Opera is a well-established Italian speaker brand, operating alongside Unison Research in the north east of the country, just outside Treviso. In true Italian tradition it makes speakers with particularly attractive cabinetwork

Neat Acoustics has been designing interesting hi-fi loudspeakers from its base in County Durham for over two decades now. The company established its reputation with a small two-way standmount called the Petite, and has slowly but surely expanded its portfolio since then.

Danish speaker specialist Dynaudio has always followed its own unique path in drive-unit engineering, and is also unusual in enjoying success right across the speaker spectrum - from hi-fi to professional audio, via the in-car sector

There are no longer many really important pan-European loudspeaker brands, but of the handful that there are left, Danish specialist DALI is one of the most significant, with an enormous range of models covering a wide range of prices

The news of a 'wireless' speaker system will sound like a dream come true to anyone wanting to reduce the amount of cables trailing around their living room. In reality, this system isn't quite as free of wires as you might think.

Global market leader in hi-fi speakers, Worthing-based Bowers & Wilkins (now reverting to its original name in place of the familiar B&W acronym) recently revised its long-standing budget price 600 Series models

We first heard from Swedish company Audio Pro some time around the end of the 1970s. In those pre home cinema days, a subwoofer was something new, and Audio Pro's B2.50 ACE-Bass device turned out to be a very effective unit indeed

A brand new name on the scene, Milton Keynes-based Aurousal caused quite a stir with its debut at the Heathrow hi-fi show in March, seducing many visitors by effectively demonstrating the strengths and virtues of the single full-range driver approach in a relatively inexpensive system context.

KEF is renowned for pushing speaker design boundaries with some of themost stylish speaker models on the market. The new KHT5005.2 is noexception and the elegant package joins the highly praised KHT speaker range

In the same way that there is a definite hot price point of around £350 for subwoofers, there is a massive amount of competition for your money from speaker manufacturers aimed at cinephiles prepared to spend around £1,000 on a 5.1 speaker system

Audio Pro's Allroom system wants to make a style statement. I know this, because, aside from the rather natty blue finish, this diminuitive sub/sat package also comes in five 'fruit flavours' as well more sedate red, silver, white and black guises

To my shame, I'm a total Trekker. Captain Kirk is one of my heroes. I even have the coffee table compendium book. Yet, just as I was wading through the 19th disc of the three-season DVD set, I caught an advert on the internet. I should have been working

This pretty, compact but unquestionably muscular - and decidedly expensive - standmount is the first model in KEF's new Reference Series to escape from captivity. The anticipation has been growing for months

'Leave no mould unbroken' could be the motto of Spanish-Danish speaker manufacturer Scandyna. Having dispensed with the regular 'monkey coffin' rectangular box loudspeaker design with its Minipod speaker system, it then broke its own rules with 'The Drop'

Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, Mission had an excellent reputation for budget and mid-range rock speakers. Recently, though, Mission has no longer been the default choice for those seeking a punchy, exciting speaker.

Fujitsu Ten's Eclipse speakers have been through a few iterations over the years, but we reckon this latest design takes some beating. The desktop speakers and amp look particularly wonderful and space-aged now

This latest offering from Velodyne, the CHT-15R, is only available in black. It oozes a certain self-assurance; it's upmarket and well-engineered and it knows it. The 'R' in its name alludes to the remote control

This is not the first time we've looked at a Monitor Audio Radius system, but this is a different, more grown up and more ambitious combination. One key component of that system has been carried across intact to this 2007 incarnation

There's a market for things that are able to please both the partnerwho wants surround sound excitement with their movies and the partner who will simply not put up with trailing speaker wires and enclosures

Founded in 1936, Quad is one of British hi-fi's biggest names, though these days it's part of the Chinese IAG group. It's probably best known for its amplifiers, and for creating the world's first full-range electrostatic loudspeaker

Opera loudspeakers is part of a sizeable hi-fi manufacturing operation based just outside Treviso, in the north-east corner of Italy. Opera itself is a specialist speaker brand, but shares premises, ownership and distribution with the Unison operation

The TH-L1 from JVC is a one-box surround system with a difference. Not only is it designed to deliver 5.1 sound from a DVD player, but it also accommodates an iPod, USB flash drives and even 1080p video sources.

The 683 is the top model in B&W's most recent incarnation of the entry-level 600 Series. It's not a speaker range to be taken lightly, especially given that B&W is one of the largest dedicated loudspeaker makers in the world

Yamaha's history in loudspeakers includes some notable successes, from the legendary NS1000 models of the 1970s to the highly successful NS10M near-field studio monitor of the 1980s and 1990s, so there's plenty of precedent for the new Soavos

If you happen to live in Yorkshire, you'll know that Wharfedale is one of the incredibly beautiful Yorkshire Dales. The rest of us will recognise 'Wharfedale' purely as the name of one of the first British specialist loudspeaker manufacturers