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Tannoy Revolution Signature

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It must be difficult to be a brand like Tannoy. As with Xerox, Hoover and Sellotape, its name has become a label that now applies to a whole category of stuff.

But if you thought that all its loudspeakers could handle were raspy announcements up and down supermarket aisles, then you're much mistaken. The brand's Revolution Signature range of home cinema speakers auditioned here are evolved way past this illustrious history.

And although Tannoy still makes speakers with names rather than numbers, this new lineup is definitely a 21st Century AV offering, with some style and pizzazz, too.

Odd one out

Well, style and pizzazz except for the subwoofer, that is, which is designed to be hidden - or at least not looked at. It is as ugly as an ogre in comparison to the lovely, lustrous woodwork the other teardrop-shaped boxes are wrapped in.

The woofer is from a series simply called TS as in, er, Tannoy Subwoofer, and boasts a soft grey finish. The one in this array is the biggest, a 12in job with 500W in its guts. It has a sexy set of balanced inputs and outputs on XLR plugs, as well as the de-rigeur phono inputs. There's no silly high level speaker nonsense on the back of this one.

The subwoofer fires downwards and the driver has a huge surround suspension to it - it looks like it might hit the floor. Of course, it doesn't, but the supplied spikes are a good idea.

There is, in fact, an extra sheet in the instruction book, that has clearly been printed and added afterwards, that suggests use of the small cup-shaped thingies underneath the spikes, when the sub is used on a hard floor.

This woofer was probably rattling like a ball-bearing in the back of Transit van before these were added for use in marble halls. The moving mass of the woofer must be considerable.

There are some useful controls on the TS12. You get a continuously variable phase knob to go from 0-180° and LF extension control with adjustment marked from 50Hz to 40Hz to 30Hz. A 'Music' label adorns the 50Hz setting.

30Hz is the 'Theater' (sic) setting - obviously meant for sale in the USA then. Crossover frequency is selectable between 50Hz and 150Hz.

The main course

Away from the boxy, drab subwoofer, the main speakers (centre, rears and fronts) are gorgeous to behold. They are all bi-wire/bi-amp style with a set of binding posts for HF and LF input, connected with a jumper bar until you do so.

Also - and I have never seen this on a speaker before - there is a fifth green terminal that, when connected to your AV hardware, electrically earths the driver chassis. This reduces RF noise in the system and, claims Tannoy, brings substantial improvements in mid-range clarity.

The supplied manual is excellent, despite one simple malapropism. Discrete means separate, as in five discrete channels. The manual refers to 'discreet channels', which means they are unassuming and would not offend the neighbours. This is patently untrue, as in addition to a serious slice of power-handling, the high-frequency drivers within the dual concentric 'Tulip' waveguides give these speakers a slice of efficiency too. A figure of 89dB means they bloody stonk. Put simply, you can wake the dead, let alone the neighbours.

All the enclosures are equipped with a 6in dual-concentric Tannoy driver that reaches right up to bat frequencies. This gives a lovely image and stage, with pin-sharp placement of sounds within the field around you. The DC6 rears have just one of these, while the DC6T towers have an extra bass-only driver to add to the air flowing in and out of the sexy, curved port beneath. The centre D6LCR is obviously designed for all-stage use as well. It has no port, but in addition to the same driver complement as the towers, gets another that looks the same but isn't driven. This passive radiator gives the loudspeaker some of the bass-boosting benefits of a port but keeps the cabinet sealed. The air pressure inside the cabinet aids the driver's suspension and allows the cone to hit deep-down low frequencies at high volumes without getting into a flap.

They all feature natty hidden-magnetically stuck-on grilles.

Sting in the tail

For testing I fired up the old DTS/DVD-Audio dual-format disc of Sting's Brand New Day album, opting for the DTS track. Sting was immediately right in front of me and at face height, with percussion to the back right and a swirly synth line running in the back left zone. Cymbals hung in space, rare and delicate enough to hear the 'ting!' of wooden stick-tip on bronze.

All of this was underpinned with a deep tight bass. The performance is very hi-fi and very clear. I got goose bumps.

Now, when cranked to the ends of an amp's ability these horns can get harsh - but that is sheer idiocy. I actually got the sound level meter out and found an easy 93dB. It was loud, just waiting for peaks and thumps and was plenty potent. It's just so clean and easy, you don't perceive the level so oppressively. Delicacy and grace with power, like a boxer with the soul of a concert pianist. With Sting warbling away I found myself grooving off, losing the work plot. I had to force myself, with some discipline, to go check out a film...

The Simpsons Movie is, of course, mostly a Foley job, but there are moments of sheer brilliance that show off the speakers' ability to recreate space and feeling.

When Homer arrives late to church with his family he is heard with perfect clarity from within, exclaiming that the churchgoers cannot hear his rant as 'They are too busy talking to their phoney baloney God!' Our favourite cartoon family enters to a sudden aching silence (04:27), felt by the echo of the doors opening into an utterly dumbfounded congregation. The audio mix is done brilliant justice by these speakers. At 10mins 50secs Bart shoots his dad repeatedly with a BB gun, and, through this system, the pops really sound like they hurt.

Detail resolution is excellent.

At 17min 3secs Flanders makes Bart the world's most elaborate mug of cocoa. I counted no fewer than eleven separate delicate Foley effects, from spray cream to a blowtorch corching a marshmallow that crackles just a little - before Bart grabs it from a window sill and goes off into mid-distance to exclaim 'Oh my God!' quietly to himself.

Sound like this isn't just about power and efficiency - it's about control and richness, too. And these Tannoys excel. It'd rate them as a bit special. Revolutionary even.

KEF XQ20

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Founded back in the 1960s, KEF (an acronym for Kent Engineering Foundries) has long operated at the leading edge of hi-fi loudspeaker design.

Even though the company has undergone numerous changes, its approach to design and technology has remained remarkably consistent throughout.

High-quality manufacturer

A good example of this impressive track record is the XQ20, a compact standmount which forms part of a new mid-price XQ range of speakers. There are five models in total - two standmounts, two floorstanders and a centre speaker.

All are based around KEF's proprietary co-axial Uni-Q driver array and cunningly curved cabinetwork, beautifully lacquered in real wood veneer finish.

The variations depend upon enclosure volumes, driver diameters, and the addition of extra bass-only drivers in the floorstanders.

Inside KEF's latest speakers

This £1,000 per pair is the larger of the two standmounts. It's a two-way design based on the very latest version of a 165mm Uni-Q drive unit, loaded by a front port and an enclosure of approximately 16 litres (the curved tapering renders exactitude difficult here and KEF doesn't supply the relevant data).

This solitary drive unit has an interesting history. Taking advantage of the development of ultra-compact and powerful rare-earth magnets containing neodymium, iron and boron, the Uni-Q driver made its debut back in 1988.

It's a variation on the co-axial theme, placing a tiny tweeter on the end of the pole-piece in the centre of the bass/mid cone, so that it actually sits at the latter's effective acoustic centre, creating a 'coincident' variation on the co-axial theme.

Hit and miss construction

This construction has both advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, it makes crossover integration between midrange and tweeter relatively simple from an acoustic point of view.

It also ensures that output is entirely consistent and symmetrical at any given measurement axis (the formal term is 'axi-symmetric'). It's therefore also free from the vertical axis 'lobing' that is invariably created in the crossover region where the two sources are spaced apart, as in conventional two-way systems.

However, it can also be pointed out that placing a tweeter so that it's recessed down in the neck of a cone is not an ideal way to create wide dispersion, while the additional complication is that said cone is moving to and fro in response to the music signal.

Tweeter design

Twenty years of development have steadily refined the Uni-Q. More powerful rare-earth magnets have improved tweeter sensitivity and recent versions have drilled pole-pieces to avoiding creating back-pressure behind the diaphragm. The shape of the tweeter's dome diaphragm has also been modified and now has an elliptical profile.

The very latest tweak to be applied to the tweeter - too late indeed for inclusion in the new Reference series that was introduced only last year - is a so-called 'tangerine waveguide', which is making its debut in this most recent XQ-series.

Viewed from the front, this waveguide does indeed look a little like a small citrus fruit, though it actually consists of eight small vanes extending inwards from the tweeter dome periphery, dividing its output into seven segments.

The intention is to compensate for the fact that, when a tweeter dome is driven at its periphery by a voice coil, its fore'n'aft motion falls short of the ideal of a pulsating sphere. The loading on the diaphragm provided by the vanes increases relative output from the outer parts of the dome, more closely mimicking the pulsating sphere.

Solid build

The XQ's Uni-Q also benefits from the new cone profile that was recently introduced with the Reference series.

This too is based on waveguide theory: the profile of the cone is shaped into a specific curve so that no interference patterns occurs between the direct wave and reflections of that wavefront off the cone.

This is done by ensuring that the expanding wavefront always remains perpendicular to the cone, so that no reflections can be created. This Uni-Q has a flared 118mm shiny plastic cone and unusually flat surround, while the tweeter uses a 19mm titanium dome.

The whole thing feels very solid, weighing a substantial 9.2kg. The curved top, base and sides all help increase the stiffness and avoid concentrating and focusing the internal standing waves. Two pairs of terminals fit directly through the enclosure and wire links are supplied.

The curved base requires special stand-coupling arrangements and two alternatives are supplied: a curved hard rubber pad can support the enclosure itself, or a tripod of hard feet may be used (albeit without lock-nuts, though these shouldn't be necessary if the feet are screwed in tightly).

Smooth response

Our measurements comfortably confirm KEF's 88dB sensitivity rating and also show a rather easier load (which only drops significantly below 6ohms above 8kHz) than the company's claimed 3.2 ohm minimum suggests. Pair matching was adequate.

In-room far-field measurements indicate that the XQ20 is probably best kept clear of walls. Without any wall assistance the bass region is quite smooth and even, well- extended for the size of the enclosure, but also a little dry.

Close-to-wall siting tends to supply too much midbass (around the 45Hz port tuning frequency), somewhat at the expense of upper bass output. However, some of the extra bass that is supplied by close proximity to the wall might well be found preferable in order to balance out the rather strong top end.

The far-field in-room averaged response is quite smooth and also remarkably flat overall - but probably a little too flat through the treble region.

Experience across a wide range of models has shown that the 'ideal' (not to mention the average) response under these conditions shows some down-tilting in the presence and treble regions, whereas the XQ20 stays almost ruler-flat to the limits of audibility.

Balance issues

The brightness seen in these measurements was immediately and obviously audible, the more so because the low frequency end is both dry and notably clean.

While there's no denying that this speaker is significantly brighter than average and the top end does immediately draw attention to itself, happily the top end is also pretty clean and well integrated.

Although there is a mild tendency to emphasise sibilants, the bonus is that it does ensure speech sounds open, clear and intelligible even at the very lowest of listening levels. The corresponding disadvantage being a tendency to become aggressive if the volume is turned up high.

The bass alignment might not have been ideal under our room conditions, but the strength and shape of the enclosure are very effective at avoiding any boxiness or thickening coloration. Indeed, the bottom end here is unusually crisp and clean, with good drive and purpose, albeit with a rather dry and cool character.

Some midband coloration is audible, with slight thickening and pinched voice reproduction, but neither are excessive. The point source coherence supplied by the co-axial driver delivers fine stable stereo imaging across a generous listening zone, assisted by the low box coloration and the advantage of a quality 'head-size' standmount

PMC GB1i

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It’s less than four years since we first encountered the PMC GB1.

Unlike the other models in the lower reaches of the PMC line-up, which grew ‘+’ suffixes around the time that the GB1 was launched, the latter never got a ‘+’ sign, presumably because it had effectively already been ‘plused’ prior to its introduction.

Instead, this cute little floorstander goes straight to ‘i’ status, having just undergone the same comprehensive series of improvements throughout the other ‘+’ models (and the larger OB1).

PMC's new and improved speakers

Whereas those 2004 ‘+’ improvements were retrofittable to earlier models, the changes this time are more comprehensive and extend to the cabinetwork. Regrettably, therefore, upgrading earlier models to the latest spec is not possible.

PMC mentions three major changes between the GB1 and GB1i. Chief amongst them is a brand new Solonex soft dome tweeter, co-developed with Norwegian driver specialist SEAS.

To keep pace with the improved top-end detail and resolution, has required improvements in the bass/mid driver and adjustments in the crossover network. The enclosure has also been beefed up and given a superior surface sheen.

A fourth, and possibly more significant change, is that the price has increased from 2004’s £995 to £1,275 per pair in its latest guise. Part of the increase is doubtless due to the natural inflationary order of things, though hopefully the improvements elsewhere serve to justify the price hike.

Sturdier and neater build

In essence the GB1i fills an obvious gap between the tiny standmount DB1i, and the significantly larger floorstanding FB1i. The smaller 140mm main driver used in the DB1i, loaded by a full-length (2.4m) transmission line similar to that found in the FB1i, is only possible with a floorstanding design.

However, what sounds logical enough in concept apparently proved quite recalcitrant to execute in practice, especially in terms of damping the line and locating the termination.

That small main driver results in a very neat ‘super-slim’ floorstander, which now features an enclosure made from tougher, more dense MDF than before, with a better quality real wood veneer (cherry, oak and maple as standard) and a deeper surface sheen.

The whole thing sits on a reassuringly chunky shaped plinth, ensuring secure spike accommodation and excellent physical stability. The main driver uses a cast frame and a 95mm paper cone, while the new tweeter has a 28mm soft fabric dome.

Restricted bass

A high-quality crossover network is fed via twin terminal pairs, permitting bi-wiring or amping options.

The tiny main driver used here inevitably limits the low frequency output, but the generous transmission line (tuned to 40Hz) helps a stereo pair deliver decent output down to 30Hz (-6dB) under far-field in-room conditions.

Output throughout the bass region is somewhat dry and restrained, so although the smoothest and most even bass delivery is found when the speakers are positioned well clear of walls, the overall tonal balance might well be preferred with the extra bass available from some close-to-wall reinforcement.

But take care not to overdo this, as the overall evenness is also adversely affected. Sensitivity is rated at a relatively modest 87dB, but that’s partly because the load seen by the amplifier never falls below six-ohms, ensuring that this loudspeaker is easy-to-drive.

Smoother sound

The pair matching was pretty good for our samples, though some minor resonance ripples are visible especially around 170Hz. Although it wasn’t possible to compare the GB1i directly and subjectively with its GB1 predecessor, comparison of the measurements proved very interesting.

Apparently the on-axis responses of the two versions are very similar indeed, but the integrated, averaged far-field response of the new version is altogether superior to its predecessor, indicating that the off-axis behaviour is now significantly better than before.

The improvements are visible with both drive units, the bass/mid looking significantly smoother towards the top of its operating range, 700Hz – 1.5kHz. While the lower treble, 2.5 – 4kHz, is much better filled than before, so the treble as a whole is smoother and less isolated.

An engaging audio experience

Certainly the first and overwhelming impression was of an open, engaging and communicative sound quality, notably free from boxy effects and with fine focus and spacious imaging.

Not too surprisingly, the second impression is that a bit more bass weight and welly would have been welcome too, but that’s pretty well inevitable when trying to fill a good size (4.3x2,6x5.5m) room with just a pair of 140mm drivers.

And if the bass does err a little on the dry side, it does at least have good agility and plenty of instrumental discrimination, so the whole experience remains thoroughly enjoyable.

Effortlessly bright music

While we wouldn’t suggest that this speaker is likely to be the right choice for listeners who favour heavy rock or techno material – we didn’t even bother to dig out the System of a Down or Chemical Brothers – it really came into its own with subtle acoustic and vocal material.

The Be Good Tanyas Hello Love is a pure delight, on either vinyl or CD, and Frazey Ford’s sometimes almost indecipherable vocal lines are unusually clear and easy to make out.

The overall character is on the bright and light side of neutral and although the top end does sound a little obvious, it always sounds sweet and detailed, too, adding convincing air and spaciousness.

But it’s in the midband that this speaker really shines, showing the inherent advantage that a small main driver usually has over larger examples, especially when reproducing voices and speech.

PMC makes a step in the right direction

Speaker design invariably involves some form of swings’n’roundabouts compromise, and here it’s undoubtedly the midband that is the winner, with all that it means in terms of superior vocal expression and subtlety.

Speech sounds particularly realistic, helped as much by the narrow cabinet, which mimics the width of a human head, as by the small driver.

Spendor S3/5R

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Surprisingly, Spendor's 'Classic' S3/5 loudspeaker has been around for more than a decade, quietly filling the gap made when the evergreen BBC-designed LS3/5a speaker became hard to pin down.

Why 'surprisingly'? Because the UK company hardly sold any of these small standmount monitors in the home country.

With the newly revised S3/5R, the company is hoping to return to the UK once more, placing their products in Blighty's dealers for the first time in years.

Spendor's classic design

Spendor puts these speakers in its 'Classic' range; at a little over a decade old, the S3/5 is almost too fresh-faced to deserve Classic status in Spendorland. If anything deserves the 'classic' title though, it's the S3/5R.

It's a quintessentially British two-way sealed thin-walled, heavy-damped box speaker design, cut to the same cloth as the BBC LS3/5a design.

The speaker cabinet retains the same basic dimensions of the previous S3/5 model and is, more or less, the same size as speakers like the LS3/5a and original Linn Kan small box speakers.

The principle differences between the S3/5R and its predecessor, are a different form of damping material (on the inside) and the move from bi-wire back to single-wired speaker connection.

The move back to single wire connection is to ensure consistency; use different grades of cable for the treble and bass end and you can - in extremis - create an unbalanced sound. The rubberised internal damping pads are said to be stable across a wider temperature range than their bitumenised predecessors, which is also claimed to make the speaker more consistent.

Inside the speaker units

The big changes are to the drivers, with a new Spendor-built 140mm homopolymer polypropylene bass driver with a 25mm voice coil and focusing magnet motor pole extension (that bullet-shaped phase plug), which helps to make the speaker driver more consistent sounding.

This is better ventilated than previous Spendor drive units, too, which means it can take power more readily than before.

Spendor doesn't make its own tweeters, handing the task on to Vifa, but there's a change here, too. The S3/5R's bass unit necessitated a move to a new 20mm soft dome tweeter.

In the process, the new unit has less spurious output than the previous tweeter, which is said to keep the tweeter sweeter and cleaner in the high frequencies.

With the move to single wired input and new drivers throughout, the crossover had to be completely redesigned. Board mounted, the new crossover circuit has been completely redesigned and re-laid out to minimise magnetic interaction between the inductors.

Improved components

It also required new filters and higher-saturation inductors to help the new drivers fit the S3/5R profile.

The crossover layout is said to improve phase alignment and helps Spendor's well-known goal of pair-matching the speakers to within a single dB. In other words, this is not a revoicing, more a series of refinements.

Owners of the original S3/5 speakers would have no need to 'upgrade' whatsoever. The advantages of a decade's worth of materials, science developments and technological updates, makes for a far better on-paper speaker and a slightly sonically improved model.

This also leaves the S3/5se (based upon the original S3/5) ripe for upgrade (for the record, the S3/5se is basically the S3/5 with improved components, that some think is more 'upbeat' in the process).

Insightful sound

The Spendor S3/5R's target audience is not readily swayed by glib sales pitches; nor is the speaker intended for those who still scan the charts for the next Big Thing.

Instead, this is a monitoring device for those who love their music (especially if that music is acoustic, or lightly amplified) and require a device that can reproduce that as accurately as possible. This sounds obvious, but is a surprisingly difficult and demanding task to achieve.

In fact, the first draft of the review missed this completely, but we were falling into the classic audiophile trap; picking out 'highlights' instead of listening to whole passages of music.

That changed over the course of a dinner party, as the sound produced from the S3/5R wasn't just 'relaxing', it was insightful and possessed of a rare integrity regardless of the music playing. That alone made it worthy of a substantial rethink.

Sitting afresh with the speaker, listening to whole tracks (even whole discs) instead of snippets produced a major about face. What was hitherto 'boring' was unforced and tonally bang on.

The S3/5R didn't draw attention to itself in any way, and this soon became a wholly positive experience. Other speakers may prove more immediate and more directly alluring, turning into 'tweaked' presentations in comparison to the S3/5R.

Stunning voice quality

Perhaps the biggest revelation is the human voice. The speaker's portrayal of voices is bettered by none and matched by only a few rival speakers, irrespective of price.

Tune into Radio 4's Gardener's Question Time on a Sunday afternoon and suddenly Bob Flowerdew and John Cushnie start arguing over radishes in your living room, without any intermediaries... they just sound like living, breathing embodied beings in the room.

There's a 'but' coming. Some don't need or want to be matured. Some are ripe enough as is, and those people will find this speaker dynamically flat sounding on a lot of music.

This doesn't need to be guitar shredding metal or techno at 250 bpm; the S3/5R doesn't sound as free with Stevie Ray Vaughan's version of Texas Flood as we'd like, either.

This isn't a major problem - the music's time signature is kept intact, it goes louder than you would expect from a small LS3/5a derived box and the sounds of the individual instruments are tonally as accurate as you could imagine. And the sound is certainly free from the boxes.

Lack of bass

However, it lacks some of the cut-loose easy dynamic range needed to play the blues with alacrity. How big an issue is this? Well, the LS3/5a was far less dynamic than this speaker and it sold by the truckload for nigh on three decades. And not all of those went to classical, opera, folk and spoken word fans.

So, unless you dream of playing power chords at lose-your-hearing levels, this minor limitation will not bother you. So maybe this dynamic 'freedom' of other speakers is another form of deviation from correct sound.

There's also a physical limitation, but this is far less of an issue in the real world. This is a small loudspeaker, with no port to slow it down, make it less tonally precise or artificially lower the bass.

As such, deep bass is not an option - but this is clearly stated in the accompanying literature. In the context of the sort of small to medium-sized room the S3/5R is intended for, the gentle bass roll-off prevents the speaker from sounding boomy by 'setting off' the room.

This does mean the speaker doesn't 'scale' well, though; the overall presentation is wholly right-sized for smaller rooms, but move it into a bigger room and the sound stays small-room sized.

The last loudspeaker you ever buy

Consider the S3/5R as your final exam in hi-fi. If you have the right room and the maturity to look past the flashy presentation of many speakers, this could be the last loudspeaker you ever buy.

Even if you 'fail' this exam and choose more immediately exciting speakers, remember that S3/5R's will still be waiting for you to grow up.

Thomson DTI 6300

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We're a demanding generation judging by the number of VOD TV services that are now available.

Top Up TV Anytime is one of the cheapest subscription options at £10 per month, and to woo more customers, it now rides on the back of some rather cool hardware.

The Thomson DTI 6300 is a well-specified Freeview PVR with two DVB tuners and a whopping 250GB hard drive.

The TOTV Anytime service is activated when you insert the supplied card and call the number which appears on screen.

This then gives you a choice of 'premium' TV channels like MTV and UKTV Gold (Okay, so they're not that exciting but it does expand your viewing choice).

Highs
With curves at every corner, the box is styled to match the SkyHD unit. It uses pretty-much the same remote control design too.
Easy to use. It took me just five button presses to set the Thomson to record every episode of Flog it!
250GB should be enough room for even the most dedicated telly addict.

Lows
One thing this box lacks is an HDMI output, which therefore precludes any upscaling action and limits you to swimmy Freeview picture quality.
The poor selection of programming offered by TOTV Anytime is also a limiting factor. But even without the subscription, this is still a fine PVR.
Not Freeview Playback certified, but does offer Series Link function

Mordaunt-Short Mezzo 2

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Mordaunt-Short's Mezzo range comprises three stereo pairs, plus partnering centre channel speaker and subwoofer, and this £450 per pair Mezzo 2 sits in the middle of the stereo pairs.

It's a compact two-way stand-mount, port-loaded at the front and using a 165mm bass/mid driver mounted in an enclosure with an estimated volume of around 11 litres.

Either side of this particular model is a somewhat smaller Mezzo 1 stand-mount, with an appropriately smaller 135mm main driver, and a 2.5-way Mezzo 6 with an extra bass-only 165mm driver and floorstanding enclosure.

The Mezzo's drivers

The most interesting feature justifying the Mezzo's premium price is the rear-aspirated 25mm metal dome tweeter.

This is mounted in a large conical lossy rubber mounting nacelle, a third of which protrudes from the top of the enclosure; nine small holes in the top surface terminate different length loading tubes that deliver some decorrelated output from the rear of the tweeter diaphragm.

The main driver has a dish-shaped metal diaphragm 118mm in diameter, with radial rib reinforcement.

Sturdy build

The enclosure, finished in a very convincing vinyl woodprint (since no mention is made of real wood), has curved sides and a very narrow back, which will both increase the overall stiffness and defocus internal standing waves.

However, some vibration could be felt in the flat top surface. Connection is made via twin terminal pairs, and the black front panel uses invisible (magnetic) retention for the optional grille.

Tonal balance

The claimed 89dB sensitivity seems a shade optimistic, as our far-field averaged technique could only just muster 88dB. There's little bass extension below 40Hz either, but the impedance is reasonably benign, only falling below 5 ohms around 8-10kHz.

Mounted on 60cm stands well clear of walls, the in-room tonal balance did tend to favour the midband, 200Hz - 1.3kHz, and showed very gentle rolloffs above and below this band.

The broad bass region is consequently a little dry, indicating that some closer-to-wall reinforcement might be preferred, but if this is adopted the ample output from the c48Hz tuned port tends to be exaggerated at the expense of upper bass output.

Although higher frequencies start to tail off gently and progressively above 1.3kHz, a distinct recovery of around 3dB is visible at 5kHz.

Detailed sound

Finding the best siting for these speakers did prove a little tricky. After some experiment, a gap of about 30cms between speakers and wall seemed to give best overall results.

The Mezzo 2 sounds crisp, clean, spacious, free from obvious boxiness and fundamentally well balanced, especially through the broad midrange. It delivers plenty of detail with fine coherence, respectable agility and a decent dynamic range.

The sound remains clear and impressively explicit, but increasing the volume seems to bring an accompanying increase in hardness that is mildly off-putting. Although this is a likeable speaker, it does seem happiest when not being pushed too hard.

Audica CX System 3

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Audica's CX Series loudspeakers are gorgeous. So gorgeous, in fact, that I've been suffering palpitations. Why? I'll explain...

A while back I reviewed another set of speakers that lived in skinny, naked, aluminium enclosures.

They used only a few tiny drivers and looked fabulous - trouble was, they were completely pants, and I said so. I think I even compared them to Objets d'Art from the Dadaist movement, which is about as insulting as you can get.

Stunningly gorgeous

Thankfully, the brand in question has since produced some truly brilliant loudspeakers. They're with a different distributor now as well, so the contract on my life has probably expired.

The experience has scarred me a little, though. Every time I come face to face with another set of designer-skinnies my heart doesn't exactly sink, but certainly suffers a little wobble.

Will these slinky Audica CX speakers also fail to live up to their looks? Not a chance!

Improved design

It transpires that these Audicas are not just a set of drivers screwed onto the face of a pipe-cooling extrusion chosen out of an industrial catalogue. Rather, they are the result of some genuinely inventive R&D.

There's a whole function-breeding-form thing going on here; the aerofoil shape - also sometimes seen as a more teardrop-shaped cross section in other brands - is proven to help with reduction of distorting standing waves inside cabinets, and so helps create better sound.

All of the CX satellites are based on a tiny 50mm 'bass' driver and a 20mm soft dome tweeter - both able to be so small by dint of use of rare-earth Neodymium magnets.

Matching accessories

There are two 50mm drivers and a tweeter in the CX-S satellite, and four drivers and a tweeter in a line array in the CX-T towers and C-suffixed centre alike.

They all have front ports under their cloth grilles and use small screw-down connectors in their bases - note that these won't take a banana plug, nor a fat wire. Dinky feet hold the base of the speaker just high enough for a wire to be able to run out beneath the speaker without making it wobble.

The Audica people are kind of unique in the AV industry in that as well as their electronics too, they are also makers of truly attractive furniture and bracketry to go with their kit, so it can all look like it matches.

For instance, the CX-T towers have lovely thick plate-glass plinths and you can fix them with rubber nuggets or spikes underneath.

Idiot-proof subwoofer

The eye-catching subwoofer is a downward-firing unit with an 8in driver and two ports that all fire onto a fixed-position plinth underneath.

This means that the acoustic loading (a bit like compression of gunpowder for a bigger bang) is a known quantity. Other makers just use the floor - but that means you can end up having some energy soaked up by carpeting...

The woofer is simple to operate. Controls compromise a phase flip switch, crossover knob and gain dial. Thoughtfully, it is idiot-proofed. The place the crossover knob needs to be set to when used with the CX series speakers is clearly labelled.

Potential buyers should be aware that this £1,500 set is called System 3.

System 2 (£1,100), comprises the same centre and four of the satellites to go with the subwoofer (no floorstanders for you, then); System 1 (£1,000) is made up of two of the sats, the sub and the CX-LCR sling-it-along-the-bottom-of-your-plasma enclosure.

Beautifully matched with flatscreens

I have recently taken possession a very handsome 42in Panasonic plasma TV. As well as dragging my reference review system firmly out of the 20th century, it provides the perfect adjunct for this sort of speaker package.

Until now, I've paid little heed to the stylish curves of many modern speaker packages, as they rarely looked good next to a hulking CRT.

Now, though, I can appreciate what the fuss is about. My flatpanel and the CX-3 system look like a marriage made in heAVen.

Fine sound quality

OK, so these boxes are a cut above the ordinary. So how do they sound? Pretty darn good, I'd say. Although this Audica system came into my world directly after the £3K Tannoy Revolution Signature package, and so labours under a 'follow-that' taint, it copes admirably well in its own way.

This will have something to do with those nifty Neodymium magnets mentioned earlier - and not 'neodinium' as written in the Audica manual. Neodymium refers to a much more powerful (and still a bit costly) way to make a magnet for the back of a speaker.

It's got loads more shove than a normal magnet and can be much smaller.

In fact, if it were not for the rare-earth Neodymium magnets on the back of these tiny drivers, they could never shove as much air about as their Mini Mouse-esque personalities demand; the drivers would simply not fit in the aluminium enclosures.

Dealing with bigger sounds

During my audition I listened to a wide range of material, both gentle and demanding. For most of my note-taking though, I spun the DTS track on I, Robot. This is not an easy soundtrack for small enclosures to manage, yet the Audicas managed a good fist of sound.

The tiny satellites voice perfectly with the bigger speakers - poor Sonny the robot's pain is easily empathised with.

The system is ultimately limited by a paucity of low-end. Serious explosions and deep basso thrum won't shake your world in the same way as a bigger box with more volumnious driver.

Indeed, unless you take care with the set-up, you may be aware of a bit of a hole between the system and the subwoofer in terms of sheer weight.

Cool speakers at a cooler price

However, I suspect that Audica's target buyer is looking not for sofa-shaking bass, but art and class. What the System 3 can do for both its size and its price is undeniably effective.

For those who can't face having big-boxed cabinets in their viewing room, this system provides a cool, credible alternative.

There are compromises in terms of sonic welly, but these should be balanced by the A-grade aesthetics. Ideal, then, for those with limited space, and/or close proximity to neighbours.

And did I mention how gorgeous they are?...

Logic3 Soundstage 5.1

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Logic3 made its fortune first from video game accessories, then iPod accessories, so a 5.1 cinema system may seem like something of a departure.

But with flatscreen sales continuing to soar, you can understand why Logic3 is keen to accessorize those as well.

The concept is now familiar. Soundstage 5.1 is designed to hang on the wall below your TV, reducing your speaker system to a single unit and delivering pseudo-surround, using fifteen drivers and some tricksy audio processing.

Yes, it does look a bit like the Yamaha YSP-800 'soundbar' doesn't it, but don't be fooled...

Sophisticated styling

The styling is slick, with a piano black finish and smooth corners, and it weighs a bracket-testing 18kg, so it feels like you're getting a lot for your money. The functionality is more basic than the Yamaha alternative, though, which goes some way to explaining the disparity in price.

There are four digital inputs and a pair of phono sockets for the TV itself. Select any one of these sources and it'll use SRS silicon to split the sound into a kind of multichannel. An FM tuner is built in.

It's certainly a practical alternative to anyone that can't fit, or isn't allowed, a full set of speakers. Just screw this to the wall flush with your TV - brackets, screws, etc are supplied - and you have a centralised sound system.

There's no onscreen display, but you really don't need one thanks to the easy-to-use remote. It'll make a reasonable fist of your music collection, too. Just feed one of the digital inputs with a CD deck and switch it into stereo.

The volume level and dispersion are definitely better than your TV could manage - but this isn't actually hi-fi. Bass is slow and shallow; basslines wallow instead of thump. There's enough treble detail, but the mid-range lacks expression.

Unconvincing surround

The trouble is, the Soundstage 5.1 isn't really home cinema either. The absence of a Dolby logo gives the game away. What you're hearing in '5.1' mode is simply a delay effect that attempts to place some audio behind you, and it doesn't work.

The pseudo-surround effect adds some depth to Blade Runner's atmospheric soundtrack, making the Vangelis musical score swell a little more, but it doesn't ever sound like there are speakers behind you.

In fact the SRS processing causes dialogue to sound synthetic and less natural than in stereo mode, so you may ultimately find yourself switching it off.

Budget audio

Will this make your telly sound better? Yes, probably - if you have a cheap telly. Is this home cinema? Hardly.

SoundScape 5.1 is built to a budget that precludes Dolby and DTS decoding and frankly, its surround processing is rubbish.

It might serve as a functional stereophonic TV upgrade, but there are better solutions available.

Boston TVEE Model Two

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If you thought all soundbars offered pseudo-surround, then you’re in for a shock.

Boston Acoustics’ refreshingly simple and effective take on the soundbar genre, its TVee Model Two, sticks with bona-fide stereo audio.

Instead of pretending to be a total-home-cinema-solution-in -a-box, it enhances your flatpanel TV’s invariably lightweight sound with a wonderfully crisp, detailed, and punchy speaker that’s slim enough to screw to the wall.

Simple setup

The soundbar house a lineup of dynamic drive units (four mid-range drivers and two tweeters) and is backed up by a wireless subwoofer.

The sub only needs a mains cable and, provided you set the volume to a suitable level, it does a fine job of keeping up with the little speakers.

The only audio cable you need, in fact, is the supplied phono lead that runs to your TV’s audio output. It really is that easy to set up.

Edifier M3200

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Marrying design aesthetics with functionality is difficult, whatever field you're in.

When it comes to speakers at least, the words "boxy" or "squat" usually shamble into view, even though the actual sound that's produced is more than adequate. Edifier's M3200 speaker set falls between two stools, at least on the design front.

The two satellites that'll be on permanent view resemble elegant flower vases and would stand out from the majority of speaker models at this price point.

Elegant Edifier

Inside each unit is a small driver at the top and a larger one at the bottom. The sound from each is loud and clear enough, if not exceptionally sharp.

This backs up the fact that Edifier is marketing the speaker set as suitable for multimedia playback, when you'd be listening to music tracks or dialogue from films.

In stark contrast to the satellites, the bass unit is just a black slab of plastic and painted wood that's best placed out of sight under your desk. It's capable of pumping out some fairly decent low notes, although nowhere near the league marked "earth-shattering".

The amount of bass can be adjusted by turning the knob on the rear of the unit. Because the power supply is housed inside the bass unit, floor clutter is kept to a minimum - power leads and connection cables notwithstanding.

A powerful speaker set

The final aspect of this setup is the wired remote control unit. This has a large aluminium wheel for adjusting volume, along with inputs for headphones and a digital music player.

A subtle red light effect is employed when you switch the speakers on and off, which ties in with the red plastic strips on the speaker fronts.

We think that Edifier's effort compares well with similarly priced 2.1 speakers from the likes of Creative or Logitech (the Inspire A300 and X-230 respectively). Both these sets are slightly less powerful with more conventional looks.

That the M3200's satellites have spent some time in the design lab is in its favour, and this cheap 2.1 setup delivers the sonic goods.