The similarly massive partnering stand has received equally hefty construction, for the base, the top slab and three fat verticals. it has an impressively generous stability footprints top and bottom, though the four floor-coupling cones look a little too blunt to penetrate thick carpets.

With more than a nod towards mollycoddling health and safety considerations, a rear stud further ensures floor stability and retaining bolts secure the speaker to the stand.

Although only two drive units are apparently visible, this is, in fact, a three-way design as the smaller uppermost 140mm driver has a 30mm tweeter (the afore-mentioned ceramic graphite affair) mounted down the centre of its 100mm white magnesium alloy cone. The 160mm bass driver has a 35mm voice coil driving a 120mm woven Aramid cone, terminated by a corrugated 'double S' surround formed from polycarbonate urethane.

The bass driver/enclosure combination is reflex loaded by a modest front port, while twin terminal pairs are mounted directly through a flat portion on the rear. The well shaped grille is a fairly hefty affair and leaving it off does reveal the mounting sockets.

Sound quality

Claimed sensitivity is just 85.5dB, an unusually low figure that's significantly below the 87dB indicated by our measurements. Even at 87dB it's somewhat below average, especially as the impedance hovers around four ohms through much of the bass region, while bass extension is realistically restricted to around 33hz, with the ports tuned to 43hz.

The far-field averaged 'power' frequency response looks very well-ordered and is especially smooth above 500hz. Indeed, it's interesting to note that the ceramic graphite tweeter used here delivers a much smoother response than the beryllium unit used in the S-2EX.

However, the overall balance does err on the warm side, output beginning to fall above 700hz and looking quite restrained through the presence zone, in contrast to what we found with the S-2EX, which was stronger around 3Khz and also brighter, if more peaky, in the treble. The pair match was exceptionally good.

Although undoubtedly a smooth and even-handed performer, first impressions of playing music through the S-4EX were that it's a little dull and lacking in excitement. it certainly didn't quicken the blood or enthusiasm in the way its elder sibling had.

Although that first impression was never entirely dispelled, the virtues of this speaker do sneak up on you and while it does seem to lack a little vim and vigour, it's tonally sweet. The overall character is a shade dark and textures are a trifle thickened, but the sound is impressively free from any boxiness and very smooth and easy on the ears.

Superior mid-to-treble coherence is another notable strength and this contributes towards creating a spacious and well-focused stereo soundstage. The positive benefits of standmount operation are clearly in evidence, not only in the precision of the imaging and the freedom from boxy cabinet colorations, but also in the clean, crisp bass delivery, even though there's no great impression of weight or scale here.

Another function of this speaker's fine enclosure engineering is an excellent dynamic range, with fine resolution of low level information. And, although it's difficult to say if the drive units per se are responsible or whether it's a function of the rather laidback and restrained tonal balance, the degree and quality of the actual dynamic expression does seem somewhat muted.

At the end of the day though, the result is clean and smooth, but ultimately a little under whelming.

Follow TechRadar reviews on Twitter: http://twitter.com/techradarreview