is available in two standard hand-matched real wood veneers – cherry and oak – and three more premium options: ebony, rosewood and walnut. In a nod to modernity, Graham Audio has included magnetically mounted grilles for neatness.

Overall build quality is excellent. The oak veneer on our review sample looks lovely, while fit and finish are as good as the price point demands.

It isn’t possible to buy the original LS5/9 mid/bass unit, so Graham Audio, in partnership with Volt Loudspeakers, developed a new driver that complies with the BBC’s specifications. This 20cm polypropylene unit uses a rigid die-cast aluminium frame and has what is claimed to be a ‘massive’ motor assembly. Each driver is hand-assembled and tested by Volt.

OEM driver supplier, Audax, still manufactures the LS5/9’s official tweeter, and that’s what Graham Audio uses. This is an unusually large 34mm soft dome that is protected by a fearsome-looking metal grille.

Its output level is factory-set, but it can be tweaked to match your listening environment using exposed connections on the front panel. This involves moving a soldered wire between the three options (-1dB, 0dB (level) and +1dB), so it isn’t a particularly convenient thing to do. In most cases, we suspect that people will leave well alone.

The LS5/9’s crossover is relatively complex in design. It uses high-grade polypropylene capacitors and, unusually, a tapped autotransformer to equalise the tweeter level. The result is a sensitivity of 87dB/W/m and a nominal impedance of 8 ohms – pretty standard numbers for a speaker of this type.

Compatibility

Indeed, these speakers don’t prove particularly hard to drive. We try a range of amplifiers from Arcam’s A15+ and the Cyrus 40 AMP to our reference Burmester 088/911 MkIII pre/power without issue.

Our main sources are Naim’s ND555/555 PS DR music streamer and the Technics SL-1000R/Kiseki Purpleheart MC feeding a Cyrus Phono Signature/ PSX-R2 phono stage.

It pays to take care over speaker positioning. In our 3 x 7 x 5m listening room, the LS5/9 sound best around 70cm out into the room, angled in towards the listening position, though their controlled lows make a closer-to-wall position acceptable.

Once optimised, they provide a relatively broad listening sweetspot and their presentation remains impressively consistent as we move around the room. This trait points to great integration between the drive units and a well-calibrated crossover design.

These monitors are voiced to perform best with the grilles on, and they will sound a little bright and forward if you don’t use them this way. Aim to have the tweeter around ear height for the most balanced results.

Sound

Note, despite the age of the basic design, the LS5/9 speakers are highly revealing. If there are any shortcomings in your amplifier, source or the recording you play, they won’t be shy about telling you.

If you are at all familiar with the much more forgiving LS3/5A, that might come as a bit of a shock. Remember, the LS5/9 were designed as proper critical-monitoring speakers, and the LS3/5A were not; the ability to dissect recordings and highlight flaws further up the chain is the bigger speaker’s raison d'être.

Given their intended purpose in life, it comes as no surprise that the LS5/9 are even-handed and essentially neutral. They’re not massive boxes, so we wouldn’t expect seismic bass from them, and we don’t get it. But the lows they do produce are taut, articulate and dovetail seamlessly with the midrange.

As we play Kendrick Lamar’s Humble, it is hard not to admire the LS5/9’s insight into low-end subtleties and their ability to play loud without stress. Bear in mind the design’s age, it is even more impressive. The BBC’s original specifications stipulate 100dB monitoring levels, so the ability to play at high levels was baked in from the beginning.

Their midrange is another highlight. It is beautifully natural, conveying the likes of Aretha Franklin and Gladys Knight with the passion and body they deserve. We love the unforced character of these speakers and the way they deliver so much detail without sounding artificially etched or aggressive.

Sure, that tweeter isn’t shy about revealing hard edges or brightness in recordings, but given a good enough signal, it remains decently refined and insightful.

Stereo imaging is another strength. As we listen to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, it is hard not to be impressed by the sense of dimensionality and scale. Instruments are placed with precision and refuse to blur as things get busier. We don’t find the soundstage especially spacious, though we do like the convincing way image depth is layered.

Good as these monitors are, there are areas where the age of the design shows. While they excel at conveying low-level dynamics, the kind that communicate the feelings in lyrics or the subtle change of intensity of instruments, they don’t deal with larger dynamic contrasts with as much conviction. The very best alternatives at this price have a broader dynamic reach and convey sonic authority better.

We would also like the LS5/9 to deliver rhythmic drive with a bit more verve and precision. Their analytical approach to music replay has plenty of appeal, but it would be nice if a song like Michael Jackson’s Black Or White was rendered with a greater sense of propulsion.

Verdict

The LS5/9 are a piece of hi-fi history, and should be judged as such. We wouldn’t expect a classic car from the ’80s to be better than current designs in every aspect, and nor would we expect that from any piece of hi-fi.

The shock is just how excellent these speakers sound by current standards. Feed them a good enough signal and their superb midrange, insight and finesse shine through. They sound authentic in a way that still eludes most price rivals, and while there are aspects of their performance that fall slightly behind the very best at this price, these aren’t enough to dull our enthusiasm.

The LS5/9 design is a testament to the quality of the BBC’s engineers of the time, as well as an indication that speaker design hasn’t progressed over the decades as much as we would like to think. Graham Audio has done a great job bringing it to life.

Review published: 29th June 2026

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Compatibility 4

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Having resisted for almost two decades, I finally took the plunge recently and tried living with a turntable as part of our special Vinyl Week.

I expected to enjoy the experiment. What I didn't expect was to fall completely in love with it.

Within days, I found myself eagerly browsing record shops, keeping an eye out for bargains on eBay and looking for excuses to put an album on.

More surprisingly, my family got into it, too. The simple ritual of choosing a record, putting it on the platter and dropping the needle proved far more engaging than scrolling endlessly through Spotify.

There was just one problem: because my main living room system is the Sony HT-A9, I needed a Bluetooth turntable that could sit at the back of the room without cables trailing across the floor.

The Pro-Ject T1 EVO BT fit the bill perfectly, but while the setup worked, I quickly discovered that the HT-A9 only supports compressed Bluetooth audio.

The result was a noticeable compromise in sound quality. I loved the vinyl experience, but I knew I wasn't hearing what the turntable was capable of.

Rather than abandon the whole project, I decided to build a minimalist hi-fi system that could coexist with my existing home cinema setup.

The turntable's location was already approved by my wife, so moving it wasn't an option: whatever I chose had to work wirelessly, fit neatly into our living room and, ideally, sound fantastic.

After much research and consultation with my esteemed colleagues Kashfia Kabir and Ketan Bharadia, I settled on the KEF Coda W active speakers – and they've been brilliant.

They're not quite as eye-catching as the models in KEF's LS range, but they're very handsome in their own right and, crucially for me, compact enough to slot into the existing bookcase in our living room. More importantly, they sound superb.

For relatively compact speakers, they produce a surprisingly big, confident and weighty sound. That's partly down to the hefty 100W of amplification power per channel. They're also detailed without sounding analytical, tonally balanced without sounding dull, and wonderfully fluid with music.

Crucially, they also support the aptX HD-quality Bluetooth streams sent by the Pro-Ject turntable, and the improvement was immediately obvious.

The speakers impressed me so much, in fact, that they inspired the next stage of the project.

Wanting to get more use from them, I borrowed a WiiM Pro Plus streamer from our hi-fi team and connected it to the Coda W via optical. The result is what I now consider to be a near-perfect modern hi-fi system: a Bluetooth turntable for vinyl, a streamer for everything else and a pair of active speakers that require no separate amplifier.

It's compact, easy to use, living-room friendly and, most importantly, it sounds terrific.

Unfortunately, the KEF Coda W speakers aren't discounted for Amazon Prime Day, nor have I spotted any worthwhile deals elsewhere. That's not especially surprising given how new they are.

Even so, I'd argue they're excellent value at their £799 asking price. There's a reason we awarded them five stars in our KEF Coda W review.

Prime Day is often about chasing the biggest discount, but sometimes the best products to buy are the ones that aren't on sale. The KEF Coda W is just one very personal example.

If you do fancy recreating my minimalist hi-fi setup, though, the good news is that both the Pro-Ject T1 EVO BT turntable and WiiM Pro Plus streamer are currently available at reduced prices:

If you’re just getting into hi-fi, or short on cash, but still want a stellar pair of floorstanding speakers capable of punching above their sonic weight, then we have good news.

After years of belligerently selling at full price, you can currently pick up the Dali Oberon 5 for £499 at Peter Tyson. That’s a solid £299 saving on their regular price, and the lowest currently available; the next best deal we’ve seen is on Amazon, which is selling the Oberon 5 for £599.

Why the Oberon 5 when they’re so long in the tooth? It's a fair question, as the speakers last won a What Hi-Fi? Award all the way back in 2020, and are currently being replaced by Dali’s new Sonik 5.

The answer is simple: they still sound great and are incredibly competitive performers at their new, lower price. In fact, they were so good that eagle-eyed regular readers will know I had them shortlisted to replace the Q Acoustics 3030i in my home system for many years.

They only got dethroned after I heard the Acoustic Energy AE309 Mk2, which has since replaced them as the top entry on my letter to Santa. However, with them selling for £1199, that’s a big step-up in price. And for those looking for an entry-level, sub-£500 set of speakers, the Oberon 5 is a fantastic option.

As we say in our review:

“Overall, these speakers manage to sound notably larger than they are. The Q Acoustics 3050i dig even more deeply into the bass, but lack the sheer expressiveness of these Dalis, particularly through the mid and higher frequencies.”

As we said in our review, they offer buyers an unfussy, fun-sounding set of floorstanders that will match nicely with a variety of amps – including the Technics SA-C600 system I have in my lounge and the newer, Award-winning Arcam A5+ from last year.

That’s why, if you’re shopping at that level during Prime Day, I’d wholeheartedly recommend considering grabbing a pair at their current price while stocks last. With the Sonik 5 now out, they won’t be around much longer if you don’t.

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French audio manufacturer Triangle has unveiled three passive speakers as part of its new Solstice range. Building on the legacy of the Esprit series, the Solstice lineup features the Solstice 8 floorstanders, the Solstice 3 standmounters, and the home-cinema-oriented Solstice C3 center channel.

The new Solstice speakers aim to offer a "natural and deeply lifelike sound reproduction" that will appeal to demanding audiophiles and first-time hi-fi buyers alike.

Priced at £1999 / €1999 / $2799 per pair, the Solstice 8 floorstanders feature a three-way design. This configuration combines Triangle’s new 25mm horn-loaded tweeter with a 16cm driver and a pair of 16cm woofers. To enhance low-end performance, the speakers also include a concealed bass port, which has been neatly integrated into their base.

The Solstice 3 standmounts, costing £999 / €999 / $1349 per pair, are a two-way design intended to create an “open and precise sound”. The speakers pair a 16mm mid/bass driver with the same 25mm tweeter and inconspicuous bass port design found in the Solstice 8.

In our five-star review of Triangle’s Esprit Comete Ez, we emphasised the speakers’ need for solid stands. Triangle appears to have taken note, because the Solstice 3 have been specifically designed for use with the company’s S05 stands, which are available separately for those willing to fork out £279 for a pair.

To complete the range, the Solstice C3 centre channel “ensures perfect sound consistency within home cinema set-ups” according to Triangle. Priced at £579 / €575 / $750, the C3’s sealed enclosure houses a two-way design, featuring dual 16cm midrange drivers and the signature 25mm tweeter.

You might have noticed that all of the Solstice speakers employ Triangle’s visually striking new horn-loaded tweeter. By including an injection moulded phase plug and barrel-shaped cut out at the base of the horn, Triangle claims the new design delivers a more consistent frequency response and better integration with the midrange drivers.

The cabinet for each speaker has new internal reinforcement to reduce unwanted resonances from affecting the signal, in pursuit of improving the "acoustic neutrality" of the speaker.

Starting from today, Triangle’s new Solstice speakers are available in teak, birch, white and ash black finishes.

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Best speakers 2026: budget to premium models tested by our expert reviewers

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Focal has a new flagship active wireless speaker system, and you'd better start saving it you want to get your hands on one.

The new Focal Diva Alta Utopia sits at the summit of the brand's Diva Utopia range, which is made in collaboration with sister-brand Naim Audio. As with the rest of the range, the new system offers built-in amplification alongside wireless streaming powers in a pair of floorstanding speakers – and it's the largest, most powerful and most expensive model yet.

We reviewed the first of the range, the five-star Diva Utopia system in late 2024, and found it a very impressive offering.

Focal pledges that this new flagship Alta Utopia system is "aimed at the most demanding audiophiles looking for an exceptional system", taking the ingredients of the established lineup and elevating them to new heights.

The Diva Alta Utopia features a new generation of the brand's 'Prism' tweeter, a 27mm unit which combines multiple materials for "the perfect balance between lightness, damping and rigidity".

That tweeter is complemented by a reinforced 13cm 'M-profile' midrange driver, with carbon reinforcement and a sealed enclosure that aims to offer a detailed, natural sounding mid-frequency reproduction.

Four 20.5cm woofers in each tower tease a deep and articulate bass, while a 16.5cm 'W' mid/bass driver uses a cone with two sheets of glass on either side of a central foam body, which, says Focal, grants the ideal blend of lightness, rigidity and damping.

The active system packs a huge 600 watts of Class A/B power per speaker, which is distributed over four dedicated amplifiers to provide what Focal says is an "exceptionally wide" sound with "no dynamic compression".

Thanks to the implementation of Naim's Pulse streaming platform, the flagship system can accept high-resolution files up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM. The Diva Alta Utopia uses Focal's 'Ultra Wideband' technology to ensure 24-bit/192kHz wireless support between the speakers, and a hi-res connecting cable is also provided.

'Focal Time Management' tech is integrated, wherein the speakers' drivers are arranged in a curved arc to obtain a more consistent and realistic sound image at all times. This design is in keeping with Focal's Utopia series of passive speakers.

Streaming support is extensive, with UPnP compatibility allowing you to stream digital files across a home network from a NAS unit, and the system is compatible with the most popular platforms, such as Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect and Qobuz. AirPlay 2 and Google Cast are also on board, while aptX Adaptive codec support allows for 24-bit Bluetooth playback from a compatible source.

For physical connections, the primary loudspeaker houses HDMI eARC, optical, USB-C and RCA line-level inputs, and an ethernet port if you prefer a wired connection to the internet. Those physical connections are mounted to a curved heat sink, designed for maximised thermal dissipation, while an aluminium base aims for optimised airflow and better ventilation.

The Focal Diva Alta Utopia is available now, in five distinct finishes: Grey Felt, Ivory Felt, Black High Gloss, Off White High Gloss, and Dune High Gloss.

The price? A rather hefty £165,000 / $199,999 / €190,000 for the felt finishes and £175,000 / $210,000 / €199,990 for high gloss. That's considerably higher than the original Diva Utopia we tested at £29,999 / $39,999 / AU$59,999 per pair.

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Wharfedale has revamped its top-of-the-range Elysian series of loudspeakers.

The Elysian Series R now replaces all of the five established models in the range, including the five-star Elysian 4 floorstanders, promising "elevated engineering and an even more captivating musical performance".

The new line-up consists of the Elysian 1R two-way standmounts, the Elysian 2R three-way standmounts, the Elysian 3R and 4R three-way floorstanders, and the Elysian CR centre channel.

Wharfedale describes the new R range as an evolution of the previous Elysian speakers rather than a full-scale reinvention, with components revisited and refined to deliver "greater accuracy, transparency and musical realism".

The Elysian R range deploys enhanced 'Air Motion Transfer' (AMT) tweeters, designed for greater sonic resolution and accuracy alongside ultra-low distortion. The AMT tweeters have been updated with a new "ultra-light" pleated diaphragm, with an "enlarged, high-specification design" combined with the acoustically damped rear chamber. This should result in a more open and effortless quality to the high frequency performance.

Apart from the smaller Elysian 1R, all of the new speakers house a 15cm midrange driver with a cone constructed using a woven glass fibre matrix, which Wharfedale promises results in "astonishing realism and tonal accuracy".

Depending on the model, either an 18cm or 22cm glass fibre matrix bass driver is used, which has also been refined alongside the motor system, in pursuit of better depth and control at the lower end of the frequency range.

Wharfedale's the Slot-Loaded Profiled Port returns to work alongside the bass drivers, while the brand has refined other areas of the speakers throughout. These include revised crossovers to improve transparency, and components and circuit board layouts chosen for the shortest signal path and less electromagnetic interference.

For the cabinets, all five Elysian R models feature Wharfedale’s latest Panel Resonance Optimisation System (PROS), whereby a multi-layer construction of woods of differing density is accompanied by strategic bracing for enhanced structural integrity and reduced panel resonance.

All five Wharfedale Elysian R Series speakers will be available from late June in a choice of matt black, matt grey or piano lacquered walnut wood veneer finishes. Prices are as follows:

- Elysian 1R standmounts: £3499 / $5995 / AU$7999 per pair (stands £399)
- Elysian 2R standmounts: £4999 / $8495 / AU$11,999 per pair (stands £449)
- Elysian 3R floorstanders: £5999 / $9995 / AU$13,999 per pair
- Elysian 4R floorstanders: £6999 / $11,995 / AU$15,999 per pair
- Elysian CR centre channel: £3499 / $5995 / AU$7999 (stand £449)

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Best floorstanding speakers 2026: budget to premium models tested by our experts

This year's High End Show uprooted itself from its established base in Munich and found a new home in Vienna, meaning a new venue, a new city and, most importantly, the chance for lots of new people to come and see the best that the world of high-end hi-fi has to offer.

While the venue might have been different, one thing has remained the same: the propensity for the High End Show to throw up some mind-blowing marvels for the delectation of thousands of eager punters.

From massive horn speakers to setups costing more than your family home, Vienna has been host to some of the most striking hi-fi concoctions on the planet over the past few days.

ESD Acoustic Super Dragon horn speakers

Ah, the ESD Super Dragon speakers – it's always good to see them.

Not that you can miss the mighty Dragons, mind. We've been crossing paths with the mammoth horn speakers for quite a few years at High End Munich, and now they've flown themselves over to pastures new to wow Viennese audiences with their big sound and unmistakably gigantic horns.

Calling themselves the "biggest hi-fi speakers" in the world, ESD's monsters stand at 140cm tall, weigh 1190kg, and house foiled beryllium and titanium sandwich diaphragms.

Want a full Dragon System? Prepare to hand over $1,531,163 for the "entry level" version. The even higher-end, special edition Super Dragon we saw at Vienna reportedly costs over $3.6 million...

Acoustic Signature Invictus Neo turntable

"We could now write an essay on our Invictus Neo. But this would make no sense. You wouldn’t believe us any­way until you have heard our master­piece your­self".

Now that's how you market your product. If big-money turntables are your sort of thing, you won't find many that will empty your bank balance with the same rapidity as Acoustic Signature's Invictus Neo.

At €184,798, it's easily one of the most wallet-busting decks we saw at this year's High End Vienna show. To justify the price, its makers candidly describe it as "the best turntable in the world".

To live up to such a lofty moniker, the Neo packs six integrated AC motors and an external digital control, as well as a rigid DTD bearing, a diamond-coated spindle, and an anodised aluminium and brass sandwich platter. Oh, and a 15-year warranty to soften that mighty financial blow.

MBL 101 X-Treme MKIII loudspeakers

From its polished website to its richly adorned listening space, it's clear that German audio brand MBL is trying to evoke a sense of luxury from its price-stretching range of hi-fi separates and speakers.

MBL had a number of its enviably high-end wares on display in its Vienna showroom, though there's no question that the 101 X-Treme MKIII were the centrepiece of the company's not-so-modest exhibition.

The 101 X-Treme MKIII house a tweeter, upper-midrange, lower-midrange, and a large twin-layered aluminium sandwich subwoofer housed in a downward-firing enclosure. The speakers' drivers use a radial design made from carbon fibre and aluminium segments, which flex outward to fire sound more evenly throughout the room.

We don't know prices yet, but considering the previous generation speakers sailed north of £300,000, that should give you a good idea of what we're dealing with.

Kharma Enigma Veyron EV1D loudspeakers

We don't know about you, but when we hear the word 'Veyron', we think of Bugatti's iconic supercar from a few years back, which smashed records left, right and centre and was the darling of the Top Gear trio for pushing the boundaries of what a legal road car could do.

Kharma teases similar boundary-pushing levels of engineering with its namesake floorstanders, claiming they offer "a new level of sound quality" and "superior technology that pushes the limits of current dynamic loudspeakers".

At the heart of the Enigma Veyron EV1D is the brand's new Omega C-Driver, engineered in-house with a rigid metal composite chassis and solid silver connectors. Those massive cabinets, meanwhile, are constructed using CNC-milled bulletwood, chosen, according to Kharma, for its "exceptional density and acoustic properties".

The EV1D don't just push the boundaries of performance, either. Some have reported the Kharma towers to be "the most expensive speakers in the world" – at $1.5 million, they can't be far off.

Wilson Audio Autobiography loudspeakers

There are houses... and then there are houses. There are cars... and then there are cars. There are speakers... and then there are Wilson Audio's Autobiography towers. Do you get where we're going with this?

To illustrate our point, the Bowers & Wilkins flagship 801 D5 Diamond Series speakers will cost you £43,000 / $65,000 / €50,000, and that's not exactly pocket change. The Autobiography are a tad pricier at $788,000. That's not a mortgage on a house – that's just a house, and quite a nice one at that.

We don't have the time or the space to tell you everything there is to know, but the key bullet points include seven drive units, handcrafted sculpted cabinets, around two meters of height and a total weight of roughly 1000kg.

AMR Luna Series

AMR is back, and it unveiled at High End Vienna its new Luna Series of ultra-high-end separates. The series includes three new models: the Luna Ingenii DAC, Luna Medii preamplifier, and Luna Procellarum monoblock power amp. AMR claims each will offer "unconstrained audio...conceived without commercial compromise".

Production is limited, though. No more than 176 sets of Luna Ingenii, 186 sets of Luna Medii or 148 sets of the Luna Procellarum will be built. According to the firm, this is mainly due to the scarcity of the components used in each and AMR’s desire to provide lifetime service and support.

AMR describes the Luna Series as boasting "engineering without economic restraint". The Luna Procellarum, for instance, uses a unique four-quadrant FET design in which four complete amplifier circuits operate in concert for every channel.

What sort of money are we talking? If you want the entire system, prices will start to creep beyond £400,000 for the pleasure.

Revox Deep Purple Limited Edition series

Are Deep Purple still considered cool? The jury's still out on that one, but we're pretty confident in saying that Revox's limited edition series, built in collaboration with the British hard rock pioneers, isn't exactly lacking in style.

The range consists of the T77 turntable, the Studiomaster A200 speaker and, as pictured above, the B77 MK III stereo tape recorder, all of which sport a rich blue design and distinctive iconographies as part of their special production aesthetic.

Limited edition really does mean limited, too. Only 25 units of the B77 MK III will be available worldwide, while only 50 T77 turntables and 200 A200 speakers will be produced.

We've got to admit that up close and personal, the exclusive new Revox range really does look the business. We only have one question: shouldn't they have been purple instead?

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10 of the most exciting hi-fi products we saw at High End Vienna 2026

Are JBL’s range-topping Summit speakers worth $160,000? I've had an exclusive listen to find out

I’ve had a first listen to Bowers & Wilkins’ new flagship 800 Series Diamond speakers – and now I’m desperate to hear more

There have been quite a few candidates vying for the ‘most exciting pair of hi-fi speakers making their grand public debut’ award at this year’s High End Vienna showcase.

Bowers & Wilkins treating the world to the fifth iteration of its 800 Series Diamond range is no small thing, whereas Ruark’s resurrection of its Talisman-R floorstanders is similarly big news but at a significantly lower price point.

Then there’s JBL. The US giant has added twin peaks (sigh) to its five-strong Summit range, with the range-topping Everest and K2 loudspeakers joining the established Summit Makalu, Pumori, and five-star Ama models.

If you want to know what the K2 and Everest are all about, one word springs to mind: big. Both stretch the bounds of both physical size and required cost, with the mighty K2 costing a mere $100,000 and the colossal Everest pushing the needle at a whopping $160,000 per pair.

Big speakers at big prices from one of the biggest names in audio. You know where this is headed – we had to go and give them a listen.

We have already heard the baby of JBL’s Summit range, the effervescent and richly talented Summit Ama standmounts, so as the iPad is unleashed and the test tunes queued up, we’re quietly hoping for those enviable qualities of punch and dynamism to have translated all the way up to the snowy peak of JBL’s mountain-themed roster.

With Mark Levinson’s 626 preamplifier and 631 monoblock stereo amp in tow, it’s time to call in the sherpas and start our trek up that most famous of famous peaks.

As Pete Belsasco’s Deeper blasts out across our reasonably spacious demonstration room, it’s clear that much of the punch and power, not to mention the poise and balance of the five-star Ama, does seem to have translated to these rather more bank-busting pair of Summit range-toppers.

Harman’s engineers quite candidly confess that they would have liked a narrower space in which to work in order to stop sound from dissipating before it reached each side wall, so our usual disclaimer about less-than-ideal test conditions must once again apply here. Show us an ideal demonstration room at a hi-fi show and we’ll show you a talking unicorn.

Deeper is a smooth, jazzy number designed simply to get things started with something relatively undemanding; a move over to Fink’s Trouble’s What You Are In grants a better showcase of what well over $100,000 can get you.

These are big, bold speakers, yet we do sense an admirable feeling of intimacy and closeness to Fink’s acoustic performance as he croons away during a live recording of his aforementioned sampler. What impresses us as we listen more and more is how the Everest seem to switch gears, moving from small-scale sincerity to more dramatic and demanding fare without painting everything with the same broad brush.

JBL is keen to show the depths to which the Everest are capable of sinking, so we turn to the Sound of Silence performed courtesy of Geoff Castellucci’s deep, rumbling baritone.

Thanks in part to those whopping cabinets and JBL’s three-in-one ‘Phase Coherent Manifold’ – wherein a trio of compression drivers are aligned in a balanced symmetrical configuration and mounted to an HDI geometry horn – Castellucci’s ultra-deep pipes plunge to below the basement depths, yet we sense that the speakers’ control and articulation at these extreme low reaches is enough to keep everything sounding remarkably intact.

The Everest come across as powerful and weighty, too, as you might expect from loudspeakers of this size and price. Our demo team want us to “have some fun”, and so Adriatique and Delhia de France’s pulsating rave tune The Future is Unknown kicks things up a gear – bass drum thumps land with proper wallop, vocals feel precise and well spotlighted, while assorted musical decorations are rarely lost amidst the clamour.

Midrange tones don’t appear to be put in the shade by any overpowering bass, either. If anything, those all-important middle frequencies punch through with remarkable gusto, an enthusiasm which sometimes threatens to tip over into hardness or over-eagerness.

Take that minor reservation with a very large heap of salt, though – these are very large speakers playing very loudly in a modest, poorly conditioned space, and such quirks are almost inevitable. Our overall impression is of a pair of speakers that blend fun and muscularity with considerable nuance and restraint, resulting in a demo that, while short, appeals as much to the heart as it does to the head.

The Summit Everest are JBL’s range-toppers in terms of both price and, from the little that we have heard, performance. As we are told during our sampler, the brand’s engineers were told: “don’t worry about the cost, don’t worry about the components, just make them sound as good as you can.”

Such money-no-object speakers don’t come around often, and while we imagine it can be tempting for designers and engineers to throw their cash around without the same care and attention reserved for more modestly priced models, we rarely had a sense of the Everest sounding like a throwaway indulgence. Proper sound is what we expected and, from what we hear, proper sound is what they deliver.

Are they worth their Olympian price tag? We’d need a lot more testing time to find that out.

We wonder if JBL gives out free samples…

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High End Vienna 2026: all the news and what to expect from Europe’s biggest hi-fi show

I’ve had a first listen to Bowers & Wilkins’ new flagship 800 Series Diamond speakers – and now I’m desperate to hear more

“It’s about bringing people closer to the detail, depth and emotion that great audio can unlock.” An evening in KEF’s Ultimate Experience Room

Bowers & Wilkins has just announced its all-new flagship 800 Series Diamond speaker range to celebrate 60 years of the iconic British brand.

The fifth generation of the established 800 Series of loudspeakers once again incorporates B&W's iconic Diamond Dome tweeter, and features seven new models, including the two-way 805 D5 standmounter and a trio of three-way floorstanding models: the the 804 D5, 803 D5, and 802 D5.

And the good news is, we've already heard them. We're on the ground at High End Vienna 2026 so we took B&W up on the offer of some listening time with the range-topping 801 D5 (£43,000 / $65,000 / €50,000).

We'll get a chance to have an even more in-depth listen in due course, but a pair of flagship Bowers & Wilkins speakers don't tend to come around too often, so we were eager to take this first opportunity.

First, the usual caveats. It wasn't the longest demo we'll ever be given – around 45 minutes – and demo rooms at hi-fi shows are rarely conducive to giving the best sound possible, especially when you're competing with below par acoustics and the sound of a few thousand hi-fi enthusiasts trying to get their bearings.

With all that said and done – the signs are positive.

It's taken around five years for B&W to bake its latest speakers in the proverbial oven, but as we get our demo underway, the promise of enhanced resolution and forensic levels of detail look set to be proved true.

B&W has promised a more "even-handed" and "generous" character without any loss of resolution from the 801 D5, and when coupled with a system which includes Mark Levinson's 626 preamp and 632 power amp, plus a high-end Innuos Nazaré music streamer, our demo speakers are ready to show some of their clear capabilities.

Odetta's Hit or Miss is our aperitif, with cascading opening drums sounding three-dimensional and authentic before that soulful central performance is given ample room in the spotlight.

We're sitting slightly off-centre, so it's hard to judge just how well the 801 D5 speakers assemble each musical element, but the impression we get is of speakers with a knack for putting music together in a neat, precise and cinematic manner.

We're also promised solid, integrated bass, something that B&W showcases with Eric Clapton's After Midnight and Thom Yorke's Black Swan.

There's ample power and authority to the lower end reproduction across both tracks, with strong evidence of a bass that, in B&W's words, blends "scale and integrity".

We're certainly keen to let the B&W 801 D5 loose in a larger, more conditioned room where the speakers have greater space to blossom and breathe, but regardless, there are strong hints at serious talent here.

Antigravity by Sohn finishes off our session, letting the B&W towers further showcase their dynamic abilities.

Flagship floorstanding speakers such as these should be able to tackle small scale shifts alongside those big dynamic swings, a balance the 801 D5 seem to manage as various instruments scatter and tumble all around.

We'll reserve any concrete judgements until we've had far more time to really dig into the 801 D5 and discover the bounds of their talents.

Initial signs point to a powerful, vivid and impressively detailed pair of flagship floorstanders, even if it's hard to escape the limitations of the listening space working against them.

Once we have a chance to get the speakers into a space where they can really shine, we'll be in a better position to see whether B&W has added a genuine classic to its long-running Diamond line-up.

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This is a big one: British brand Bowers & Wilkins has announced the new model in its legendary 800 Series Diamond range – and during its 60th anniversary year. The D5 is the fifth generation of the 800 Series to feature the Diamond Dome tweeter; it follows multiple five-star and Award-winning entries.

So what’s new? The D5 range includes new technology, a refined design and new finishes to deliver what B&W claims is its most advanced speaker range ever.

You can read our first impressions here: I've had a first listen to Bowers & Wilkins' new flagship 800 Series Diamond speakers – and now I'm desperate to hear more

The range comprises seven models: the two-way 805 D5 standmount, 804 D5, 803 D5, 802 D5 and 801 D5 three-way floorstanders, and HTM81 D5 and HTM82 D5 centre channel speakers for home cinema use.

Like previous models in the Diamond series, the speakers are luxuriously designed. The new models have new top plates, spines and plinths, and revised drive unit pods, tweeter bodies, trim rings and grilles. They also have new finishes with more durable paint than previous models.

We also get tighter production tolerances, with visible transitions between surfaces minimised, fixings hidden and gaps between panels greatly reduced. All of which should amount to a more seamless and premium finish.

There are improvements under the hood, too, resulting in “more openness, lower distortion, heightened resolution and superior dynamics,” B&W says. One of the highlights is Space Frame Bracing, which features parallel aluminium bracing rails that are periodically enforced longitudinally and transversely bolted onto the rear of the Matrix inside the speaker cabinet. This stiffens the inside of the enclosure, reducing the unwanted impact of vibrations and resonances.

The new plinths have been redesigned to match the form of the cabinet they support. They have new metal trims and have been extended to conceal the speakers’ wheels and spikes to make them more aesthetically pleasing. They benefit from constrained-layer and tuned-mass damping, again to reduce unwanted output.

The new aluminium top-plate braces the top section with thicker aluminium ribbing sections for greater stiffness. It also has more mechanical location points and revised coupling mounts, and an upgraded collar trimmed in Leather by Connolly.

The 804 D5 features an internal aluminium enclosure for its Continuum Cone FST assembly. This is derived from the stiff Turbine Head structure used on all larger floorstanding 800 Series Diamond models, and isolates the midrange assembly while also providing a consistent mechanical decoupling point for the drive unit. All of which should make for a more free and open sound from the Continuum Cone midrange.

All the new speakers have the same tweeter grille mesh design as the 801 D4 Signature, but made more acoustically transparent for greater resolution. Each midrange, bass/midrange and bass drive unit in the new range has lower-distortion motor systems based on Signature-specification components. Which should deliver a “cleaner, more accurate sounding presentation with better resolution, transient response and dynamics.”

They also have upgraded crossovers, again derived from B&W’s Signature speakers, and new wiring harnesses with higher-quality cabling and terminal post links for better resolution.

New stereo models benefit from a crossover assembly which is housed on an all-aluminium plate construction which is coupled into both the cabinet and the rear Space Frame Bracing using substantial M8 and M4 fixings to improve cabinet stiffness. But the fixings are concealed behind brand and model identifier plates for a more elegant look.

The 801 D5 is the flagship, while the cheaper 802 D5 has the same proportions and same same 6-inch FST midrange cone. The 803 D5 is cheaper still, with a smaller footprint, while the 804 D5 has a more traditional design than its siblings. The 805 D5 is the standmount.

The HTM81 D5 centre-channel speaker is for use with the 801 and 802 D5, whereas the HTM82 D5 is for use with the 803 and 804 D5. Both centre-channel speakers are three-way designs.

There are also stands: the FS-805 D5 (for the 805 D5) and FS-HTM D5 (for the HTM81 D5 or HTM82 D5).

Pricing is as follows:

• 801 D5: £43,000 / $65,000 (around AU$81,000)
• 802 D5: £32,500 / $45,000 (around AU$61,000).
• 803 D5: £25,500 / $35,000 (around AU$48,000)
• 804 D5: £16,000 / $25,000 (around AU$30,000)
• 805 D5: £10,000 / $15,000 (around AU$19,000)
• HTM81 D5: £10,000 / $15,000 (around AU$19,000)
• HTM82 D5: £8000 / $12,000 (around AU$15,000)
• FS-805 D5: £1600 / $2000 (around AU$3000)
• FS-HTM D5: £1100 / $1500 (around AU$2000)

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All the news from High End Vienna 2026

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After delving back into the world of passive speakers with the Sabre-R bookshelf model, Ruark Audio has turned its attention to one of its best-known floorstanding designs.

The Talisman floorstanders have been resurrected to mark Ruark's 40th anniversary, and this fourth-generation model features the same slim profile and sloped baffle design as the 1990 original.

We first glimpsed these new floorstanding speakers at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show earlier in the year, but they are making their official debut at the High End Vienna 2026 show this week alongside the new R710 streaming amp with CD player.

In keeping with the original floorstanders, the new Talisman-R is a two-way bass reflex design with a dual-flared port, but includes plenty of new technology and components. It features a 27mm silk dome tweeter alongside a 16.5cm NS+ long-throw fibre woofer, while the "carefully optimised" crossover features premium audio-grade components to ensure "best signal transfer and reduced distortion."

The result, says Ruark, are speakers that should deliver seamless integration and "a wide natural frequency range."

The cabinet of the Talisman-R has been given plenty of attention to reduce colouration. Aside from the fresh cosmetic design that keeps the visual identity similar to the current Sabre-R and 100 series – the lovely wooden slats, for instance – the floorstanders feature a new decoupled front baffle design. The bolts on the front suspend the baffle on elastomer bushings (a flexible mount) and, along with a dual damping strip, help to limit vibrations transferring from the drives to the main enclosure.

The enclosure's internal bracing system controls "acoustic hotspots" and is lined and damped with compound wadding to absorb a wide frequency range and control internal standing waves – all to deliver a purer sound.

The plinth for each tower is machined from 10mm plate steel, which adds mass to keep the Talisman-R stable, as well as giving them a floating appearance. Removable grilles with acoustically transparent fabric are also provided.

Made for "people who care about their home as much as their music," the Ruark Talisman-R is available in two finishes: fused walnut veneer or satin charcoal lacquer, to match the R610 streaming amplifier and/or newer R710 system with integrated CD player.

The Talisman-R floorstanders will cost £1499 / €1799 per pair, and will be available from September.

We reviewed the previous iteration, the Talisman-R III, back in 2006, and praised the five-star speakers' impressive build quality and fast, dynamic and exciting performance "that aim to bring out every last percentage point of entertainment from a piece of music." Let's hope the new version lives up to that reputation.

MORE:

Read our Ruark Sabre-R speakers review

And the Ruark R610 review

All the latest news from High End Vienna 2026

JBL is expanding its mountain-themed Summit range of high-end hi-fi speakers with two new models: the next-generation Everest and K2 loudspeakers.

The two new models join the Summit Makalu, Pumori, and the five-star Ama to round out the five-strong series, a line-up that, says, JBL, "represents the most technically accomplished loudspeakers" the brand has ever produced for domestic use.

As their name suggests, the new 3.5-way Everest are designed to be the peak of the Summit series, acting as the successor to four iterations of JBL's Project Everest loudspeakers. At the heart of each new speaker is a new mid-to-high frequency array consisting of three JBL 5cm dual-diaphragm drivers mated to a large 'Sonoglass' horn, as well as twin 25cm mid-bass drivers and dual 38cm differential drive woofers.

The K2, meanwhile, are billed as JBL's "most accomplished 15-inch 3-way floorstanding loudspeakers", with each housing three 4cm dual-diaphragm drivers, a 25cm differential drive mid-bass driver and a 38cm woofer, all aimed at providing outstanding dynamic precision and emotional immediacy.

The two new models share a host of JBL's most advanced speaker technologies, including 'MultiCap' crossover networks with minimised electrostatic resistance for improved power handling and lower distortion, as well as multi-braced, curved-wall cabinets designed to reduce internal standing waves within each speaker.

JBL's own 'IsoAcoustic' isolation feet seek to further preserve sonic purity and promote a tighter bass performance by decoupling each speaker from floor vibrations.

According to David Tovissi, Vice President of Harman Luxury Audio: “With Summit Everest and Summit K2, we are honouring four generations of legendary engineering while introducing technologies that move the state of the art forward. These are reference loudspeakers built for listeners who refuse to compromise and who recognise what it means to own the very best."

The new Summit Everest and Summit K2 are available in either gloss black and platinum or ebony wood and gold finishes. The Everest will set you back $160,000 per pair, whereas the K2 are a little more 'affordable' at a mere $100,000 per pair.

Both will be showcased at this year's High End Vienna showcase (4th to 7th of July), so if you've got tickets, it's worth digging out your crampons and seeking out JBL's latest mountainous marvels.

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Read our recent JBL Summit Ama review

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The US audio brand Klipsch has announced two new loudspeakers and a series of premium headphones to coincide with High End Vienna 2026.

The Limited Edition 80th Anniversary Klipschorn is a fully horn-loaded revamp of Klipsch’s 1946 patented design, while the Klipsch Rebellion is a premium stand-mount speaker.

Both arrive as part of Klipsch’s 80th anniversary celebrations, which kicked off at the start of 2026 with a new feature-packed range of its Fives, Sevens and Nines speakers.

The limited-edition Klipschorn will be limited in production to just 280 pairs worldwide.

It has a two-way design, using an active crossover to split audio between a 38cm K-33-E woofer and a 10cm compression driver coupled with a new K-5-K high-frequency horn. Klipsch promises “explosive dynamics, lifelike detail, and room-filling presence”.

We don’t yet know how much the new Klipschorn will cost but it will be available to order from authorized Heritage retailers, with further information available on Klipsch’s website.

As for the Klipsch Rebellion, the company’s latest standmount speakers promise “crystal-clear highs” courtesy of a horn-loaded K-702 tweeter and “deep, impressive low end” from a K-81-EP woofer. In a company first, a rear Tractrix flare port has been included in the speaker’s design for further low end reinforcement.

The Rebellion features a black cloth grille and will come in Klipsch’s standard finishes of American Walnut and Black Ash.

A limited-edition Tigerwood finish will also be available in celebration of the company’s 80th anniversary.

Klipsch hopes the Rebellion will be available in North America by July 2026, at a suggested retail price of $2599 per pair.

The new Atlas Series headphones expand Klipsch’s over-ear range for the first time since 2017, when it released the HP-3.

The new range will include two headphones: the Atlas HP-2, a closed-back headphone aimed at the “bass-forward enthusiast”, and the Atlas HP-3, a semi-open-back audiophile option, which Klipsch claims will deliver “spacious, speaker-like presentation”.

The Atlas HP-2 and HP-3 are expected to become available in Europe by autumn 2026, with pricing yet to be confirmed.

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We hold the original Acoustic Energy AE1 Active speakers – tested originally in 2018 for £1000 – in such high esteem that they have held a firm spot in our best active speakers guide even as newer models with fancy wireless features have come along in the intervening years.

And now, after eight long years, the "new and improved" Acoustic Energy AE Active speakers are finally here. These speakers have been updated and upgraded, both acoustically and aesthetically, and promise to deliver a "compact, self-powered speaker system" that builds on the brand's 40-year heritage of precision engineering.

As before, these are fully active, two-way speakers that feature updated built-in Class A/B amplification. There are dedicated 50W amplifiers for each drive unit, which Acoustic Energy says allows for precise driver control, dynamic headroom and delivering "exceptional clarity." High-quality linear power supplies are used to ensure a consistent, low-noise performance across the frequency range.

Unlike many modern active speakers, there is no network streaming or Bluetooth on board; there isn't even a DAC. The AE Active are "designed with purity in mind" and feature a fully analogue signal path, thus avoiding any digital processing to "preserve audio integrity."

The brand's design team did experiment with modern features such as wireless inputs, switch mode power supplies, Class D amplification and DSP, but says that "none delivered the audio performance befitting of a loudspeaker wearing the legendary AE1 badge."

One new feature is an auto on/off switch, which was included after feedback from customers of the original AE1 Active.

The two-way speakers continue Acoustic Energy's tradition of using all-metal drivers, with a new 5th generation 12.5cm pure-piston ceramic/aluminium mid/bass cone that offers "exceptional stiffness at low weight". This was originally developed for the very lovely AE1 40th Anniversary speakers, and aims to reduce distortion and minimise cone flex.

This is combined with a 27mm aluminium dome tweeter with the brand's proprietary Wide Dispersion Technology (WDT), which should result in a wide soundstage with "outstanding accuracy and detail."

The AE Active keeps connections simple with balanced XLR and RCA line level inputs, into which you can plug in a variety of components – including DACs, music streamers, preamps and more. Bass and treble controls return, which allow you to fine tune the speakers' performance to your room's acoustics.

The speakers continue to keep their compact footprint, while the cabinet has been wholly redesigned, with extensive bracing, internal damping panels and a brand-new slot reflex port. They will also be available in three premium finishes: Walnut Satin Wood Veneer, High Gloss Black, High Gloss White.

Acoustic Energy says the AE Active are suited to home audio systems as well as being used as studio monitors, promising to deliver a combination of "performance, versatility and simplicity".

Mat Spandl, Acoustic Energy's MD, says: “The AE Active represents our commitment to delivering true high-fidelity performance without unnecessary complexity. By focusing on analogue design principles and integrating amplification directly within the speaker, we’ve created an updated system that offers even better high-quality audio performance with modern convenience.”

The new Acoustic Energy AE Active speakers will be available from July 2026 for £1250 per pair.

We are huge fans of the original, Award-winning AE1 Active speakers, praising their ability to "do everything with a flourish", with superb clarity and balance going hand-in-hand with a rhythmically exciting and dynamic performance. We struggled to think of an external amplifiers/passive speaker pairing that could better the AE1 for the same price back then.

We hope the new, updated AE Active speakers continue that strong legacy – we can't to hear how they sound.

MORE:

Read our original Acoustic Energy AE1 Active review

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All the latest news from High End Vienna 2026

In time for the High End Vienna 2026 showcase this week, American hi-fi brand KLH Audio has added a fresh pair of large standmount speakers to its vintage-inspired Model Collection range.

The new Model Four is a three-way speaker with a wide baffle and shallow cabinet depth – a design profile that allows customers to place the speakers close to a wall.

The Model Four features an 8-inch (20.3cm) pulp-paper cone bass driver (derived from the smaller Model Three 'bookshelf' speaker), and has the same 25mm aluminium dome tweeter, pulp-paper cone midrange driver and crossover architecture as the step-up, larger Model Five. Put together, this all should, claims KLH, offer "refined vocal presence, midrange clarity and high-frequency detail".

Additionally, the Model Four come with a three-position Acoustic Balance Control – which was originally introduced by KLH in the 1960s – which allows you to adjust the mid and high frequency to fine-tune the speakers' sound to the room's acoustics and your own tastes.

The structurally reinforced MDF cabinet eschews a ported design in favour of KLH's "acoustic suspension" technology, which essentially means it's a sealed box that uses the springy air inside the cabinet to control how much the drive unit moves.

This promises "tight, accurate bass" even when placed a few inches from a rear wall. KLH further claims this design should sound "consistent and accurate" no matter where you place it in the room.

Aiding that room-friendly design is the 13-inch wide front baffle and a shallow cabinet depth of just 8.25 inches (about 21cm). The speakers also come with a dedicated riser (stand) that offers a 6-degree slant to align the tweeter and midrange to the listener's position.

Combined with the retro-modern aesthetic (which puts us in mind of the Wharfedale Linton and Mission 770), the Model Four's narrow cabinet design is intended to fit into "the living rooms of apartments, lofts and condos where it must coexist with real life, in first homes and forever".

KLH Audio's CEO Scott Hagen says: "This is not a bookshelf speaker, nor is it simply a smaller Model Five. It is a distinctive, full-range acoustic-suspension loudspeaker, meticulously built to deliver the natural, controlled and room-friendly sound that defines KLH in a form that fits more homes, rooms and listeners."

KLH Audio Model Four will cost £899 / €999 / $1000 for each speaker ($2000 per pair) when they are available from September, with the riser stands included. The speakers will be available in three finishes: English Walnut, Black Ash and White Oak, with magnetic grilles included in the box.

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High End Vienna 2026: all the news and what to expect from Europe's biggest hi-fi show

Wharfedale seems to believe in the ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ approach, if the new Diamond 12i range is anything to go by, and who can blame it? On paper, the highlights of this updated range aren’t particularly exciting: they include a revised set of finishes, redesigned reflex ports and a tweak of each speaker’s internal damping.

Nothing to get particularly excited about, although Wharfedale deserves praise for keeping the entire range’s pricing unchanged from its predecessors. In a world where every manufacturer is pushing up prices, this comes as a refreshing and pleasant surprise.

The original Diamond 12 series launched in late 2020 and quickly became our go-to recommendation for anyone looking for great value, affordable speakers, whether for stereo or home cinema use.

The original 12.3 floorstanders were a particular favourite of ours, offering an excellent all-round performance in a neat, easy-to-accommodate form. They won multiple What Hi-Fi? Awards over the years and remained the class leader right until it ended production in late 2025.

Design

Its replacement, the Wharfedale Diamond 12.3i, looks reassuringly familiar. In fact, you have to look hard to notice any substantial changes beyond the three new finishes (black, walnut and grey).

The revised rear firing port looks much the same from the outside, though we did notice a soft rubber ring mounted to the end on the inside, something the original never had.

The trio of drive units is essentially the same. That’s no problem, as they were hardly a weakness.

The 12.3i remains a 2½ way design where the upper 13cm driver handles the midrange and bass, leaving the lower one to add a bit of muscle only at the lowest frequencies.

Both of the larger drivers use Wharfedale’s Klarity diaphragm material. Klarity is the company’s marketing name for mica-loaded polypropylene, a material claimed to offer a good balance between stiffness, damping and light weight.

A 25mm textile dome tweeter takes responsibility above the 2.2kHz crossover frequency. We’ve heard this high-frequency unit in various Diamond 12 models and it has always impressed with its detail and refinement.

Build & compatibility

Take a look at the specifications and you will find nothing obvious has changed from the previous gen model. The 12.3i’s sensitivity is still 89dB/W/m and nominal impedance continues to be rated as 8 ohm compatible, with a minimum of 5 ohms.

These numbers imply that these floorstanders should be easy enough to drive for most price-compatible amplifiers. Certainly, the Arcam A5+ integrated amplifier we used for much of this test had no difficulty driving them.

We do notice that these speakers are now single-wired only. Is that a major loss? We don’t think so, and suspect most owners never took full advantage of the previous generation’s twin set of terminals.

Overall, the Diamond 12.3i’s build quality is good for the money. We have a pair of the originals for comparison, and notice that the finish on the new ones’ metal feet isn’t quite as neat, but to be fair this is something that you would never see once the speakers are installed.

There is little to complain about elsewhere. The cabinets feel solid and are finished neatly. Our review sample is in the new black finish and looks understated but still classy.

At 97.5cm tall and just 18cm wide, these Diamond floorstanders are compact enough to fit into most rooms without dominating, and in the UK at least, that’s a big positive.

We do find that the 12.3i is a little fussier about room positioning than its predecessor. Its revised porting arrangement has resulted in a more muscular bass performance, which many will prefer, but it also makes the speakers less forgiving about their proximity to a wall.

In our 3 x 7 x 5m listening room, the 12.3i sound most comfortable around 70cm into the room, and slightly angled towards the listening position to solidify their stereo imaging. The previous generation model could be placed closer and still sound balanced.

Sound

A floorstanding speaker at this price has a difficult balancing act to perform. It has to be forgiving with budget separates and streaming systems, yet still shine with more ambitious electronics. The original 12.3 did that superbly, and so does this new version.

The change of port and internal damping may seem slight on paper, but they have changed the Diamond 12.3’s character a little. The new “i” models are certainly bigger and bolder-sounding. Play a dramatic piece of music, such as the Indiana Jones theme by John Williams, and there is no denying that these new Diamonds produce more dramatic results.

Dynamic shifts are a little more vivid with the new-gen model going from quiet to loud and back again with greater conviction. The bass also kicks harder and, perhaps surprisingly given the identical specifications, seemingly a little deeper.

The tweeter is unchanged, so we’re surprised to find that the treble is now a little more forward than before. It adds to the sense of space in the recording and makes low-level details a touch more apparent. But don’t worry, things aren’t overdone, as the Diamond 12.3i still sounds refined and well-behaved by class standards.

As we work our way through the likes of De La Soul’s Cabin In The Sky set and Jill Scott’s To Whom This May Concern album, it becomes clear that the 12.3i floorstanders should still be considered class leaders. It is hard to argue against the fact that their combination of insight, dynamic expression and control is hard to beat at the money.

Given a song like De La Soul’s YUHDONTSTOP, the 12.3i are a fun listen, rendering the group's vocal flow with enthusiasm and clarity. Vocal and instrumental textures come through well, certainly better than any rival floorstander we’ve heard.

Rhythmically, these Diamonds are surefooted rather than enthusiastic, but they convey the music’s momentum and energy well enough. We’re having fun and these Wharfedale floorstanders are playing their part in that.

However, as good as these new speakers are, there are areas where we feel the older model edges things. In side-by-side comparisons, the original 12.3 sounds a little more cohesive and conveys musical momentum a touch more emphatically. Its bass is a little better integrated too, though clearly less powerful.

Verdict

Given that this “i” model replaces the original, perhaps the comparisons don’t matter so much. It is how the Diamond 12.3i compares to its price rivals that is more important.

In this respect, there is little out there to worry these Wharfedale floorstanders. They remain a cut above the competition, and that makes them an excellent buy at the money.

Review published: 1st June 2026

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 4
• Compatibility 4

MORE:

Also consider the Dali Oberon 5

Best bookshelf speakers: top standmounts for every budget tested

Bigger boxes and bad vibrations – why floorstanding speakers can be tricky to build

One thing struck me while I was testing the excellent Acoustic Energy AE309 Mk2 floorstanding speakers recently. It was just how close they are in character and tone to their standmount siblings, the AE300 Mk2.

The consistency between the two pairs is seamless, and the jump in size brings all the benefits you’d expect from a bigger speaker while maintaining the balance and tonality of its smaller sibling.

Now I can hear some of you shout in unison, “Of course they do!”

Well, you’d think that would be the case, perhaps. But I have been testing speakers of all shapes and sizes for the best part of 20 years, and you’d be surprised at the number of times I’ve made the swap from a stand-mount to a floorstander from the same range and been left scratching my head.

I mean, surely in most cases it’s just a case of putting the drivers from the stand-mount into a bigger cabinet, adding a bit more bracing, damping, and job’s a good’un?

If only it were that simple…

All you want in this scenario is consistency between the models in a range. To be able to pick any speaker and for them to share the same sonic framework and characteristics, no matter the size.

But building a floorstander introduces a number of challenges. For starters, you are moving from a smaller, more rigid box to one that’s much bigger in volume. This makes it harder to control all the various internal vibrations.

Add to that the fact that you might be restricted on how much resource you can put into the design, the extra damping and bracing required, and you could be limited on the performance you’re going to be able to extract, especially at cheaper prices.

As price points go up, however, these potential stumbling blocks become smaller and smaller.

The drive units used in the stand-mount might not be optimised for use in a bigger box. They will have been selected to work with a given volume behind them, and going into a bigger box might not be ideal.

A manufacturer could modify a specific driver for different speakers in a range (Focal is a brand that has done this in the past), but this can ramp up the cost involved.

So what if you go up a size of driver instead? This inevitably introduces new hurdles. A new driver will have different acoustic properties and requirements from the cabinet. You also have the extra cost and complexity of designing the new driver.

Where tweeters are concerned, the jump in cabinet size tends not to be an issue. They normally operate in their own enclosure, separate from the other drivers, which operate out in the open in the main box.

Floorstanders are also trickier to get right because, in addition to the extra volume they offer, they have larger panels. Larger panels are less stiff, which means they are more susceptible to vibrations. Larger panels also have larger surface areas, which means more radiating area for any sound they produce.

If you have a driver producing a sound and one or more of the enclosing panels producing their own sound, that’s not good for audio quality. Extra bracing and damping can help, of course – but it all costs money.

Symptoms when something isn’t quite right with a floorstander include the speakers sounding less balanced, with poorer bass control; they can also suffer rhythmically.

Don’t think of this as a slight on floorstanders, though. Far from it. We all know the long list of benefits that a great pair of towers can bring to a hi-fi system. Huge positives such as greater bass weight and extension, a larger sound, and bigger-scale dynamics are all reasons to consider a pair.

And, of course, they are capable of filling much larger spaces with sound than a small stand-mount. If floorstanders make sense for your particular room layout, then, providing they are of a standard that suits the rest of your system, you’ll be sonically rewarded.

MORE:

Our pick of the best standmount speakers for every budget

And the best floorstanding speakers

Stand-mounts vs floorstanders: which speaker type should you buy?

How to choose the right speakers and get the best sound

Neat Acoustics is adding to its Classic line-up of hi-fi speakers with the new Vito floorstanders.

Positioned at the top of the Classic range, which currently boasts the five-star Mystique Classic towers and Petite Classic standmounts, the new Vito speakers promise "spacious, natural and emotionally engaging musical presentation" with a sound that feels "both effortless and immersive".

Like their Classic counterparts, the Vito are reasonably compact floorstanders (just 90cm high), yet despite their relatively small size, Neat promises a genuinely "full range performance suitable for medium to large listening spaces."

To achieve this, the 2.5-way design houses the same AMT tweeter technology as found in the rest of the Classic range, while a dual bass driver configuration teases a "deep, controlled bass performance."

Neat will introduce the new Vito Classic loudspeakers at this year's High End Vienna showcase next week, running from 4th to 7th June.

The new speakers will be available to buy from September, costing around £4995 per pair (further prices pending), potentially making them around twice the price of their Mystique siblings (£2475). Finishes are yet to be finalised, but options may include Oak, Walnut, Pearl White and Graphite Black.

Neat hasn't yet released the full details and specifications for its upcoming Vito speakers, but we'll let you know when we have more information. We remain big fans of the Petite and Mystique, so we're more than a little curious to see if third time's a charm for Neat's Classic line-up.

MORE:

Read our Neat Mystique Classic review

1976 vs today: veteran audio experts discuss the biggest shifts in music and hi-fi during What Hi-Fi?'s 50-year lifetime

Our pick of the best floorstanding speakers for all budgets

Tannoy turns 100 this year, and while the legendary brand has been a little quiet on the new product front in recent years, it's starting to make some noise as it gears up to mark this significant milestone.

To start with, Tannoy will be launching exclusive limited-edition speakers based on the Prestige Gold Reference Series. These special-edition models will include enhanced crossovers and improved internal cabling – although that’s the extent of details so far. Full specifications, pricing and images will be announced later this year when they are officially launched.

What we do know is the very limited nature of this release: only 19 pairs of the flagship Westminster Royal GR and 26 pairs of the step-down Canterbury GR speakers will be made – with the numbers chosen to represent 1926, the year Tannoy was founded in South London.

The standard Westminster Royal GR is yours for about £55,000 and the Canterbury GR £33,000, so we imagine the limited edition versions won’t come cheap.

We are expecting full details to emerge in the coming months, but UK representatives from Tannoy will be at the High End Vienna 2026 show (4th - 7th June) for a natter about the exclusive speakers, “alongside the return of some truly iconic models,” we’re teased.

If you are visiting the High End show, you'll also be able to get a taste of what these special-edition speakers will have to offer, as the flagship Westminster Royal GR speakers (pictured above) will be on demonstration, driven by Esoteric electronics.

100 years is an astonishing milestone for any hi-fi brand; we look forward to getting the full details on anniversary products from Tannoy in due course.

MORE:

Read our Tannoy Kensington GR review

The best 39 hi-fi speakers of What Hi-Fi?'s lifetime

“What is JBL sound? It’s powerful, dynamic and energetic” – we chat to JBL about headphones, history and 80 years in the business

“What took you so long?”

It’s a fair question we might aim at Cambridge Audio, which, over its near-60-year history, has dabbled in almost every audio category: amplifiers, CD players, music streamers, turntables, subwoofers, wireless speakers… even a Blu-ray player.

The fact that it has taken the British audio brand 58 years to launch its first-ever active speakers is perhaps surprising, but we’ll allow them to be fashionably late. The brand’s new L/R range of active speakers comes in three sizes, and we’ve got the baby of the bunch on test here, the Cambridge Audio L/R S. Is this petite desktop speaker the beginning of a hit series? It certainly looks promising.

Price

The L/R S is the smallest and cheapest model of Cambridge’s L/R speakers, and costs £399 / $549 / AU$949 per pair. This puts it squarely in the crosshairs of the Award-winning Ruark MR1 Mk3 (£399 / $579 / AU$899) powered desktop speakers, while Onkyo’s five-star GX-30ARC can be yours for a little less at £299 / $349 / AU$649.

The L/R S are available in six finishes that include the standard black and white, as well as more colourful green, blue and orange finishes. If you opt for the walnut veneer finish of our review sample, you’ll have to pay a little more at £449 / $599 / AU$1049 per pair.

If you’ll be placing the L/R S speakers on your desk, it’s worth checking out the optional angled desk stands (£49) that tilt the speakers up so the sound is more directed towards you.

Build & design

If you’re working with limited space – small rooms, student digs, not a lot of surface real estate – then these active speakers will work a treat. Each cabinet is just under 23cm tall and about 13cm wide – no wider than your average paperback book – which means they’ll fit onto most desktops and even shelves, ideally perched on either side of a laptop or your TV.

The speakers themselves look neat and stylish, and we can imagine the minimal cabinet design fitting into most interiors, whether you want them to blend into a spartan layout or add a splash of colour with the punchier hues.

Build quality is of a high standard, with clean, crisp edges and a smooth finish. We particularly like how the Cambridge logo is etched into the finish at the top of the cabinet. It looks classy.

Each speaker is furnished with a 21mm aluminium tweeter and a long-throw 76mm mid/bass driver, with a bass reflex slot positioned at the rear of each cabinet. All drivers are powered by Class D amplification, and altogether, the L/R S claim to offer a mighty 100W of total output, split evenly between the two channels.

The tweeter has a large waveguide that, along with the mid/bass driver, occupies the majority of the ultra-minimal fascia, with the metallic orange colour of the dome peeking through to offer some visual interest. The speakers don’t come with a grille, but the tweeter’s phase cap doubles up as a guard to protect it from poking fingers.

This is a fully active design with all the amplification and electronics housed in the primary speaker. The supplied 2m connecting cable has a bespoke 4-pin conductor that carries the signal to the secondary speaker. This cable has a pleasingly secure locking mechanism at either end, too. If you need a longer lead between the speakers, a 5m cable is also available to buy separately.

Keeping things simple seems to be the main aim with these petite active speakers. There are no controls or dials on the speaker for choosing inputs or changing volume – which might irk some users who like having such controls within easy reach – but there is a colour-coded LED under the primary speaker which clearly indicates the input chosen.

A remote control is supplied, which takes care of input choosing, volume and power. It’s a slim unit made of light plastic, but it works well, and we would take pains not to mislay this remote.

You can place these small speakers pretty much anywhere, and, knowing this, Cambridge has taken steps to ensure the L/R S are able to sound their best wherever you place them. At the back, you’ll find a pair of toggle switches: one to indicate whether the speakers are placed on a desk or not, and another to indicate if they are positioned close to a wall (“near wall”) or out in “free space”. The “near wall” mode is straightforward. It reduces the mid-bass around 100Hz to account for any boominess that might occur when placing the speakers very close to a back wall.

The “desk top on” mode, meanwhile, deals with two issues at once – time alignment and desk reflection – and shows how much thought Cambridge’s engineers have put into this design. When the small speakers are placed on a desk, the drivers will naturally be physically lower than your listening height. This desk mode compensates for this effect, delaying the tweeter output and readjusting the top and mid frequencies so that music sounds “right” from your listening position.

Additionally, this mode also notches down the mid frequencies (around 700Hz, says Cambridge) to balance out the unwanted energy coming from the speakers’ sound being reflected from the desk.

We would try out the various combinations to see what works best for your speaker placement. We quite liked the combination of "free space" and keeping ‘desk top’ mode off for a richer and more solid sound overall, but the effect will vary depending on your room and the surface the speakers are placed on.

And finally, there is a third and very useful toggle switch that lets you assign the primary speaker as the left or right channel, giving you greater flexibility for placement.

Features

Whereas the bigger siblings – the L/R X and L/R M – boast full network streaming smarts, the baby of the family is once again keeping things pared down and uncomplicated by offering Bluetooth for streaming. Physical inputs on the L/R S include a pair of RCA line level, optical and USB-C, and there is a subwoofer output.

It’s worth noting that while the optical and USB-C both support hi-res audio files up to 96kHz, the speakers’ DSP will automatically resample/downsample all files to 24-bit/48kHz.

Perhaps surprisingly in this enduring age of vinyl popularity, there’s no built-in phono stage here, as you’ll find in the Ruark and Onkyo rivals. There’s no HDMI ARC input here either, which you will find on the cheaper Onkyo speakers.

Regardless, you can still connect a variety of products to these speakers, including a CD player, a TV, a smartphone/laptop, and even a phono stage-equipped turntable, such as the Sony PS-LX3BT. Bluetooth has the higher-quality aptX and aptX HD codecs on board, and pairing with our smartphone takes seconds.

Using these speakers is a cinch. Once connected, they’re easy to control using the supplied remote or with your paired phone when streaming from Tidal or Spotify.

Along with the toggles for adjusting the speakers’ sound depending on their position, there are also three sound modes to choose from: Normal (the default one), Voice (accentuates mids/voice) and Movie (increases in bass and treble frequency for more impact, and mids for clearer dialogue).

We appreciate that the EQ modes are rather subtle in action. Voices are a tad clearer and more prominent when deploying the Voice mode during podcasts, and the Movie mode doesn’t overdo the peaks in frequencies, but we prefer the more balanced, solid sound of the Normal mode for all kinds of audio.

Sound

We set up the L/R S speakers on the desk in one of our listening rooms, flanking our laptop, connected to Bluetooth, and leave them running in while we do some work. This allows us not only to run the speakers in, but also to gauge how they behave when used exactly the way we imagine most people will. Will the speakers sound too boomy on the desk? Will they sound too powerful and distracting, or will they fade into the background? Is there any peakiness in the treble to annoy us?

As we listen to Rosalia, Eminem, Waxahatchee, Geese, Rachmaninoff and more, we find ourselves living rather harmoniously with these compact Cambridge speakers. What’s impressive is just how nice and even they are throughout the frequencies – it allows for a very easy-going listen, and one you could listen to for hours without getting fatigued.

There is no discernible peakiness in the treble, which sounds rather civilised and cultured even when hitting the brash, brazen highs of Fontaines D.C.’s Starburster. The bass is rather taut and nimble but not overpowering, which is welcome if you’ll be listening to the speakers up close and on resonant surfaces. There is less bass weight on the L/R S compared with the more exuberant Ruark MR1 Mk3 rival, and it doesn’t sound as muscular when faced with the brooding bassline in Massive Attack’s Angel. But it nips along at a good pace.

There is a good amount of detail on offer, thanks also in part to a clean, low-distortion background. Whether we listen to these speakers using Tidal via Bluetooth or USB, or CDs on a connected Cyrus CDi disc spinner, the presentation is consistent. From Waxahatchee’s honeyed vocals to Geese’s more discordant and laconic tones, we find the speakers create a rather lovely solid sweet-spot for voices, too.

Listening at low volume doesn’t quite give us a full picture of the speakers’ abilities; turn up the volume, and you’ll find them spark into life. If you reach your smartphone device’s maximum Bluetooth volume limit and wonder if that’s all they can do, reach for the remote control and turn it up some more. These speakers can go pretty loud. Just be wary of going too high, as things do start to get unwieldy and shouty.

Even as we admire their evenness and orderliness, we find the L/R S speakers can be a touch reserved at times. On some tracks – such as on Eminem’s The Way I Am and Forget About Dre – we find ourselves willing the speakers on, to tackle the propulsive rhythm with more punch and panache. The piano notes in Game Of Thrones’ Light Of The Seven glide along smoothly, but they could do with a greater degree of precision and urgency to better impart the ratcheting-up of tension in the piece.

In comparison, the rival Ruark MR1 Mk3 speakers have the upper hand when it comes to rhythmic impetus and dynamic expression. They are able to deliver a bigger and more open sound too, with a greater amount of space in between the instruments and voices.

We find that the Ruark speakers sound clearer throughout the midrange, too, which reveals a greater degree of subtlety and insight. In comparison, the Cambridge sounds as though there is a cloudy veil over the mids, which we would love to hear scrubbed clean so that textures and subtleties can be unleashed. Bon Iver's voice on Exile is layered with rich textures and full of personality and emotion through the Ruarks – this effect is a little muted through the L/R S.

We would recommend investing in the optional desk stands for the L/R S, as physically tilting the speakers towards your listening position results in a clearer, more solid sound. Listening significantly off-axis changes the balance somewhat, so we would take some care when positioning the speakers and experiment with the various toggle modes to find the ideal sound for you.

Verdict

As Cambridge Audio’s first-ever active stereo speakers, the L/R S are off to a great start. It’s a confident design with thoughtful consideration for how people will use them in the real world. And they look stylish, too.

That even-toned, refined and easy-to-listen-to sound is impressive for a product of this type and price, and we think a sprinkle of energy, precision and insight could well catapult these compact Cambridge speakers to stardom. The Ruarks and Onkyos of this world might rest easy for now, but they’ll certainly be keeping an eye on this new contender.

Review published: 15th May 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 5
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Ruark Audio MR1 Mk3

Also consider the Onkyo GX-30ARC

Our guide to the best desktop speakers for hi-fi fans, tested by our experts

Flares, sideburns, the mullet... the 1970s must carry the can for some truly terrible style trends. But it also birthed some pretty great-looking speakers, like the Wharfedale Denton 1. Launched in 1974, it was a real landmark in Wharefdale's evolution. And now it's back, with a modern makeover.

The Denton 1S is the latest in Wharfedale's Heritage Series, which are all inspired by its models from yesteryear. But this is the first inspired by a specific model, the Denton 1. With an unusual full-range coaxial drive unit with two cones mounted on the same axis, it could be positioned either vertically or horizontally. It also broke away from the classic wood-panelled look that Wharfedale was known for in favour of a moulded polyurethane (plastic polymer) enclosure with curved edges. Which is a very modern look.

The new model keeps these trademark elements but packages them within a new design, with a "vastly elevated sound".

It's small enough to fit on a desk, but can be wall-mounted, situated close to a wall or placed on a stand. Inside is a new two-way coaxial driver developed especially for this model. A 25mm silk-dome tweeter sits within a 165mm enhanced polypropylene mid/bass cone, allowing both drivers to radiate from a single acoustic centre to produce sound that's time-aligned and phase coherent.

The cone should deliver a wide and balanced frequency response thanks to its enhanced rigidity and critical damping, while the 44mm voice coil allows for power handling up to 100W.

The result? Natural tone balance, excellent transient accuracy and reduced colouration across the midrange, according to Wharfedale. Bass should be warm and full of texture, while high frequencies come with smooth yet crisply rendered detail.

It should also deliver a wide soundstage to entertain you regardless of where you're sitting.

The Denton 1S's crossover network is mapped to Linkwitz-Riley 4th order acoustic slopes at 2.6kHz, and works with a form of EQ that Wharefdale has dubbed the 'Brilliance Switch', which is one of the best names we've heard for a long time. This has two positions: 'norm', or 'max', which raises the response by 1.5dB to between 2 and 4kHz, adjusting the sound for positioning the speaker close to a wall. So you shouldn't suffer acoustically just because you're short of space.

While it might look similar to the original Denton 1, the 1S's cabinet has a whole new construction. It's made of a thicker, denser combination of woods to scatter panel resonances, while differing-thickness fibreboard panels are bonded and braced to control critical resonance modes. The front baffle is also recessed for better structural integrity.

The rear bass port is double-flared with a soft rubber on the inner flare to reduce turbulence and avoid chuffing while also enhancing the bass response. It offers bass extension down to 45Hz (-6dB), and it should match with lots of different amplifiers thanks to its 88dB sensitivity and an impedance averaging 8 ohms, with a minimum of 4.5 ohms.

The Denton 1S comes in the same white matt finish as its progenitor, along with black and blue colour schemes. It's out in late May for £649 / $999 / AU$1799 per pair.

Wharfedale's other Heritage speakers, like the Denton and Linton, have reviewed well, picking up four and five stars respectively. You can read about them below.

MORE:

Read our Wharfedale Denton review

And our Wharfedale LInton review

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the Super Linton speaker from Wharfedale

We knew Jamo would return, and now we know how. With two new ranges as part of its resurrected Concert series: the Concert Legacy and Concert Element.

Jamo's first Concert speakers were the Concert 8 (D 830) and Concert 11 (D 870), launched in 1996. They set the company's acoustic benchmark for decades to come.

And now Concert is getting an encore.

The Concert Legacy is described as "the brand’s most important premium passive speaker family". It aims to imagine what the original Concert series would look like if it had continuously evolved over the last 30 years. But it's not a rehash – instead, it builds on the original ideas that informed the Concert 8 and Concert 11.

These speakers are Scandi through and through. They're made in Denmark, their drivers were developed with Scan-Speak in Denmark and SEAS in Norway, and the woofer materials incorporate Finnish wood fibre.

In terms of sound, we can expect "composed bass, open midrange and articulate treble", according to Jamo. The brand's DualCore architecture physically isolates the midrange and bass chambers to maintain clarity as the low-frequency energy increases. There's also down-firing bass loading to allow for more versatile placement within your room.

The Legacy 11 (pictured above) is the flagship, joined by the Legacy 9 (a more compact floorstander) and the Legacy 8 standmount.

The Concert Element is a bit more designer-y. Or, to put in Jamo's words, it's "Jamo’s purest form of Danish functional design." It was developed with help from Copenhagen-based industrial design studio HarritSørensen.

It has an interesting design choice. Instead of concealing the driver within the speaker's cabinet, the circular driver module extends beyond it, making a virtue of it. It looks like a round peg in a square hole – but in this case, one that fits.

These speakers are intended to become like part of the furniture – thanks to their shallow proportions and minimalist looks, they should look right at home among your sofa, shelves and side units. The Element 50 (pictured at the top of this story) is designed to fit standard shelving units, as opposed to most standmount speakers, which are the size they are.

The Element speakers might be less premium than the Legacy ones, but they still promise an acoustic punch. Developed with SB Acoustics, they use bespoke drivers that have been tuned to each cabinet volume and follow a single-driver-per-range architecture for a simplified signal path and less distortion.

They have down-firing ports along with time-aligned tweeters for greater accuracy. The floorstanding models have the same dual-chamber construction as the Legacy range to separate bass and midrange.

The fabric covers are sourced from Danish furniture supplier Gabriel. Want a more functional-looking design? Just remove them to expose the innards.

The range comprises the Element 50, Element 70, Element 90 and SW10 subwoofer.

All models go on sale in August, with pricing as follows:

• Concert Legacy 11: £7739 / $7999 (around AU$14,500)
• Concert Legacy 9: £4729 / $5299 (around AU$8900)
• Concert Legacy 8: £2839 / $2999 (around AU$5500)
• Concert Element 90: £2239 / $2499 (around AU$4200)
• Concert Element 70: £1719 / $1899 (around AU$3200)
• Concert Element 50: £999 / $1099 (around AU$1900)
• Concert Element SW10: £629 / $699 (around AU$1800)

MORE:

Read our Jamo S 805 review from 2018

We've been here before: Jamo returned to the UK market in 2018

And Jamo also had a rebirth in 2022

Have you ever seen speakers look like this before?

Should we even be calling them speakers? According to their Los Angeles-based studio Oben Hi-Fi, the new brand “occupies a category that does not yet have a name”, and describes its designs as “sculptural sound works that function as reference-level high-fidelity listening systems.”

We might just call them speakers for the sake of convenience, mind you.

Oben’s debut collection consists of five distinct series, each using different materials and design philosophies to create a unique set of speakers unlike much else we’ve seen before.

The disc-shaped Jovian, for example, are described as monolithic towers “that anchor a room the way an artifact from another age would”.

Handcrafted from wood and boasting a large oblong design mounted on a tapered plinth, the new speakers house dual 30cm drivers surrounded by six 20cm units to deliver “exceptional performance” which reveals “nuance, dynamics, and spatial detail with immediacy and precision”.

If you want something even more out there, you might be drawn to the Arqos, a pair of hand-sculpted towers which, says Oben, “recall the arch, the portal, (and) the threshold”.

They put us in mind of a very large set of Teletubbies’ antennae, but maybe that’s just us. The new series is available in two sizes – the David and the Goliath – with the David housing a pair of 20cm drivers and the Goliath offering a pair of 38cm units.

Other colourful creations include the Mane speakers, which are described as “acoustic totems cloaked in lush tactile fibres that blur the line between the natural and the surreal,” and the Callisto, crafted from hardwood and featuring a distinctive pimpled surface.

There’s also the Korus, a pair of chunky wooden towers sculpted from solid wood with carved acoustic chambers, again split into the smaller David iteration and the larger, 152cm tall Goliath.

All of the speakers in Oben’s new series are available to buy, although stocks are limited and prices, as you’ll see below, are rather steep. They are as follows:

- Oben Mane: starting at $26,000
- Oben Callisto: starting at $78,000
- Oben Arqos: starting at $71,000
- Oben Korus: starting at $71,000
- Oben Jovian: starting at $125,000

MORE:

15 of the very first turntables from iconic hi-fi brands

These are our best floorstanding speakers: budget to premium

Pick of the Month: a shining star OLED TV, twin Sony turntable treats, five-star high-end hi-fi speakers and more, tested

Audiovector, the Danish brand behind luxury loudspeakers such as the R6 Arreté and the Trapeze Reimagined , has announced a new entry in its line of big-money floorstanders.

The new R5 Arreté are the latest members of the company’s established Arreté range, a line-up that tops out at the R10 Arreté, which cost a mighty £127,5000 / $165,000 / €147,500 per pair.

At just shy of £18,000, the new R5 Arreté are a comparative steal, yet they’re not modest in terms of their ambition. Inheriting trickle-down technology from their flagship R10 stablemates, the new speakers pledge to “redefine what a loudspeaker of this scale can achieve”.

The new floorstanders are built around a 3.5-way architecture, with twin bass drivers operating distinctly from each other – one covering the full bass range, the second dedicated to the deepest sonic frequencies.

Those drivers combine to generate what Audiovector describes as bass “that is both deep and powerful", while a dedicated midrange unit promises a “clean, fast and transparent” response.

Each cabinet is hand-built in Denmark, with a narrow front baffle aiming to minimise edge diffraction for a more precise and transparent soundstage. The speaker plinths, together with precision-milled spikes and integrated decoupling system, further seek to eliminate unwanted resonances.

According to Renaissance Managing Director John Carroll: "We are delighted to launch the R5 Arreté. It’s a Danish masterclass in sound, styling and design that really hits the sweet spot."

The R5 Arreté will be available in a choice of Piano Black, White Silk, African Mahogany Piano and Italian Walnut finishes, priced at £17,950. Custom paint finishes are available on request.

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British brand Majority Audio has unveiled D100X powered Bluetooth bookshelf speakers, billing them as a "compact yet powerful audio set-up" built to give a budget sonic boost to your musical, cinematic or gaming experience.

Designed to be as happy on an office desktop as slotting into a small-scale hi-fi system, the new D100X boast up to 100 watts of output power from their compact design, while carbon fibre speaker cones promise "clarity and depth across all audio types".

The D100X offer Bluetooth 5.3 streaming for listening wirelessly, while physical inputs include HDMI ARC for connecting to a home cinema setup alongside optical, aux and RCA options. There's also a dedicated phono connection if you want to hook up your turntable.

If you're keen to tweak their sound, the new speakers let you adjust your audio output via adjustable treble and bass settings, whereas dedicated equaliser modes are designed to enhance dialogue clarity when connected to a TV via HDMI ARC or optical inputs.

2026 has seen quite a few feature-packed powered speakers enter the market, including the five-star Onkyo GX30-ARC( £339 / $349 / AU$649) and the Philips Fidelio FA3 (tested at £349 / $399 / AU$499).

There's also our current Award-winners, the Ruark MR1 Mk3 (£399 / $579 / AU$899), which are our main recommendation for desktop speaker buyers right now.

Available now for just £129, the Majority D100X are significantly cheaper than all three key rivals, but as we well know, an attractive price is nothing without great sound to back it up.

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The Martin Logan brand is built on its excellent and rather elegant hybrid electrostatic/ dynamic driver high-end speakers. These are a little niche in design and, necessarily, rather pricey, so it’s no surprise to find that the company also makes conventional box speakers at lower price points.

Its entry-level series is called the Motion Foundation, and the F1 on test here is the smaller of two floorstanding options. The range also includes a pair of standmounters (B2 and smaller B1) and the C1, a dedicated centre speaker.

Design

All speakers use the same folded diaphragm tweeter with horn loading coupled to aluminium-coned drive units of either 14cm or 16.5cm diameter, depending on the size of the model.

The Foundation F1 floorstander uses four of the 14cm drivers, one for the midrange and three for the bass. Along with the horn-loaded tweeter, that makes for a pretty formidable-looking driver array for a speaker at this price.

The bass units are tuned by a pair of rear-firing ports that are positioned just above a pair of single-wire input terminals.

Martin Logan is particularly proud of its folded diaphragm tweeters. These are 24 x 25mm in size; the relatively large surface area, and the resultant reduction in excursion required, is claimed to result in a more detailed and lower-distortion performance than conventional dome alternatives.

The addition of horn-loading helps with efficiency and allows the engineers to control the way the high frequencies disperse.

The crossover frequency between the tweeter in the midrange unit is 3.7kHz and that between the mid and bass units is set at 240Hz. Both are fairly typical numbers. The F1’s 92dB/W/m sensitivity is decently high and might make you think that it is possible to get by with a lower powered amplifier, but the low-ish 4 ohm impedance still suggests something with a bit of grunt is a better way to go.

As usual, there is no harm in experimenting. We achieve good results with the Arcam A15+ integrated amplifier and the step-up Cyrus 40 AMP (both around 80 watts per channel), so that amount of power seems a reasonable starting point.

Build

Despite being the compact floorstander choice in the range, these are still imposing looking towers that stand well over a metre high. They are relatively slim at just 21cm though, and look smart and modern to our eyes. There are three standard enclosure finish options: black, walnut and satin white.

Cabinet build quality is good, with crisp edges and good attention to detail, though we feel that the feet (which are attached with a single screw) could fit more rigidly. They come as standard with rubber caps over the spikes, so those with wooden floors have an option that won’t cause damage.

The Motion Foundation F1 work best when given some room to breathe. In our 3 x 7 x 5m (hwd) test room, we end up with them around 90cm from the back wall and slightly angled in towards the listening position. It is worth taking some time to hone things as the stereo imaging really does snap into focus once optimised.

We would also ensure that your ears are broadly at tweeter height to get the most balanced presentation. If you sit too low, things start to sound a little odd.

Along with the aforementioned Arcam and Cyrus integrated amplifiers, we also test these speakers with our reference Burmester 088/911 Mk III pre/power pairing. Our main sources are the Naim ND555/555 PS DR music streamer and a Technics SL-1000R/Kiseki Purpleheart record player feeding a Cyrus Phono Signature/PSX-R2 phono stage.

Sound

We expected the Motion Foundation F1 to be something of a front-footed bass monster given the generous driver count and relatively large enclosure. We weren’t quite right. These towers do indeed produce a strong bass with good extension, but they prioritise articulation and control more than we were expecting.

Listen to bass-driven music such as The Dark Knight OST by Hans Zimmer, Bob Marley & the Wailers’ Catch A Fire or Massive Attack’s Mezzanine, and these speakers sound impressively taut at low frequencies. Bass is textured and agile, but not quite as authoritative as we hoped. Importantly, those lows remain balanced and nicely integrated with the rest of the frequency range.

The F1 sound pleasingly even in our test room, with no part of the frequency range gaining undue prominence. They have a clean and detailed presentation that resolves a great deal of information and presents it in a composed and organised way.

Given a complex piece of music such as Orff’s Carmina Burana, these Martin Logan floorstanders don’t flinch as they hold onto the multitude of instrumental stands without losing grip.

Their midrange is open and nicely projected, doing a good job of letting us hear every single word in Eminem’s rapid-fire vocals in No Love, despite the dense instrumental backdrop. Higher frequencies stay on the right side of brightness, retaining plenty of bite and attack without erring into harshness.

Play a poor recording and the F1 won’t hide the shortcomings, but neither will they magnify them.

Stereo imaging is pretty good, with these floorstanders rendering a wide and nicely focused soundstage. The imaging isn’t the deepest we’ve heard, and the sound doesn’t quite float free of the speaker cabinets, but that’s broadly par for the course at this level.

We are less forgiving about the F1’s lack of rhythmic drive, though. While they are punchy performers, these towers don’t manage to convey musical momentum particularly well. The result is that songs such as Massive Attack’s Angel or Bob Marley’s Stir It Up don’t hit home with the emotional impact they should. The ebb and flow of energy isn’t quite there and our toes aren’t tapping.

Equally, a lack of dynamic expression, particularly through the midrange, means that the passion of artists such as Nina Simone or Nick Cave doesn’t come through as vividly as we would expect. While these Martin Logan speakers sound clean and clear, they also have a slightly clinical sonic character that class leaders like the PMC Prodigy 5 or Fyne Audio F502S avoid.

Verdict

Despite our complaints, we still find much to admire in these floorstanding speakers. The Motion Foundation F1’s presentation is packed with clarity and is a match for class rivals when it comes to control and resolution. Their bass, while not unusually powerful, is impressively articulate and nicely balanced.

If Martin Logan’s engineers could find a way to make them more fun, price rivals would really have something to worry about.

Review published: 28th April 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 4
• Compatibility 4

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Our experience with Acoustic Energy’s midrange 300 Series speakers (which the company overhauled in 2025) has been a memorable one so far.

We’ve already tested the AE300 Mk2 standmounters, which were not only handed a five-star rating by our review team last year, but they also won Product Of The Year in the standmount speakers category at the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2025.

So you can understand the feeling of anticipation around What Hi-Fi? Towers ahead of testing the AE309 Mk2, the entry-level floorstander from the range.

Of course, just because one speaker in a range gets five stars doesn’t mean that the rest of the speakers will automatically follow suit. Years of experience testing speakers have taught us that anything can happen when you jump around between models in a range.

But it is hard not to get excited about a close relative of a current class-leader. Fingers crossed these floorstanders don’t let the side down.

Build & design

Imposing, these speakers are most certainly not. Measuring 17cm wide and 90cm tall, we’d imagine the Acoustic Energy AE309 Mk2 would be a great fit for someone lacking a little floor space or who needs to reach an amicable compromise over how much room their hi-fi system can take up.

There’s something attractive about a compact floorstander, and we think Acoustic Energy has nailed the proportions here.

In the walnut finish of our test pair, these diminutive speakers look like they’ll blend into a lot of spaces. You also have matte black and matte white options available, too, so you can either go for full-on stealth mode or rock a slightly punchier look.

They’re nicely finished too, the curved edges on some sections of the cabinets add a nice air of elegance to an otherwise very functional and sturdy design.

Those cabinets are cleverly constructed. They are formed using a constrained layer construction that combines 18mm MDF with bitumen. Acoustic Energy claims it reduces cabinet vibrations compared to more traditional MDF or plywood designs.

As you’d expect, the AE309 Mk2 uses the same drivers you’ll find in the Award-winning standmounters. There’s a 29mm soft dome tweeter, but this floorstanding model doubles up on the 12cm mid/bass drivers, which are made from a paper/coconut fibre.

Compatibility

Before we sit down to put the floorstanders through their paces, as is the case with all speakers we test, first there’s the small matter of positioning.

The AE309 Mk2 boast a rear slot-shaped port just above the single-wire speaker terminals. It’s there to reduce the effect of air turbulence and help deliver clean, undistorted bass.

Acoustic Energy recommends you place them at least six inches from a rear wall and away from corners, and we’d agree. During testing, we find that we get the best results if we give them room to breathe and settle around 60cm from the rear walls in our test room, which measures 3 x 7 x 5m (hwd).

Place them too close to the wall, and we find the bass a little overblown for our tastes. It’s not unlistenable, but we’d struggle to live with it over long listening sessions, especially if you’re playing a particularly bass-heavy playlist.

We would also suggest angling the speakers so that the tweeters are firing at the side of your ears. The Acoustic Energy deliver a nice, cohesive stereo image, and this little tweak will help keep things focused.

Sound

Once we’re happy with the positioning, we fire up our tried and trusted reference system, which comprises the Naim ND555/555 PS DR streamer and Burmester 088/911 MkIII pre/power amplifier.

We know that in the real world, this isn’t exactly a realistic set-up, so we also have Arcam’s superb A15+ stereo amplifier sitting on the sidelines, ready to bring in. It’s much more price-appropriate for the speakers.

We start proceedings with Taylor Swift’s duet with Bon Iver, Exile, and it’s fair to say the AE309 Mk2 make an immediate impact. Well, it’s actually the influence of their cabinets, or rather the lack of it, that pricks up our ears.

The background of the track is eerily quiet – the soft, melodic piano play that opens the song just hangs in the open air before Justin Vernon’s deep baritone layers itself on top and locks into focus.

There’s quite a lot to take in here, not least an excellent amount of detail and texture. Each piano key strike sounds solid and detailed, and you can hear a good dose of the reverb around each note as they fill the stereo image.

Both Vernon and Swift’s vocals ooze emotion as the Acoustic Energy speakers do a great job of sounding natural, which allows them to capture the feeling and sentiment of the track with relative ease.

The sadness and anguish melded into the lyrics are all laid bare for the listener to hear, and as the track’s tempo speeds up, and the emotions rise ever so slightly, the AE309 Mk2 step up to match the subtle rise in intensity.

When the strings slide into view, the speakers showcase their excellent dynamics, tracking every rise and fall as the song reaches an emotional climax.

Next we employ Angel by Massive Attack, to get more of a feeling of how the Acoustic Energy pair handle low frequencies – and once again, we like what we hear.

There’s a real sense of solidity and weight as each note hits. There’s a good sense of drive too. We can hear detail and texture both at the surface level of each note, but also further down the sonic register. It feels like the floorstanders are squeezing out as much information as possible.

Our benchmark at this level is the Award-winning Fyne Audio F501E, and the fact that we don’t find ourselves pining for them every time we switch back to the Acoustic Energy shows the AE309 Mk2 must have something going for them.

The Fynes arguably have a bit more thrust and drive to their delivery with the Massive Attack track, though. They’re a bit more authoritative and punchier with exceptional dynamic stretch for the money – so much so that they can make the Acoustic Energy towers sound like they’re holding back a little. On the flip side, they don’t sound quite as natural or balanced.

We finish off with End Credits from the swashbuckling Pirates Of The Caribbean soundtrack. And the AE309 Mk2 deliver the track with enthusiasm and verve. The rapid, unrelenting pace of the track is no problem for these towers, which do a great job communicating rhythms and the textures of the instruments.

The precision and poise they can deploy give great clarity to a track that can sometimes be a blur of orchestral elements on poorer-performing speakers.

The hallmark of excellent speakers is that you don’t even realise they are there. Instead of being drawn to something they are or are not doing, you can close your eyes, and the music just washes over you. And that’s probably the biggest compliment we can pay the Acoustic Energy – the seamless integration between drive units simply lets the music do the talking.

It’s at this point that we retrace our steps, listening to the same tracks using the Arcam A15+ for amplification. And we can report that the speakers feel completely at home. The AE309 Mk2 sound much more relaxed (in a good way) in the company of something more suited to their price level.

They still deliver a natural, balanced and detailed performance, and it’s hard not to think that this pairing, driven by a Bluesound Node Icon music streamer, could make for quite a capable system.

Verdict

Credit to Acoustic Energy, we now have another member of its 300 Series that comes highly recommended by our test team. The compact AE309 Mk2 stand tall in a tough sector of the loudspeaker market, but their superbly balanced and musical sound is a match for any rival.

These are speakers that definitely deserve your time and, potentially, money.

Review published: 27th April 2026

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Compatibility 5

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By JBL’s own reckoning, the Summit Ama is the best standmounter it knows how to make. Let that sink in a little. JBL was founded back in 1946, and the decades of knowledge gained by making all sorts of speakers for use at home, in cinemas and concert venues, and for recording studios around the world, has led here. Few, if any, rival speaker manufacturers come close to this depth and breadth of experience

The Summit Ama is the smallest and only non-floorstanding option in JBL’s trio of Summit high-end speakers. All three are named after Himalayan mountains (the others are called the Summit Pumori and Summit Makalu). They all sit below the company’s well-established range-topping Everest DD67000 (£79,999 / $82,500) and K2 S9900 (£49,998 / $68,000) tower models in price and size.

Design & build

The Summit range’s technical highlight is undoubtedly the horn-loaded compression tweeter. JBL has decades of experience making such drivers, and the engineering in the D2815K unit used here in the Ama is impressive.

It uses dual 38mm annular Teonex diaphragms, two motor systems and is loaded by the company’s HDI (High Definition Imaging) horn.

The HDI horn is made of Sonoglass, a fibreglass-based material, and is carefully shaped to ensure that high frequencies disperse in a controlled way, both horizontally and vertically. The horn’s unusual profile also aims to reduce the distortions that are traditionally inherent in such designs.

Below the tweeter sits a 20cm triple-layer carbon fibre/cellulose hybrid composite mid/bass unit. This driver’s diaphragm sandwiches a closed-cell foam core between the carbon fibre/cellulose layers to achieve the balance of stiffness, low mass and internal damping that JBL’s engineers required.

The mid/bass’s motor system uses a ferrite magnet and has a cast aluminium chassis for rigidity. This driver is claimed to deliver high sound pressure levels with low distortion and good power handling. Its low-end output is tuned by a large, flared rear-facing port that sits just above the chunky set of biwire terminals on the back panel.

The Summit Ama’s two drivers are integrated by a carefully calibrated crossover network that swaps traditional large value capacitors for multiple smaller ones; a choice that reduces ESR ( internal resistance) and is claimed to result in lower distortion, increased power handling and better dynamics.

Physically, this JBL is a chunky design, standing almost 48cm tall and around 31cm wide. The cabinet depth is pretty substantial at 34cm, and when mounted on their dedicated supports, the speakers will certainly dominate in most typical small rooms in the UK.

Build quality is excellent. The Ama’s cabinets feel rock solid and nicely damped. They are substantial at just over 26kg each, so they need care in installation. There are two finish options, black or ebony veneer, both in high gloss. The overall effect may be a touch brutish for some tastes, but there is no denying the care taken in fit and finish.

Those aluminium stands are substantial affairs with twin pillars and isolating IsoAcoustics soft feet rather than the spikes we normally see. Some thought has been given to cable management to keep things tidy, which is something we wish more manufacturers would take seriously. The Summit Ama bolt onto the stand to keep things secure.

Compatibility

JBL quotes the Summit Ama’s sensitivity at 84dB/W/m and its nominal impedance as 4 ohms, which suggests that a high-quality amplifier with plenty of power is probably the way to go. Our experience reinforces this idea. We get great results with our 180-watt-per-channel Burmester 088/911 MkIII amplifier combination.

There is no point in spending so much on a pair of speakers if the partnering system is in any way compromised. Our sources are Naim’s ND555/555 PS DR music streamer and a Technics SL-1000R/Kiseki Purpleheart record player feeding the aforementioned Burmester pre/power or a PMC Cor high-end integrated. Cables are premium options from Chord Cables and Vertere Acoustics.

The Summit Ama prove relatively unfussy about positioning in our 3 x 7 x 5m (hwd) test room. They need a bit of space to breathe, so don’t be tempted to put them close to a wall or corner, as you’ll never really hear just how good they can sound.

After a bit of experimentation, we end up with them around 90cm into the room with just a little angling towards the listening position. It is worth taking some time to optimise the toe-in angle, as getting the best balance between solid stereo image focus and good soundstage width requires a little work.

Sound

Once properly set up, these speakers generate a huge sound that belies their relatively modest (by price standards) size. We are listening to 65daysofstatic’s Heat Death Infinity Splitter and are stunned by the wall of sound these JBLs produce. They sound bold and confident, generating a sense of solidity and authority that’s rare among high-end standmounters in our experience.

They sound earthy and physical, maybe lacking a touch of spaciousness some rivals produce, but compensating with a brawny, outgoing character that’s so easy to love. This muscular presentation is built on the foundations laid by the speaker’s weighty yet still pleasingly articulate bass performance. These standmounters delve deep and true at low frequencies, delivering a fullness and power in the bass that is unusual for a speaker of this size.

We find we’re listening much louder than usual. That’s because these JBLs retain their smoothness, refinement and composure even when pushed hard. Their highs may not be the sweetest we’ve heard, but there is no trace of unwanted tizz or edge, and the level of resolution is excellent.

Dynamics, both high and low level, are delivered with conviction. Not many alternatives are as good at resolving dynamic contrasts, and even fewer remain as interesting to listen to at low volumes. These JBL standmounts remain an entertaining proposition right down to whisper volumes, though it has to be said, they actively encourage the listener to turn the wick up.

All the work on optimising the horn shape works well. The Summit Ama’s sound remains surprisingly consistent as we move away from our main listening position. Their expansive imaging stays decently stable over an unusually wide listening area. We have no complaints about focus or the way these speakers layer the soundstage.

As we work through our most demanding test recordings (The Dark Knight OST by Hans Zimmer, Massive Attack’s Mezzanine and Stravinsky’s The Rite Of Spring), we can’t help but be impressed by the Summit Ama’s sonic unflappability. Their ability to retain control through the musical drama is excellent, as is the way they dig up so much information yet manage to organise it in a cohesive and musical way.

Tonally, we find they err on the side of richness; they sound pleasantly full-bodied and robust. This character trait gives voices and instruments an appealing palpability. We love the way they render instrumental textures and the skill with which they convey Nina Simone’s emotion in Sinnerman.

They are sure-footed rhythmically and convey musical momentum well. These speakers want you to have a good time with appropriate music, but feed them with Olafur Arnald’s Found Songs, and they are equally capable of getting introspective.

Verdict

The Summit Ama are one of the costliest standmounters we’ve ever reviewed, but their breadth of talents is hugely impressive. That they can rock should be no surprise to anyone familiar with the brand’s heritage, but it's their blend of insight, dynamic expression and finesse that marks them out as something special.

If you view your hi-fi as an analysis tool to dissect recording and production quality, there are alternatives which will serve you better. However, if you just want to have fun and get lost in the music, these JBL standmounters should be right at the top of your shopping list.

Review published: 20th April 2026

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Compatibility 4

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Kerr Acoustic has lifted the lid on its latest pair of speakers, the K400.

The new standmounts are the company's most compact speakers yet, teasing a "home-friendly" design which brings technologies and design lessons from more premium models, such as the five-star K300 Mk3, to a more slimmed-down format.

The new standmounts employ a two-way design, drawing heavily on the engineering of the more premium K300 speakers. Inside, the K400 deploy a 150mm mid-bass unit is paired with a 45mm true ribbon tweeter, teasing a "majestic sense of scale" despite the cabinets' modest dimensions.

Like all Kerr speakers, the K400 use the brand's own transmission line loading technology in pursuit of a "well-controlled and extended bass" and a "clear, uncoloured midrange". The crossover, meanwhile, incorporates premium film capacitors and copper air-core inductors.

On the outside, the K400 also take inspiration from their K300 counterparts, with the cabinets using a birch plywood baffle alongside 12mm internal bracing for greater rigidity and reduced unwanted resonance.

According to founder Jes Kerr, the new K400, "take many of the same ingredients and design philosophy that made our K300 so special, and presents them in a more compact format that opens them up to users seeking a more compact loudspeaker".

Kerr Acoustic's new K400 standmounts will be available to pre-order from 8th May in a range of finishes. Prices are as follows:

• Real wood veneer: £4695
• Satin lacquer: £4925
• High gloss lacquer: £5125
• High gloss veneer: £5345

A pair of stands, sold separately, will set you back £595.

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Jamo is back. The Danish brand had been a fixture of the hi-fi scene since the 1960s, but was sold off in 2024. Since then, things went very quiet. But now new owners Cinemaster and Rayeligh Lab have announced that new Jamo speakers will soon be unveiled.

Jamo was founded in 1968, and was known for fusing a Scandinavian design ethos with high-performance sound. It was previously owned by Voxx/PAC (which also owned Klipsch and Onkyo), but in 2024 was sold to Chinese companies Cinemaster and Rayeligh Lab.

Cinemaster is China's largest audio distribution company, while Rayleigh Lab is involved in audio research and development and manufacturing.

The new companies claim to understand Jamo's heritage and will draw on it for its new era.

"Jamo is a legendary brand for good reason – great sound and clever design never get old and we have set up development to create speakers which meet all needs of the modern listener from entry level speakers to high-end systems," Xiaodong Yang, Cinemaster's CEO, said in a statement.

"Production will be handled in both Denmark and China and we can't wait to show you more very soon."

Just a couple of months, in fact. The new Jamo range will launch at the Vienna High End Show in June. The parent companies claim this rebirth will bring a "renewed focus on design, craftsmanship and the people behind the brand."

It aims to return the brand to its core values of innovation, simplicity and elegance, with a particular emphasis on its Nordic roots. Its new design and engineering approach will draw inspiration from the "landscapes, materials and cultural traditions of Scandinavia."

Jamo's creative direction will be steered by Kim Michel, founder of KimMichel Design, and Simon Matthews, creative director at UK design consultancy Studio ISO (which has worked with Focal, B&W, and Naim Audio, among others).

Danish design agency HarritSorensen has also overseen the development of the new products.

The team has explored new materials and acoustic solutions to ensure the speakers perform acoustically while also being responsible to the environment. We're promised products that "feel authentic, refined and durable."

It also promises to launch "a wide spectrum of listening experiences" including "traditional high-fidelity systems" and "modern connected solutions and lifestyle products". So it sounds like it's cooking up a lot more than just standard hi-fi speakers.

We'll bring you all the news from High End Vienna once it kicks off in June.

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Canadian audio manufacturer Paradigm has announced its latest speaker lineup, the Premier Series v2.

Vowing to set "a new standard for affordable high-performance audio", the new range consists of six models and claims to completely overhaul the architecture of its preceding series. The aim, says Paradigm, is to bring "high-fidelity listening experience" to an "approachable price point".

Incorporating trickle-down technology and design principles taken from Paradigm’s more premium Founder and Persona speaker ranges, the Premier Series v2 has been engineered to remain sonically neutral to reproduce tracks "as the artist intended".

Those trickle-down technologies include combined aluminium, magnesium and ceramic ('AL-MAC') high frequency drivers, as well as carbon low frequency units designed to deliver "powerful, controlled bass", even at higher volumes.

Paradigm's own phase-aligning waveguides aim to focus sound towards the listener regardless of your room's layout, and the isolation feet decouple the speakers from the floor to reduce unwanted vibrations.

The three-way Premier 820F v2 and Premier 720F v2 floorstanders both deploy large carbon drivers, with the flagship 820F teasing "a powerful, lifelike performance" engineered for home theatre listening or as part of a high-end stereo system.

Next up are the Premier 120B v2 and 220B v2 standmounts. Both house twin drive units, with the more premium 220B featuring a larger 15cm driver and a larger cabinet volume for deeper bass and wider dynamic range.

The Premier 520LCR v2 LCR channel speaker and the Premier 620C v2 centre channel unit round off the range, with the latter using a four-drive array and dual passive radiators to deliver a "deep, impactful low-end" for your home cinema setup.

The new Premier Series v2 is set to be available this June in a choice of Piano Black, Black Walnut or Walnut finishes, as well as a more limited Satin White finish for the 120B and 520LCR models. We are waiting for UK/Euro prices to be confirmed, but here are the US prices for now:

- Premier 720F v2 floorstanders: $1000 each
- Premier 820F v2 floorstanders: $1300 each
- Premier 120B v2 standmounts: $400 each
- Premier 220B v2 standmounts: $550 each
- Premier 520LCR v2 LCR channel: $900 each
- Premier 620C v2 centre channel: $1300 each

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We are massive fans of Spendor’s original A7 floorstanders. These slim, easy-to-accommodate towers launched in early 2018 and went on to win our premium floorstanders Award that very same year. Amazingly, the Spendors held onto that Award for six consecutive years right up to 2024 and were only edged out last year by ProAc’s excellent D20R.

The new Spendor A7.2 clearly has a huge legacy to uphold. On the surface, it looks like Spendor’s engineers have played it safe. The 93.4cm tall cabinet is the same size as before, and that is a good thing. One of the attractive aspects of the original design was just how easy it was to accommodate in a typically cosy UK listening room.

That original A7 was capable of filling larger spaces with sound, of course, but remained compact enough not to dominate in smaller environments. Such an easy-going nature remains rare in a pair of floorstanders of its price and quality, and we are pleased that this new version retains that trait.

Build & design

As before, the enclosure is beautifully made. Its edges are crisp, and the structure feels rigid yet well-damped. Spendor’s attention to detail is impressive, from the care taken to ensure that the floor spike/speaker cabinet interface is as solid as possible, to the high-quality, real wood veneer applied to our review sample.

These are expensive speakers, but the build quality reflects that. They aren’t unusually heavy at 17.7kg each, making them easy to move around, should you need to.

However, Spendor’s engineers haven’t just been twiddling their collective thumbs, as there are significant changes to this second-generation model. The A7.2’s tweeter is a more conventional 27mm polyamide soft dome rather than the 22mm wide surround unit used in the original. There is no longer a protective grille over the tweeter to protect it from prying fingers.

The crossover network has been redesigned, too. It now hands over to the company’s well-regarded 18cm EP77 polymer mid/bass unit at 2kHz rather than the unusually high 3.7kHz of before.

Unexpectedly, Spendor has also moved away from the previous generation's rear-firing slot port to a traditional tube design that sits towards the middle of the rear panel rather than at its base. The single-wire speaker terminals also move up the back panel, which we feel looks less tidy than the original’s low-down location.

The combination of the drive unit, crossover and porting changes has resulted in making the A7.2 less sensitive than its predecessor (85dB/W/m vs 88dB/W/m) and a touch more demanding to drive with a nominal impedance that is rated at a rather precise 6.75ohms (minimum of 5.4 ohms) against the 8 ohms (min 6ohms) of the original.

Compatibility

In our view, the small impedance changes don’t make any significant difference, but the drop in sensitivity means the A7.2 needs a more muscular amplifier than before if used in larger rooms or played at higher volume levels.

Any speaker at this level deserves suitably talented partnering equipment. We use our reference Naim ND555/555 PS DR music streamer for the bulk of testing, and also get good results with a Rega Planar 6/Nd7 record player. Good price compatible amplifiers include Naim’s Nait XS3 and the Cyrus 40 AMP, with the latter in particular working well. We also connect our Burmester 088/911 MkIII pre/power to hear how these speakers cope when fed a top-class signal.

Our comparison speakers are the Epos ES-14N, which are similarly priced large standmounters (£3750 / $4500 / AU$7495), the PMC Prodigy 5 floorstanders (cheaper at £1995 / $2999 / AU$3399) and our reference high-end ATC SCM50 speakers.

We don’t have a pair of original A7 to confirm this, but from memory we would say that these new speakers have become fussier about positioning relative to a back wall. We can’t recall the originals sounding so boomy when placed close to a room boundary.

Our listening room is 3 x 7 x 5m (hwd) in size, and we end up with the A7.2 around 80cm into the room, positioned well away from the sides. We angle them to cross a little behind our heads when we are seated at our main listening position. This gives us a solid and expansive stereo image with precise focus and a convincing sense of depth.

Sound

We are listening to The Imperial March (from Star Wars) by John Williams and find much to like in the Spendor A7.2. They sound agile and insightful, uncovering plenty of detail and arranging that information in a composed and organised way. We can track low-level instrumental strands without issue, even when the music becomes dense.

The sound is nicely projected, well free from the enclosures, which strongly suggests that the work Spendor has done on the asymmetric bracing and damping in the cabinet works well. There is a good sense of scale here and a decent amount of bass authority for the speaker’s size. The tonal balance sounds a little fuller than before, though it is still fair to describe it as generally neutral rather than warm or full-bodied.

Instrumental textures are nicely rendered, and there is little to complain about when it comes to leading-edge definition or the A7.2’s outright refinement. These are clear and highly resolving speakers, just as would be expected at this price, so if there is anything wrong in the recording or your system electronics, they won’t hesitate to reveal it.

Those familiar with this John Williams piece will know it is dramatic and challenging when it comes to dynamics. The A7.2 cope pretty well, though we do find ourselves wanting the speakers to let go a little and deliver the sound with greater enthusiasm.

We feel much the same way when we play Michael Jackson’s Jam. These Spendors have a measured delivery that we can appreciate, but are a little shy when it comes to communicating the momentum and drive in this piece of music.

We’re not totally convinced by the revised porting arrangement here, either. Low notes may have a bit more weight and power than before, but we would like them to be more agile, even and articulate. We didn’t have any such bass complaints about the original.

Verdict

As we work our way through our music library, taking in music by Bach, Prince and Jill Scott, we find that we’re less impressed by these new Spendor floorstanders than we hoped for. They tick most of the boxes - detail resolution, clarity, stereo imaging and seamless integration between the drivers - but they don’t pull us into the music in the way the best speakers at this price should.

The A7.2 is a capable performer, but not one that screams class leader anymore.

Review published: 7th April 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 5
• Compatibility 4

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Leak has launched the third speaker in its new range of Sandwich loudspeakers, the Sandwich 100. Joining the recently unveiled Sandwich 250 and Sandwich 150, the new standmounts are part of Leak's revival as it returns with its first raft of products since the 1970s.

The Sandwich 100 are designed to be easy to accommodate both in terms of size and price, sitting as the most affordable member of the current Sandwich range.

Each speaker features a specially developed 30mm textile dome tweeter, promising superior power handling and "open, finely detailed" sound at the higher frequencies.

That tweeter is complemented by a new 15cm mid/bass driver, built around a long-throw motor system with a high-gauss magnet and low-loss suspension. The driver cone has been shaped to reinforce stiffness and suppress breakup in a bid to "maintain purity across the vocal range and upper bass".

Those drive units have been "seamlessly" integrated thanks to Neat's own crossover design, which incorporates audiophile-grade polypropylene capacitors, air-core inductors and low-loss resistors to minimise phase shift and signal loss.

The speakers' cabinet walls are constructed using an outer layer of MDF and an inner layer of high-density particle board, with the materials' different densities helping to scatter panel resonances to preserve sonic fidelity.

A filling of special glue bonds the layers in a bid to improve resonance-damping and further reduce unwanted cabinet vibrations.

The speaker cabinets feature a walnut finish, aluminium driver trims and an aluminium insert around the edge of the front baffle.

According to Peter Comeau, Leak's director of acoustic design:

“In developing the Sandwich 100, our intention was to make a more compact speaker offering uncompromising sound for a smaller space. And, at the same time, take our new, evolved version of Leak's classic Sandwich design to a more accessible price point, thus broadening its appeal".

The Leak Sandwich will be available from mid-April, priced at £449 / €649 / $899 AU$1149 per pair. At that price, they're facing off against the marvellously entertaining Monitor Audio Bronze 50 7G, which we tested at around £449 / $849 / AU$1099.

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Bang & Olufsen has unveiled the final two members of its five-part Atelier centenary series: the Beolab 90 Monarch Edition and the Beolab 90 Zenith Edition.

Following on from the Titan, Shadow and Mirage Editions, which were created to celebrate 100 years of B&O last year, the new limited production speakers boast exclusive materials and design aesthetics to put a new spin on the brand's mammoth Beolab 90 loudspeakers.

The Danish company already celebrated its big birthday last year with a trio of special edition products, including the reimagined Beoplay H100 headphones and an exclusive spin on the Beosound A5 wireless speaker.

The Belolab 90 Monarch employs rosewood lamellas alongside precision-engineered aluminium components to transform the flagship speaker, says B&O, into a "flowing, sculptural object".

The new Monarch speakers also feature semi-transparent fabric sections so that you can catch a glimpse of the many acoustic drivers working beneath, in a bid to seamlessly meld functionality and aesthetic into a cohesive, unified design.

The Zenith Edition, meanwhile, are described by its creators as "a symphony of pearls", wherein thousands of aluminium spheres and mother-of-pearl inlays combine to give the special speakers a layered, tactile effect.

The Zeniths' machined aluminium facemask has been pearl blasted and anodised in a dark grey so as to closely resemble an oyster shell, while semi-transparent fabrics have also been added to grant a glimpse of the workings beneath.

Both editions deploy the angular, 360-degree design of the classic Beolab 90 speaker, with each driver firing in a different direction to help disperse sound around the room. The towers hold a total of 18 drivers, consisting of seven 30mm tweeters, seven 8.6cm midrange drivers, three 21cm side and rear woofers, and a single 26cm front woofer.

Limited to just ten pairs per edition, each pair is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and come with a miniature aluminium Beolab 90 sculpture in the corresponding edition, presented in a custom aluminium delivery box.

Want to be part of a very exclusive club? That'll be £410,000 / €480,000 per pair, please, for either the Zenith or the Monarch.

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Lucky, that’s what I call it. The chances of having three of the most significant small speakers of the past 60 years all in one place at the same time, and in proper working order, are small. But here I am, listening to mini-monitor royalty and loving every minute.

Two of the speakers in this group, the BBC-designed LS3/5A and the Acoustic Energy AE1, can rightly claim to be legendary. I think the third, KEF’s LS50, has done enough in the past decade or so to lay claim to that status in the future.

The LS3/5A arguably originated the high-quality mini-monitor speaker category. This is a properly small speaker (about the size of a shoebox ) with an internal volume of around five litres.

It was originally developed for use in outside-broadcast vans and cramped studios, primarily to monitor speech, but was quickly hijacked by hi-fi enthusiasts who loved its gorgeous midrange performance and exceptional stereo-imaging skills.

The LS3/5A was one of the fruits of an extensive BBC research project into speaker design and was first introduced in 1975. The BBC isn’t a speaker manufacturer, of course, so the speaker’s design was made available under license to third-party manufacturers to make.

KEF was the supplier for both of the drive units, but didn’t make the complete speaker until the mid-’90s. Its version of the LS3/5A, the gloss black one we have in our test room, was made to celebrate the company’s 35th anniversary. Only 500 pairs were ever produced.

Given that the BBC had some of the best audio engineers in the business at the time, and resourced them well beyond the capabilities of any commercial speaker manufacturer, it's no surprise that the LS3/5A turned out to be a technical tour de force back then.

The use of a Bextrene cone in the 11-cm mid/bass was considered cutting-edge technology in a world where just about everyone else still used paper; and the thin multilayer birch-ply cabinet was intentionally designed with a bit of ‘give’ to move any resonances out of the midrange and down into the bass frequencies, where our hearing is less sensitive. The sealed (non-ported) enclosure was heavily damped to control those resonances.

The LS3/5A’s high frequencies are delivered by a 19mm mylar-dome tweeter with a perforated metal cover. The foam strips that surround it reduce reflections off the front panel and cabinet edges

KEF lists the LS3/5A sensitivity at a miserably low 82.5 dB/W/m and a modest power handling of just 30 watts. Essentially, high volume levels and wide-ranging dynamics are off the table if you want the speakers to survive.

This is where Acoustic Energy’s AE1 came in. It launched in 1987 and was a determined attempt to produce a small speaker that ticked all the boxes. The company succeeded, proving that a small box (about the same frontal area as the LS3/5A but a fair bit deeper) could really produce wide-ranging dynamics, high volume levels and a decent dose of bass. Its detail resolution was exceptional for the time.

This performance was made possible by a formidable-looking all-metal driver array that was cutting-edge back then, and an engineering ethos that focused on minimising dynamic compression. An ultra-rigid cabinet that was lined with plaster to reduce internal standing waves and an unusual straight-edged mid/bass cone profile also helped.

The new Acoustic Energy AE1 40th Anniversary model (£1499/$1999) we have isn’t identical to the 1987 original, though. Think of it as a resurrection that is faithful to the original’s character and engineering principles, but tweaked with the benefit of four decades' worth of progress.

The first-generation drive units are no longer available, so AE’s engineers had to remanufacture them. The new drivers adhere to the original’s design ethos, but are tweaked for improved performance where possible.

Both have ended up a few millimetres larger than before (the tweeter is 29mm in diameter and the mid/bass is 12.5cm). Modern manufacturing methods and advances in design mean that both are better behaved than before. The improved drive units have allowed the engineers to simplify the crossover network, so improving the speaker’s performance.

In addition, the cabinet, which is the same size as before, has also improved. It forgoes the mess and complexity of the earlier model’s concrete-lined interior, and is now made with composite sandwich panels tuned to retain the original’s sonic character while being easier to manufacture.

All these things have incrementally improved the AE1 without changing its distinctive sonic signature. I have to say that the build of this 40th Anniversary edition is light-years ahead of the first generation, and the speakers look lovely in their high-gloss finish.

The third of our speakers is KEF’s LS50 Meta (£1299/$1599). This has become something of a modern classic. The LS50 was first introduced in 2012 to celebrate KEF’s 50th anniversary – it seems that KEF likes its anniversary models – and was upgraded to include the company’s clever metamaterial technology eight years later.

The heart of this speaker is the Uni-Q driver array that mirrors the AE1’s use of aluminium diaphragms, but places the 25mm dome tweeter in the throat of the 13-cm mid/bass rather than above it.

This coaxial configuration aligns the acoustic centres of the drivers, giving the LS50 even dispersion characteristics, which ensure an impressively wide listening sweetspot and enviable soundstage stability as we move around the room.

As touched on above, the ‘Meta’ in the KEF’s name refers to a technology that absorbs a claimed 99% of the rearward sound from the tweeter dome, reducing distortion and improving clarity in the process.

Elsewhere, the LS50’s curved front baffle is made of BMC (Bulk Moulding Compound), a material that provides a rigid and well-damped foundation for the Uni-Q array, and the speaker’s rear-firing reflex port is flexible to reduce resonances. Build, fit and finish are as good as we would want them to be.

I listened to all three speakers using the What Hi-Fi? reference system of Naim ND555/555 PS DR music streamer, Technic SL-1000R/Kiseki Purpleheart record player and Burmester 088/911 MkIII amplifier.

The LS3/5A is first, and its excellence with voices is obvious. It may not have the outright resolution of more recent designs, but there is a naturalness to its delivery that is hugely appealing. This is a fleshed-out performance that has a palpability that leaves many modern alternatives sounding thin, clinical and lacking in natural warmth.

If placed with care – a little away from a rear wall and on proper stands – these speakers also stereo image beautifully. That’s down to the well-damped enclosure, controlled dispersion and an impressive pair matching that is within 0.5dB of the BBC-specified reference target.

Given the age of the design, there are shortcomings, of course. Play any music that requires scale and dynamic reach (Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, say) or demands low-end muscle and punch (Massive Attack’s Heligoland or Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy), and these BBC speakers wave a white flag. They sound small, dynamically limited and rhythmically flat-footed with music such as this.

In comparison, the AE1 40th Anniversary speakers respond to such challenges with all the enthusiasm of a two-year-old bribed with a bucket of ice cream. These monitors sound bold and punchy, and are capable of sustaining high volume levels without issue.

Detail levels are clearly better than from the LS3/5A, though it has to be said that these all-action monitors don’t have the sweetness and body of the BBC design through the midrange and treble.

They are a more demanding listen, sounding harder edged without erring so far as to be unrefined or fatiguing. Tonally, they are more balanced, though the KEF LS50 Meta goes even further in this respect.

The AE1 are small boxes, so while they appear to bend the laws of physics when it comes to bass reach (given a muscular amplifier), listen carefully and you will find that properly deep bass is still missing.

Much the same can be said of the similarly sized KEF LS50 Meta. If anything, the Acoustic Energy sounds more muscular in the bass and is certainly more assertive generally, though the newer design’s progress in performance is obvious.

In comparison with the others, the LS50 Meta are clearer, cleaner and more spacious-sounding. They dig up a layer of fine detail that even the mighty AE1 don’t quite manage and deliver all that information in a wonderfully cohesive and balanced way. Their low frequencies may not be quite as burly as those the Acoustic Energy produces, but they are impressively agile and articulate.

In most ways, they are the most insightful and balanced speaker here, just as they should be given the age of the other designs. However, that doesn’t diminish the greatness of the others.

There is a reason that LS3/5A remains so beloved by many hi-fi fans. It has a sweet, easy-going manner that suits certain types of music beautifully, and if that’s what you listen to, these speakers remain as hard to beat today as they have always been.

The AE1 is my personal favourite. It is the small speaker that won’t wilt under pressure. It goes loud and delivers wide dynamic swings with enthusiasm. Sure, by current standards these speakers aren’t the last word in transparency and subtlety, but listen to a pair in full flow and the chances are that you won’t care. Feed them a quality signal, and the AE1 40th Anniversary will shine.

KEF’s LS50 Meta speakers have been What Hi-Fi?’s go-to premium standmounters for well over a decade. They are wonderful all-rounders that deliver a breadth of performance that few rivals get close to, let alone better. Of the three sets of speakers here, they get out of the way of the music most effortlessly. We can’t give them a higher compliment than that.

My conclusion? A great speaker remains a great product even as technology marches on. Sure, some limitations become more obvious over time, but the charm of classics such as the LS3/5A and AE1 doesn’t fade.

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In praise of small speakers: how their inherent design limitations can work to their benefit

Desktop speakers aren’t what they used to be. Don’t worry, that’s no bad thing – this relatively unassuming corner of the audio world has come on leaps and bounds in the past few years, with many manufacturers now bringing potent performance and up-to-the-minute features to your humble desktop.

As a result, there are currently a healthy number of powered desktop speakers from which to suit your need, especially if you’re not keen on spending a huge amount to get hold of a pair.

The Ruark MR1 Mk3 (£399 / $579 / AU$899) are our established Award-winners at this budget end of the market, with the Onkyo GX-30ARC (£339 / $349 / AU$649) providing stern competition at a similar price and with a more comprehensive range of features and functions.

Then we have the Philips Fidelio FA3 (£349 / $399 / AU$499), which cost around the same money as their competitors but employ an active design – whereby each speaker takes power to amplify a separately powered drive unit, rather than the purely powered configuration of their counterparts.

Picking a winner

While these may ostensibly be a trio of ‘desktop’ speakers, their capabilities stretch far beyond the realms of dutifully flanking your laptop to give your daily YouTube scrolling a bit more pep. All are bolstered by Bluetooth streaming powers, and all – to a varying degree – offer a raft of physical connections to stretch their capabilities far beyond that of mere deskbound sound.

That can make your choice all the trickier, as the process is no longer as simple as finding the pair that sounds the best plonked in your office and wired up to your desktop PC (remember those?).

Here, then, we have assessed each of our three contenders as thoroughly as possible, judging them on their versatility, design and sonic talents across a broad spectrum of potential use cases.

Whether you’re seeking your next pair of purely on-desk sentinels, or you want a do-it-all pair that can even get your turntable sounding superb, we have covered all the bases to put you in the best position to make your selection.

What’s fascinating about this particular group test is how different our three rivals are. While they may all be active or powered desktop speakers in name, the divergent paths each brand has taken at this budget end of the market clearly demonstrates there’s more than one way to skin this particular cat.

Each pair is a different size, boasts a distinctive design, has a given array of features and offers its own unique sound signature. A certain degree of our recommendation, therefore, is naturally going to be based on users’ subjective needs and preferences, even if, ultimately, we know where we would put our money. We’ll get to that in a moment.

Philips' Fidelio FA3 go big and bold

If size without much subtlety is what you desire, the Philips Fidelio FA3 make that case with a loud, hearty shout. These are the largest speakers of our trio and the most assertive sounding, with the burly boxes dwarfing their Onkyo and Ruark rivals by a considerable margin.

They might be the biggest of the lot, but they’re not the best equipped on the features front. While the inclusion of Bluetooth plus RCA, optical, USB-C and HDMI ARC options isn’t stingy, a lack of a standalone 3.5mm auxiliary input, a subwoofer out or any phono stage means Philips lags behind its competitors.

The Fidelio FA3 are capable of going louder and prouder than most typical desktop speakers, with a muscular, bass-heavy signature which will offer some appeal for anyone who just wants to crank up the volume and fire out their tunes with vigour.

For subtlety and nuance, however, they are outmatched here, with that ill-disciplined bass and route-one approach leaving us disappointed in their sonic capabilities when put up against their rivals.

Onyko's GX-30ARC are stunningly versatile

By contrast, subtlety and nuance aren’t lacking from the Onkyo GX-30ARC. While the Philips go big at the lower end, the Onkyo pair prioritise clarity, detail and organisation. They are, perhaps, a touch light in the bass, but that’s a minor niggle that can’t spoil a very positive sonic picture.

They are the most versatile of our trio, too, offering Bluetooth streaming alongside a bulging arsenal of physical connections, including optical, 3.5mm aux and a pair of RCA inputs, as well as USB-C, a moving-magnet phono stage and HDMI ARC.

That phono stage is great, and if you’re planning on grabbing a pair, we recommend using some form of wired connection to get the most out of them. Bluetooth audio is capable, but when your source is connected via the likes of USB-C or RCA, the GX-30ARC shine via a clearer, nimbler and more balanced reproduction.

Ruark continues its sonic supremacy

The Onkyos are clearly multi-talented, but for pure sonic excellence, the Ruark MR1 Mk3 still lead the way.

They may be the smallest of our trio, but they are also the most musically involving. They offer a powerful, punchy and dynamic sound that picks up on emotional subtleties with a far keener ear. For us, this is still the best-sounding pair of powered desktop speakers we have heard at this price.

They are also some of the best looking, and thanks to their compact, stylish footprint, a great option for anyone short on space. They will slot neatly into a desktop setup, perched on a bookshelf or, if you like, flanking your precious turntable.

That last option is one we recommend. The MR1 Mk3s’ phono stage is the party piece here, sounding well-defined, clear and confident beyond the speakers’ meagre dimensions. Add to that Bluetooth streaming, a USB-C input, a combined optical and 3.5mm auxiliary input and a sub out, and you have a superb all-around package.

They may not be quite as feature-laden as the Onkyo GX-30ARC, nor as burly-sounding as the Fidelio FA3, but for their deeply musical sound and lovely design, the Ruark MR1 Mk3 stand alone in riding that tricky balance of style and substance.

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If you want a decent pair of active stereo speakers, you’re not short of options. The compact and affordable Ruark MR1 Mk3 (£399 / $579 / AU$899) and Onkyo GX-30ARC (£339 / $349 / AU$649), not to mention the more costly KEF Coda W (£799 / $1000 / AU$1450), have delivered ably on the promise of that signature stereo speaker sound and design combined with built-in amplification, Bluetooth streaming and plenty of physical connections.

Now it’s the turn of Philips and its active Fidelio FA3 speakers to see if it can muscle in on this market. At around £349 / $399 / AU$499, the FA3 cost around the same money as their Onkyo and Ruark competitors, and while the Ruarks derive much of their appeal from their compact size and engaging musicality, the Onkyo earned a five-star haul thanks to their solid performance and outstanding versatility. The bigger KEF Coda W, meanwhile, are for anyone wanting a significant step-up in sound quality for a more sizeable sum.

Lots of bases covered then, and all leading to one important question: do the Fidelio FA3 offer anything that their class-leading rivals don’t already have covered?

Build & design

The Fidelio FA3 are on the larger side of what you’d generally find from a pair of active speakers at this price – if anything, they could pass for a pair of dedicated hi-fi standmounts.

Standing around 30cm tall, they dwarf their 22cm high Onkyo GX-30ARC rivals, all while making the 18.5cm Ruark MR1 Mk3 look titchy by comparison.

While you can just about fit them on a large desktop, Philips recommends placing these larger active speakers on dedicated speaker stands for the best performance.

They’re big beasts, but not poorly made. The overall standard of construction feels admirable, while the main body of the speakers shines proudly thanks to its glossy black finish. That gloss black exterior gives the FA3 a somewhat flashy aesthetic, even if it leaves them susceptible to the ignominy of grubby fingermarks. Oh, and we hope you like that colourway, because it’s the only one currently available.

Unlike their key competitors, the Fidelio FA3 eschew a master and slave configuration – whereby one speaker takes the power and shares it through a wired cable connection to its companion – in favour of both units receiving power via two separate sockets. That can cause its own issues, as you’ll need two available plug sockets to keep your speakers firing, and the provided power cables are a little on the short side at around 140cm each.

The primary speaker houses the lion’s share of the inputs and buttons, including a power button, volume dial and source selector, with both speakers sporting a small LED indicator at the bottom. It’s nice to have those colour-changing LEDs displaying which source you’ve selected, but wouldn’t it have been more user-friendly to have mounted the volume dial at the front of one of the boxes? As it is, it’s just a small dial hidden on the primary speaker’s back panel.

The FA3 speakers come with a dedicated remote control for selecting your desired inputs, adjusting volume, managing playback and tweaking levels of treble and bass, and while that remote is a little plasticky, it’s about what we’d expect for this price. There’s also a set of magnetically attachable oval grilles which cover the core drive units rather than the whole of each speaker’s frontage, a smart decision which preserves the FA3’s overall aesthetic.

Inside, each speaker is fed by 50 watts of Class D power, with dedicated internal amplifiers powering a 25mm titanium dome tweeter and a 12.7cm glass-fibre mid/bass unit in pursuit of “breathtaking dynamics and soundstaging”. Bass performance, as you’ll discover when you turn your speakers around, is tuned by a large rear port on each unit.

Features

For simple convenience, Bluetooth is the only way you’ll get a wireless connection going from your system to your source device, with standard AAC and SBC living alongside the higher quality LDAC codec if you have a compatible source.

Physical connections include RCA stereo inputs alongside an optical input, as well as a USB-C option if you want to connect directly to your laptop or smartphone. For integration with a television, the Fidelio FA3 also feature an HDMI ARC port.

That’s a reasonably solid variety of connections, even if a lack of a standalone 3.5mm aux input, a sub out or any phono stage for connecting a turntable means Philips lags behind the comprehensive suite provided by the do-it-all Onkyo GX-30ARC.

The speakers themselves can be connected to each other wirelessly or via a coaxial cable. All digital input sources will be able to handle files up to 24-bit/192kHz, but regardless of input, note that the Philips speaker will downsample all incoming hi-res files to a maximum of 24-bit/96kHz resolution.

For taking charge of your Fidelio FA3 and tinkering with the finer points of your experience, you’ll want to get a hold of the latest version of the Philips Entertainment app. Here, you’ll discover a reasonably wide range of handy boons, including an in-depth seven-band equaliser and a digitally mapped alternative to the physical remote control.

Sound

When we first had a taste of the Fidelio FA3 speakers earlier this year [original review published 10 March 2026], the first thing we noticed was their heavy-handed bass reproduction, which we dubbed “as overbearing as a strict mother turning up to her daughter’s first disco”.

Whether we placed them on our dedicated hi-fi stands or on a desktop table, that rumbly low end threw off their entire balance, leading us to feel frustrated by speakers that seemed to lack proper self-control. They originally received three stars for their sound quality.

Philips checked our initial sample and found there was a problem with some of their earlier production units – there had been software glitches in the early production run, and our original review sample was one of the ones affected. This has now been fixed, and we’re trying a revised version of the Fidelio FA3 for this review.

The replacement speakers we hear are far less rumbly in the bottom end than our original samples, granting more shape and definition to the deep bass plucks at the start of Goose’s So Ready. Their bass is still a little on the soft side, and they don’t have the same lower-end precision as the rival Ruark MR1 MK3, but this is a far more acceptable performance.

Elsewhere, the sound we receive is powerful, meaty and reasonably detailed, with a punch and enthusiasm that makes the Fidelio FA3 hard to dislike. Voices come through with ample expressiveness, and we detect a real keenness and full-bodied bite through what is an admirably expressive midrange.

This isn’t quite the crispest or most nimble audio you’ll hear – again, the Ruarks and Onkyo GX-30ARC are better in that regard – but the Fidelio FA3s’ weighty and impressively cinematic approach does give genuine muscle to Hans Zimmer’s Why Do We Fall?, giving the titanic track a real feeling of epic drama.

Those qualities are augmented when a physical connection comes into play. We dig out a USB-C cable to put some further pep into the Fidelio FA3s’ step, and while their core character remains, we find that they sound more composed and confident with a good old-fashioned wire connecting them to our Lenovo Thinkpad laptop.

Everything sounds tighter and clearer, allowing what is an admirably detailed midrange to shine more brightly than before. There’s more space around the notes played, with music hanging together in a more organised and convincing manner.

Encouraged by that USB-C performance, we recruit the services of our trusty Cyrus CDi CD player and connect it to the Philips’ RCA stereo input, discovering that the system is capable of accommodating a far more talented source player than a standard work laptop.

Moving over to the optical input shows the Philips’ DAC is a respectable one, even if we still discern a noticeable drop-off in performance when switching from the talented Cyrus’s DAC to that of the Philips. That’s not entirely surprising, as the Cyrus CDi, while advancing in its years, will still set you back around £1000.

Regardless of source, the Fidelio FA3 aren’t quite capable of overcoming the absolute best in class at this level. Admittedly, the powered Ruark MR1 Mk3 speakers sound smaller than the FA3, but they’re also a subtler, more expressive proposition than their larger rivals, bending and flexing to accommodate the mood and feel of a wide musical spectrum and making the Philips seem a little route-one in their approach.

Similarly, the Onkyo GX-30ARC don’t have the sonic brawn of the Fidelio FA3, but those shortcomings are remedied by a clearer, cleaner sound and a more dextrous handling of those key bass frequencies.

Still, the Fidelio FA3 are a fun, undemanding listen, and there’s rarely a moment during our test time when we find ourselves nodding off, thanks to the speakers’ powerful sonic reproduction. They’re not as musical as the Ruarks or as crisp and clear as the Onkyos, but they are easy speakers to live with.

Verdict

We’re glad that Philips has rectified the initial issue it had with its earlier batches of the Fidelio FA3.

Our final test samples aren’t quite in the same league as their rivals from Ruark or Onkyo, but if you want a pair of easy to use active speakers with a bold, powerful sound and a solid array of connectivity options, the Fidelio FA3 could well be just what you’ve been looking for.

Original review published: 10th March 2026; review updated 1st July 2026.

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 4
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Ruark Audio MR1 Mk3

Also consider the Onkyo GX-30ARC

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