Elipson goes upmarket with its Legacy 3230 and unveils new wireless speaker

Elipson, the French audio brand perhaps best known for its spherical Planet speakers, is moving decidedly upmarket with its latest range, the €7000 Legend 3230, unveiled at Munich High End.

We heard a brief demo at the show, with the speakers hooked up to Bryston electronics. As you can see from the photo above, the design may look familiar to B&W fans, although it is in fact based on an original Elipson speaker from the 1960s, hence the Legacy name.

Elipson has added one of its familiar spherical speaker housings - which incorporates an AMT ribbon tweeter and 6.5in aluminium/ceramic midrange cone - to a more conventional floorstanding cabinet beneath.

The latter incorporates two 8in bass drivers with cellulose paper cones, and has a downward-firing bass port (hence the gap between the base of the cabinet and its plinth).

The Elipson W35 wireless speaker will cost €799

The Elipson W35 wireless speaker will cost €799

Keeping to the spherical theme, Elipson also has a more affordable product in the pipeline - a new wireless €799 speaker called the W35.

It's kitted out with wi-fi, Bluetooth and Airplay 2 and is powered by a 350W RMS amp. Spotify, Tidal, Deezer and internet radio are integrated as standard and it can be controlled via the accompanying app or, if you prefer voice control, by using a connected Alexa speaker such as an Amazon Echo Dot. 

There's a digital input for connecting it to a TV if you wish, and two W35s can be combined to create a stereo pair. A bespoke floorstand and wall mount are in the works and should be available at launch this autumn. Initially the Elipson W35 will come in just one finish, gunmetal grey.

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Andy Clough

Andy is Global Brand Director of What Hi-Fi? and has been a technology journalist for 30 years. During that time he has covered everything from VHS and Betamax, MiniDisc and DCC to CDi, Laserdisc and 3D TV, and any number of other formats that have come and gone. He loves nothing better than a good old format war. Andy edited several hi-fi and home cinema magazines before relaunching whathifi.com in 2008 and helping turn it into the global success it is today. When not listening to music or watching TV, he spends far too much of his time reading about cars he can't afford to buy.