CES NEWS: Swedish speakers go slimline

And today's mystery object is... A loudspeaker. A loud speaker.

This is the new shape of the Form speakers from Swedish high-end company Marten, making their world debut at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show next week.

Having created a range of audiophile speakers named after jazz greats, the company decided to develop a more compact design. intended to fit more easily into a wide range of homes. The result is the slim, triangular Form.

The FormFloor, as you might expect, is a floorstanding speaker, using a 17.75cm ceramic mid/bass unit and a 5.6cm ribbon tweeter. It stands 1.1m tall and is just 21cm wide by 33cm deep, with outrigger feet to stabilise the cabinet. Finishes include a range of piano gloss wood veneers, plus piano gloss black or white.

There's a matching centre channel speaker, the FormCentre, with the same driver complement, and a subwoofer, the FormSub, which combines a 25cm ultra-longthrow driver with a 400W Class D amplifier.

Prices are EUR4500 for the FormFloor, EUR2100 for the FormCentre, and EUR3100 for the FormSub.

Marten Design speakers are distributed in the UK by Audiocraft Distribution.

Andrew has written about audio and video products for the past 20+ years, and been a consumer journalist for more than 30 years, starting his career on camera magazines. Andrew has contributed to titles including What Hi-Fi?, GramophoneJazzwise and Hi-Fi CriticHi-Fi News & Record Review and Hi-Fi Choice. I’ve also written for a number of non-specialist and overseas magazines.