Auralic refer to the Aries as a “bridge”; basically a digital device which refers to a networked music library from the likes of a NAS drive, or by use of an external USB hard drive, connected directly to the Aries. What we have come to know more lovingly as a streamer – although you could argue that they are usually an all in one device, often with an on-board hard drive and with analogue outputs from it’s on-board DAC. Dan Worth takes this £1495 box of tricks for a whirl. 

“The difference between the Aries and a standard build streamer is that it has only the ability to output a digital signal – bridging the gap between library and DAC. The Aries boasts dual FemtoClocks, for the USB audio input and the digital outputs, a low noise internal design to eliminate jitter and Auralic Purer‐Power™ based 10uV low noise external linear PSU. A whole host of supported music services are available and a fully featured and easy to use App for Android and iOS devices – necessary for operation of the Aries as opposed to the included remote, which controls more basic features of playback…”

Read the full review here

629 Euros for a nicely finished three way floorstanding pair of loudspeakers seems a very attractive proposition. Dominic Marsh finds out if the Melodika BL40 Mk2 Loudspeakers from Poland can cut the mustard. 

This is yet another loudspeaker that originates from Poland and it is one in quite a long list of components that have been sourced from that country to be reviewed by Hifi Pig.  I recall reviewing a set of Melodika Purple Rain speaker cables some time ago and they impressed me with their quality and pricing, so I was no stranger to their products.  Watch out world, the Polish hifi industry are becoming a force to be reckoned with!

Introducing then the Melodika BL 40 Mark 2 loudspeaker.

Construction

The review sample was cloaked in a beautiful high gloss black coat which was very pleasant to look at and not really expected as standard at this price point.

Measuring 97cm high by 23.5cm wide by 34.6cm deep and weighing 19kg each they are not an imposing speaker by any means so should not dominate their surroundings in an average listening room.

They are a two and a half way reflex ported speaker with the port situated at the rear of the cabinet.  Driver array consists of 1 x 25mm Black Diamond silk dome tweeter and 2 x 160mm woven fibreglass hybrid mid/bass units.  Grilles are supplied which are affixed by plastic pegs and wooden plinths with carpet piercing spikes are also included in the package.  Biwire speaker terminals with bridging plates are also fitted as standard.

Sound Quality

These speakers were sent to me from another Hifi Pig reviewer who simply could not get them to sound right in their system and listening room.  When they arrived with me, they definitely sounded “off song” and I quickly came to the realisation that all they needed was some running hours to loosen up.  Bear in mind that I already had 2 pairs of speakers at the time that were in their running in periods and I really didn’t have the time or resources to afford the same luxury to the Melodika speakers, so I fast tracked them a bit with a good fistful of volume control and thick blankets over the speakers to hurry matters along.  12 hours later they came out from under the blankets like a freshly emerged butterfly and ready to take to the wing.  Those 12 hours of that treatment paid real dividends in this instance and as any hifi reviewer will tell you it is a major drawbacks having to run in virtually everything that is sent to them before they can even begin any evaluations.  I suppose we all have a cross to bear in one form or another.

The transformation was huge and what were uneven lumpy responses coming from the speakers now sounded a lot sweeter and far more coherent, so the listening tests began.

Given that I was evaluating a pair of floorstanders costing a mere 629 Euros, what surprised me the most was I wasn’t giving these speakers any latitude at all to reflect that price because I didn’t need to.  The sound was very even from top treble to bottom bass and no part of the audible spectrum was either curtailed or emphasised.  They apparently went down to a very respectable 39Hz and up to 20 KHz which is not as high as some speaker manufacturers claim, but none of us have ultrasonic hearing abilities anyway.

On to some music now to hear what the Melodika BL40 Mk2’s are made of.

First into the CD drawer was my good old stalwart in the shape of Fink’s “Wheels Beneath My Feet” album, which if you don’t have it in your collection, you should do, even just to relate to what I type in my reviews.  Fink’s vocals are difficult to follow as his diction isn’t the best you might hear, but having said that, the musicians in the band are pretty well captured, particularly so the drums, plus of course the ambience and audience are well recorded too.  It’s not until you have played this album a good few times that you ‘get’ what it is all about and why I use it for evaluations.

The first thing I listen for is the initial cymbal strikes the drummer makes during the intro bars.  A crisp metallic “ting” from that cymbal is de rigueur and it must sound utterly realistic with no ringing except for the harmonics and decay of the cymbal itself.  Kick drum follows shortly afterwards and it must be propulsive, have a good solid punch to it and be able to hear the beater striking the drum skin.  Throughout the entire album you should notice the different ambiences of the various venues that are performed in during Fink’s tour.  My favourite track on the album is “Sort Of Revolution” in which Fink manages to get the audience to clap along and that really is infectious.  When a system really has mastery and control over this track I cannot help myself and I also get enthusiastically clapping along too.  Then the medication wears off . . .

I was truly surprised then when the Melodika speakers actually sailed through this entire album without stress or struggle and I heard what I expected to hear throughout. Good result.

Jeff Buckley’s “Grace” album certainly has some obstacles to overcome with any system, with some well recorded bass and fine details, a good measure of brash uncouthness thrown in, plus of course Jeff Buckley’s voice which in itself is not easy to reproduce accurately without verging on  some fragility in places.  Play this album loud and its faults are brutally exposed and if you start to wince then something is amiss, be that the system, the room, or indeed an individual’s hearing acuity.  Or maybe it’s just me it affects this way, because I do have a few moments where I reach for the volume control, I must confess.   With regards to evaluating equipment it all works in reverse, because a system with a rolled off top end or congested midband doesn’t really fully reveal the nasty elements in the recording.  Some folks find that a blessing in disguise.  The Melodika BL40’s didn’t break up or wilt during this album, so that tells me there is some smoothness in the overall design.

I played some orchestral, acoustic instrumentals, some electronica, solo female and male vocals, plus the whole of  La Boheme which is very rare for me, but I wanted to discover how these speakers coped with different genres of music and I could find no criticisms in that respect.

One tiny niggle I did have was the grilles which started to rattle on one of the speakers after being removed only a couple of times, because that seemed to affect the plastic holding pegs.

Conclusion

For a loudspeaker that costs some 629.00 Euros, which comes supplied in a superb high gloss black finish as standard, has a plinth and substantial spikes also supplied and with 3 high quality drivers per cabinet, you would expect there to be some sort of catch or a set of compromises with the Melodika BL40 Mk2 speakers, wouldn’t you? Not so, as this speaker sounds very good indeed and I suppose the question to be asked is would I buy and own a pair myself?  Yes I would.  It’s performance outstrips virtually all of the competition that I am aware of in this price bracket so they truly are busting good value and although I’m sure AV fans will love them to bits in a surround system, they are just as much at home in a good quality stereo hifi system.  In fact, the better the driving and source components are, the better they sound.

I give the Melodika BL40 Mk 2 loudspeakers my Highly Recommended award without any hesitation.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:  High gloss black as standard? No kidding and it is a well designed and very well built speaker.

Sound Quality:  They are not ruthlessly revealing but see that as part of their finer points.  Surprisingly good bass, treble and midband should please many.

Value For Money: It is shocking how Melodika manage to make such a good speaker at such a low price.  Form an orderly stampede people before Melodika change their minds!

Pros:  Truly affordable and a great all round performer.  Fit and finish is superb.

Cons:  At 629.00 Euros a pair?  What’s not to like?

Price:    629.00 Euros 

Dominic Marsh

Specifications

The Gold Note PH-10 has a host of features including various equalisation curves, nine load impedances, facilities for MM and MC carts and a whole lot more to boot. Janine Elliot takes a listen to what on paper looks almost too good to be true for the £1315.20 asking price. 

“My love of vinyl goes back to the days of the crystal pickup on my Philips integrated system that I had saved up my pennies for back in the 70’s. Since then I have collected a lot of Hifi, including equipment much older. Whilst my Philips assumed all my records would follow the standard RIAA EQ curve for all the records, my 1950’s Leak Varislope preamplifier has provision for a selection of alternatives, including NARTB, 78OE, and 78NE (see Retrobyte column on Record Equalisation). Gold Note’s PH-10 phonostage similarly allows you to play your Decca London or American CBS-Columbia records, should you have any…”

Read the full review here

Tellurium Q’s Black speaker cable instantly won fans around the world when it was launched, but now they’ve improved it. Ian Ringstead takes a listen to this £54 a metre loudspeaker cable.

“I am a newcomer to Tellurium Q cables with regards to trying them out, but I have been aware of them for some time. I met Geoff Merrigan at the Bristol AV Show this year and had an educational few hours in his company. Geoff kindly offered me the chance to try some of his cables out and this is the result.

Tellurium Q Black was the first cable they produced and they were amazed by the results and the dealer and customer response. So why Black II?  The Black won multiple awards, surprising owners with its performance and more people than ever chose to use it in their systems?…”

Read the full review here

Poland is getting a bit of a reputation in the Hifi world for producing products at great prices. Here Dominic Marsh checks out the Pylon Diamond Monitor loudspeakers costing €899.75 to €999.75.

Here is an interesting thought;  I have now reviewed more speakers for Hifi Pig that have been sourced from Poland than from any other country, which shows just how active the hifi industry is in that particular neck of the woods.  It would also be fair to say that they have all been very good value for money and surprisingly good performers too.

This leads me on to introducing the Diamond Monitor from Pylon Audio, once again company of Polish origin.

Construction

The first impression you get of the Diamond Monitor is its unusual cabinet design.  Sloping slightly backwards, they are mounted on their matching, and unusually open stands. The purpose of this is two-fold; firstly it makes for a more rigid structure, secondly it reduces the amount of internal reflecting surfaces by a half and I am none too sure if there is a third purpose, which is for time aligning the tweeter to the bass driver.  Doing the knuckle test on top of the cabinets yields a dead knock with no ringing or hollowness.  The speakers are not fixed to the stands but simply perched on them and I used them for a while as thus supplied, until I brushed up against one of them and dislodged it slightly.  A small pad of BluTak in each corner made them more secure.

Enclosure volume is around 16 litres, reflex ported with rear exit exhaust port.  Cabinet walls are 19mm thick, braced and strengthened at critical points, lined with bituminous mats and real sheep wool fleece damping.  The bass driver is a modified SEAS CA18RLY, while the tweeter is a selected Scanspeak D2010/851300 unit.

Cabinet finishes are available in a  decent range, from natural wood veneers, some of which are hand black waxed to enhance the grain figuration, plus a palette of over 100 solid RAL colours to choose from, which is then top coat lacquered.

The stands are available in any colour you like, provided it is black as standard, to which  6mm carpet spikes can be fitted if required and grilles with magnetic attachment are supplied, which have a reassuringly strong grip.  The review sample finish was black waxed Oak with black stands.

Prices range from 899.75 Euros for black waxed veneer to 999.75 Euros for lacquered finish cabinets.

Sound Quality

Immediately before receiving the Diamond Monitors I had 3 pairs of speakers submitted for review, all of which had polite, subtle and rather refined bass outputs, so it came as a pleasant surprise when these speakers were fired up there was ample and bountiful bass emanating from them.  Bring it on.  I was quite taken aback just how powerful they sounded and at long last I was listening to a pair of speakers that were forthright and direct in the way they played music, which is exactly my kind of speaker.  I was instantly in love and that was even before they had any running hours on them, so the best was yet to come.  Treble though had a slight steely edge to it, especially at high volumes and as time has moved on and after some running hours had elapsed that trait has vanished, although it is right on the tightrope boundary of being accurate and maybe just a tad uncouth at high volumes, depending on source material, as poor recordings are revealed for exactly what they are and not lightly tolerated.  These speakers do merit the epithet “Monitor” for that reason.

They are very expressive, full of tonal colours, textures and fine details, pumped well out into the room, which of course may not suit every kind of listener.  Bass had a wonderful taut solidity with no boom at all, plus a deep growl and thump to it, manifested well in kick drum beats which smacked you squarely in the solar plexus with the right kind of recording, the Pylon Diamond Monitors even showed up my big floor standing resident speakers somewhat with their bass output and fast dynamics.

Of course there is far more to a speaker than just spectacular amounts of bass, so the remainder of the audible spectrum must be in perfect balance and the Pylon Diamond Monitor doesn’t disappoint in that respect.  Leaving aside for the moment that bad recordings and the Pylon tweeter don’t gel well together (don’t play them then is the answer!), when they are fed with a good clean signal the treble has immense clarity and sweetness, plus they have the ability to pick out presence and ambience cues that some other speakers can blur over and fog up to the point of being virtually inaudible by comparison.   This also makes imaging and instrument placement three dimensional in nature and again this isn’t feeble or vague either, with a defining solidity.  They are not power hungry speakers either, as I had excellent results with a 25 watts per channel Clones Audio 25i amplifier and this pairing let me say was very sweet and highly musical, bass was not curtailed at all given the Clones amplifier’s modest power rating.

Naturally, I had to play Fink’s “Wheels Beneath My Feet” album to see how the Pylon Diamond Monitors stacked up to my benchmark tests for overall sound quality. This album was recorded live in various venues around Europe during one of Fink’s many tours and each track sounds slightly different as a result, both in venue ambience and in the way audiences react to the band’s performances.

The audience was reproduced very accurately with no ‘shooshing’ sounds, each person was singled out as individuals and very realistic.  The ambience of each venue was recreated accurately and full of fine details that required no effort at all to hear.  Bass drum had a good solid thud with every beat and you could easily tell that a hard faced beater was being used, plus the cymbals had a true crisp metallic ‘ting’ so you were in no doubt whatsoever a wooden stick was hitting metal with differing energy… beautifully rendered.  The track “Sort of Revolution” has a pounding kick drum, plus some powerful floor tom strikes that really do make my listening room vibrate and the bass guitar had a deep throaty growl which sent shivers down my spine.  I love bass that powerful but it must and I mean MUST be under perfect control, which the Pylon Diamond Monitors managed with ease.  The SEAS bass driver that Pylon are using is a real star for sure.

Another live album now in the shape of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Dance” begins with Mick Fleetwood stomping his right foot down on the kick drum which sorts out the men from the boys when it comes to bass drivers and the Pylon Diamond Monitor didn’t fall short here either.  The entire album was a delight to listen to and I had no concerns that the Pylons weren’t delivering the sound I was expecting to hear.  If you are a Fleetwood Mac fan then this is an essential album for your collection with 17 tracks of well recorded classic Fleetwood Mac to revel and immersed in.

I then moved on to my favourite torture tracks in the shape of Porcupine Tree’s “Deadwing” album. The title track on this particular album either sounds raw and unvarnished, or it will sound smoothed out and rolled off, depending upon how revealing a system is, speakers in particular. With the Pylon speakers that rawness was not quite full on and unrelenting as it sometimes is, whereas lesser speakers are a lot more forgiving. Having said that, there is a bass guitar riff around 6 minutes 40 seconds into the track where I would expect to hear a long low bass note flowing outwards from the speakers rather than just emerge from the cabinet and the Pylons gave a superb deep flowing rendition of that bass note, growling, resonant and almost snaking it’s way across the carpet towards you and in that respect the Pylon Diamond Monitor gave just about the best I have heard it performed from any stand mount speaker.

Over a period of some weeks I had almost gone through my entire CD collection and each one was a revelation at how much satisfying music is stored on those little silver discs.  By now you might have gathered that these speakers had impressed me considerably and so my thoughts turned to a nomination for an Outstanding Product award.  However, as much as they had impressed me personally when coupled up to my hifi system and of course in my own listening room too, how would they fare when another reviewer’s critical ear is exposed to them, connected to another completely different system and a totally different listening room?  So I took the Pylon speakers over to fellow reviewer Dan Worth for his verdict on them.

I knew beforehand of course that Dan has a completely different system to mine and a completely different listening room layout as well, so I expected there to be a different sound response with the Pylon speakers.  My room is fairly small, very well furnished (as in full of clutter and hifi related odds and ends) with wooden walls and floor, thick carpets and plenty of furniture that breaks up standing waves.  Dan’s listening room is more sparsely furnished with a leather sofa, laminate flooring with a large rug and solid concrete block walls.  So from the off, the Pylon speakers must work well in either listening room scenario to be even nominated for Hifi Pig’s Outstanding Product award.

I could tell immediately though that Dan was within moments listening to the Pylons and was directly comparing them to the ATC SCM 19’s we both reviewed back in July 2015.  Given that the ATC speakers are twice the price of the Pylons, that was indeed flattering and by the same token also an unfair contest.  I could easily understand why Dan was so minded because of the basic qualities of the Pylons, with their dynamic presentation approaching that of the ATCs, albeit it with certain differences.  For Dan it was the treble that just didn’t have that extra tiny fraction more sophistication compared to the ATCs, yet we agreed the bass performance of the Pylons exceeded the ATCs by hitting the lower registers the ATCs didn’t even go near.  In an ideal world then the bass performance of the Pylons coupled with the treble of the ATCs would be a truly knockout speaker, so we came to the conclusion that the Pylons had most unfortunately only just fallen short of that coveted Hifi Pig Outstanding Product award.  This actually set a precedent between Dan and myself in that we had different views on the same product and one of us has disagreed it was ‘Outstanding’, so it was a prime test of Hifi Pig’s policy of having two independent reviews of a product from two different reviewers for the Outstanding Product award to be given.

Conclusion

Irrespective of what Dan’s verdict was regarding the Pylon Diamond Monitor, my own verdict is that for under a £1,000.00 they are a genuine hifi bargain, especially so when they gave the ATC SCM 19’s which Dan and I compared them to, a run for their money at less than half the price.  I would say that the tiny loss of refinement at the extreme treble that Dan pointed out, should not be a cause for concern for the average listener, as it didn’t bother me at all during any of my listening sessions and Porcupine Tree’s Deadwing album would have let me know for sure if there was any issues in that area.

So, to summarise then, this is an affordable awesomely good sounding speaker that I am more than positive will be putting as big a smile on many owner’s faces as it has mine throughout my time with them.  They fit in well with most room decors and the dedicated stand included in the price makes it even more of a hifi bargain.

I therefore give these speakers my wholehearted endorsement and my Highly (Very Highly) Recommended award without any hesitation.

Build Quality:   Very well put together and the leaned back stance I found attractive.

Sound Quality:  When direct and relevant comparisons are being made with a speaker more than twice the price and reputation, it says it all really.

Value For Money:  I cannot think of anything that might suggest they were not good value for money.

Pros:  Attractive shape, quality construction, dedicated stands and excellent sound. Price.

Cons:  Cannot think of any cons at all.  That’s why I am buying a pair!

Price: €899.75 for black waxed veneer to €999.75 for lacquered finish cabinets.

Dominic Marsh

David Robson puts some zeros and ones through this Scottish company’s £80 The Director SE digital coax cable. 

“Ecosse is a new brand to me. Arriving in the late 90’s which, unfortunately was the start of my Hifi hiatus. Due to house moves and relationship changes my hobby was put on hold for quite a while…”

Read the full review here

In this world exclusive review Dan Worth and Dominic Marsh take a listen to the new Allegri+ passive preamplifier using autoformers from Townshend Audio and costing £2400.

“Unless you have been living on the far side of the moon that rarely sees the light of day, then Max Townshend will be a name that you associate with quality and extremely well thought out products, which  perform excellently and are solidly engineered. Townshend’s Allegri+ the successor to the popular Allegri has just been announced to be hitting the market and I’ve been lucky enough to get one of the very first units to leave the factory…”

Read the full review here

Poland is getting a bit of a reputation in the Hifi world for producing products at great prices. Here Dominic Marsh checks out the Pylon Diamond Monitor loudspeakers costing €899.75 to €999.75.

“Here is an interesting thought;  I have now reviewed more speakers for Hifi Pig that have been sourced from Poland than from any other country, which shows just how active the hifi industry is in that particular neck of the woods.  It would also be fair to say that they have all been very good value for money and surprisingly good performers too.

This leads me on to introducing the Diamond Monitor from Pylon Audio, once again company of Polish origin…”

Read the full review here

So that’s the end of Summer, hope you all had a good one. As everyone gets back to school, university or work why not take the time to look back at all the Hifi news that we covered for you in August, there was plenty going on!

We are now looking forward to September and The Indulgence Show 2017 at the end of the month in London. Check out all the news in the run up to the show and all the coverage afterwards  in our dedicated Indulgence 2017 section!

ATI Acquires Datasat Digital Entertainment

Merging Technologies Announce Distribution Changes

Pioneer and Onkyo Roll Out DTS Play-Fi

Amare Musica Tube Network Player

VANA Ltd. Unveils The Audio Physic Step Plus And Tempo Plus Loudspeakers To US Market

Wire On Wire Launch The Tuneable Experience880

Monrio Launch Their Most Powerful Amplifier, The MC207 – MKII

Feniks Essence Active Computer Sound System Now Shipping

Ortofon MC Windfeld Ti Cartridge Launched And On Tour

Bryston Launches BP-173 Preamplifier

New Custom Install Speakers From TAGA Harmony

Brook Audio – A New Hifi Shop For Yorkshire

New Products From Métronome Coming In September 2017

Estelon Launches Super Luxury Rolls-Royce Inspired Speakers

Ea Is “A New Step In Kalista’s Story”

Vinyl Recorder App From Convert Technologies

Metaxas Sirens Reference Monitor Speakers

Carbon Black Is Elipson’s New Flagship Turntable

T+A Announce Launch Of New CALA Range

Chris Tuck UK Business Development Role For Electrocompaniet

TAGA Harmony Introduce More New Products

Iota VRS Vinyl Record Stabiliser.

McIntosh Announces MCT80 SACD/CD Transport

Nordoff Robbins ‘Get Loud’ Awareness Day

Unison Research Announce Unico 90 Amplifier

Meters Music Launch Cubed Speaker System

Audio Physic Avantera III Now Available In USA

Technics SL-1200GR Turntable Now Shipping

Keep Up To Date With The Latest Hifi Shows And Hifi Events

Onkyo Release New Compact Hifi Systems

Conrad-Johnson Announces New Enhanced Triode Line-Stage Pre Amp

New Floor-Standers, Subwoofer And Centre Speakers Complete Tangent 5.1 Package

Audirvana Plus Launches Version 3.1 for MacOS

Janine Elliot takes a listen to the SoundKaos LIBéRATION Loudspeakers that use an open baffle design along with ribbon tweeters in a package costing just over £17,000.

Martin Gateley is Swiss, though he resides in the UK and was born in Jersey. With Swiss mum and Brummy dad he went back to Switzerland (well, who wouldn’t) but left for the UK again in his mid-twenties, though hopes to return to Switzerland at some point in the future. An architect by profession with a commendable CV including Systemworks, MDA and Interfair, plus events and exhibition management projects at Kaos Events Ltd, he has since 2009 turned his ears and eyes to making very distinctive speakers, using the full range Enviee drivers from Alman Galm coupled with a ribbon top end.

The Wave 40 was their first offering with 8 inch Enviee full range paper cone and Raal ribbon for the top. Whilst his Swiss Egg shaped Wave 40 and the 42 that replaces it uses special tone wood the LIBéRATION reviewed here liberates the drivers from the limitations of any box at all. In a conventional ‘box’ a loudspeaker radiates sound in two directions – at the listener and into its box. As Martin Gateley states, “Half goes out, half stays in and this pressure excites the walls of the enclosure. It bounces around like a bunch of billiard balls and attempts to escape through the thin driver diaphragms. Because it arrives at your ears delayed in time, it causes the equivalent of motion blur. That’s a slight audible smear and fuzziness often mistaken for warmth”. Damping the box with padding of some sort kills or suffocates some of the direct sound too. In the Wave series rather than capture and damp the rear wave of sound, Martin claims the special wood construction he uses dissipates this unwanted wave rapidly and freely. I wrote at length about the technique used by Flare Audio in stopping sound pressure in their headphones and IEMs from affecting and ruining the sound. The Soundkaos LIBéRATION speaker is something completely different to his earlier speakers as he does away totally with any enclosure at all, giving much more clarity to the sound and no pressure or “tightness”. The sound is very open, with as much released out from the back as from the front, creating a large sound-space which is very real and easy to listen to, but with great detail and sound positioning from the 14cm ribbon dipoles.

His company, SoundKaos, has a motto stating ‘unnecessarily well-made audio’, and their new loudspeaker certainly lived up to that title when I received it for review. Beautifully built, though with a weighty price tag of £14,276 + VAT and a physique of over 40Kg each speaker, I was keen to have a play with this duo, though not perhaps lifting them. Both possessed features that instantly lit up my face; open back, large 18” bass-unit, and ribbon top-end. Topped with this, two full-range speakers, meaning there was no 3-4kHz crossover set right in the middle of that all-important and most sensitive listening area of the voice and strings that daunts so many speakers I have listened to and reviewed. This beauty crosses over at 200Hz for the massive Spanish Beyma 18” bass and up at 8500Hz for the Serbian Raal ribbon speaker supplying the top end all the way to 50,000Hz.

In between are the two full frequency 8” Enviee drivers made by Galm Audio in southern Germany, just as in his Wave 40 and latest Wave 42. One is low/mid frequency and the other, with a whizzer cone made of maple, is mid/high. Typical of a number of full-frequency single driver speakers I have heard over the years that ‘top end’ can sound rather brittle and, as Martin puts it, “shout” at those top frequencies. So, as in common with the Wave series, the mid/high is rolled off with a simple second order filter at around 8.5kHz. The two Enviee drivers have a notch filter at 800 Hz to correct a slight anomaly in the driver, but otherwise they are theoretically running fully open. “Because they operate in free air” Martin explained “we had to stiffen the surround and the spider to keep maximum excursion under control. They also have 28 Ohm voice coils rather than the normal 8 Ohm [as] in the WAVES.  This was done to bring them more in line with the RAAL ribbon tweeter”.  They are also extremely light. “Armin from Galm Audio has some 35 years’ experience in driver design and manufacture and the Enviee project has been a bit of a labour of love for him” Martin told me. “It started as a side line ‘I want to try this’ and was never designed to be a commercial product.  It is loosely based on a 1930 driver from Telefunken and he has tried over 100 different membranes until he was satisfied with measurements and sound.

Martin likes to use similar/same components or materials so all three motor drivers are paper coned, and the simple 2nd order crossover is visible from the grilles behind the speakers, each hexagon cabinet connected via a solid wood structure with bi-wire connectors at the rear bottom of this support. For the crossover Martin uses high quality Jantzen capacitors and ribbon/wax inductors he has made.  He claims these components are very much responsible for the LIBéRATION’s relaxed sound. All in all, the drivers combine to produce impedance between 4 and 6 ohm.

The LIBéRATION is very distinctive in appearance; a bronze fronted robot with two 8” woofer eyes and ribbon nose, looking like a long-lost cousin of the ESL57 or – as a visitor to my house commented – an art deco fire guard. Not that I would be so rude. With wooden edges on the baffles made from 40mm solid spruce tone wood with an edge surround in either solid walnut or maple and oiled with wax, this looks more like a piece of art deco artwork that also sounds good, and something I got to know and love whilst it was a resident in my house. Indeed its distinctive looks raised a few comments from visitors, and being such a thin speaker made giving around 24” free space behind the units was easier than if it were a big box.

This is an exceptionally well made speaker. The distinctive and beautifully crafted wooden feet are coil-sprung stopping that excellent bass-end from being affected by, or affecting contact with, the floor. I am of the Townshend isolation fan club rather than worshipping spikes on the floor, so this was another teacher’s tick from me. The removable bronze front and rear mesh covers of the maple/bronze version for review are made from woven bronze wire coated with a clear coat lacquer to protect it, and forming a rigid protective cover for the drivers, cross-over components and wiring. The opening of the mesh is 2.5 x 2.5 mm which gives a transparency of 70%, so it does not influence the sound quality. This means the covers can be left in place during that all-important listening. There is also an anthracite mesh cover version which is coated with an automotive paint, though this version isn’t my preferred choice.

Martin works closely with Christien Ellis CEO of CE Electro Acoustics, a UK based consultancy specialising in engineering design of electro acoustical products. He works on the electrical and voicing side of things, a relationship that goes back to the original Wave 40. In that product he felt the full range Enviee needed more ‘top-end’, so Martin wisely added the ribbon tweeter, something central to all his speakers ever since.

Music

For this review I played a lot of music and from sources including vinyl, reel to reel, CD and digital radio, and using three different amplifiers. The large and open design was perfect for classical music, and my first listening sessions were from my valve 8W Leak Stereo 20 (Soundkaos state their speakers loves tubes). I did find music well known to me on the LIBéRATION not quite right from this amplifier, particularly in the mid band, showing the speaker needs more power to drive it well, so I switched to the 25W Graham Slee Class-Ab solid state Proprius and Magestic DAC/preamp and listening first to live Radio 3 Proms via Virgin digital radio channel 903. The depth and power of sound from Beethoven’s Eroica symphony or gentle piano solo recordings that followed just showed how great this speaker was at showing both intricate detail and real authority that I haven’t heard from loudspeakers for a while. The company name ‘SoundKaos’ certainly wasn’t living up to his name, just as Schiit Audio and other carefully chosen company names vie to get your attention. Martin laughs when talking about the company name, a name taken from his original events and exhibition company Kaos Events. Whilst the sound was without stress or any sense of there being a box holding back or shaping the sound (indeed the musicians were in my room, and not emanating from boxes, and classical music had never sounded so good from digital radio) it was only when turning to a rock channel that that sound started to get a bit chaotic. It was just not so clear, with the incessant compression and over modulation in the radio broadcast making for Kaos, but I wanted to audition this to see how an open baffle would work in this kind of music environment, something I refer to later in this review. However, sanity returned for the moment and I continued with high-end analogue through amplification provided by Krell/Music First Audio. The Leak and Slee amplifiers I had previously used were low powered and the LIBéRATION worked surprisingly well but I wanted to now listen from higher powered sources, as the LIBéRATION certainly warrants an amplifier of 25W or more. My gorgeous old Krell KAV250A can deliver 500W at 4Ω, so no worries about enough grunt.

I started gently with Pink Floyd’s double-LP ‘The Division Bell’. The first track, “Cluster 1” wakes up gradually just like the early summer morning as the sun works its way behind the houses to the rear of my garden, hardly any cluster of events. A long ‘C’ drone with a conversation between piano and guitar for some minutes until it modulates to A minor then D minor and then E minor and back to A again. A cyclic 3-chord phrase that builds up with ride cymbals that play so real that I forget these are speakers and not actual musicians in my room. That is the objective of speaker reviewing, after all, that there shouldn’t actually be speakers in the room. All completes with a long happy C-major finale. That should make for happiness from me. The next track “What do you want from me” on this nameless album – no track names at all except on the record spines – is in E-minor, and only then do I hear a slight “shouting” from the sound in the mid-band, something I heard when listening to pop and rock from the Slee amplifiers. The detail is immense from these speakers; acoustic guitars on left and right in the third track “Poles Apart” show just how meticulous these monitors are. I don’t normally have to turn Floyd down, but felt the need to here; the speakers are very efficient and the soundstage is enormous so careful listening is vital. I wondered if having just one 8 inch full range would work better, though that would make for a pair of one-eyed robots in my room, and Martin assured me that the two work better. Reduced amplitude for the rest of the album enabled me to highly value these monitors, but that mid band area showed me just why classical music, particularly vocal and instrumental, was the best source for these speakers. In addition to that the ribbon meant cymbals and top frequencies gave the detail and clarity that makes for me dipoles the des res of any speaker design. Coupled with the other drivers working as dipoles, this was a well thought-out ensemble.

Turning to the brilliant Respighi ‘Pines of Rome’ (New Philharmonia Orchestra under Rafael Frubeck De Burgos, CFP), this is a highly realistic soundscape encompassing different environments of sounds and dynamics; as varied as Rome itself. The third movement is a night piece complete with nightingale bird sounds from a tape. Resphigi when composing this epic work instructed that “a recording of a nightingale be played from the orchestra”, though at the time of writing this work only wind-up 78rpm discs were available and no BBC sound effects library, since in 1924 the then company was a mere 2 years old. I have two versions of this LP, my favourite from the Cleveland Orchestra, both epic recordings of an epic work. Turning fittingly to Ravel’s ‘Ma Mere L’Oye’ (The Mother Goose Suite) complete with ‘cuckoos’ and other beautiful bird noises, this time played by the orchestra, I was able to enjoy some amazing three-dimensionality from a well-loved Pye ‘Q-S’ 4-channel stereo record. Whilst the Audio Technica AT33sa cartridge is only two-channel, there is certainly a sense of space in this recording which the Liberation speakers pull off well, both front and back of stage, something lacking in many speakers I have listened to, and not just the fact that these ones are all dipoles. With the atmosphere and beautifully written simplicity from the strings and woodwind and glockenspiel I was beginning to love and get to know these unusual shaped three legged visitors to my house. A sense of seamless captivation and understanding of the music from them made me rather sorry to see them leave my house at the end of the review. I could only complete this relationship with possibly my most favourite tunes of all, the Bela Bartok 2 Romanian Dances Op 8a. Dating form 1910, also from this same record, this lovely work is made up from folk songs that Bartok had heard, and marks the start of his interest in folk music. Whilst there are two movements, they contain lots of different themes and emotions. The first movement might have a forthright heartbeat but the personality from string melodies is both human and loving, and rarely heard so well. The high pitched first violin B-minor ‘cry for help’ is soothed by long chords from the rest of the orchestra. The A-major melody just before the jubilant closure is one of the simplest and most beautiful tunes a composer could ever set on paper, not even Bartok; one that sets me crying whenever I hear it, the LIBéRATION giving a very open sound with clarity from lowest to highest frequencies, nothing sounding hurried or confused . As an encore I played “John Barry – The Collection” a four-disc CD that has some good and bad recording in it, but all are highly spacious and something the LIBéRATION was excellent in separating the instruments, particularly the percussion; which are always key part of John’s writing for film. The “Midnight Cowboy” could set me in the Grand Canyon with the grandiose sound from the strings and enchanting mouthorgan solo. The Last Valley offers the snare drum clearly far left of the speakers but vocals and strings mid-stage could sound somewhat confused and almost phased. This is not a good recording and it rarely work well on any speaker, and on the LIBéRATION that slight mid band complexity didn’t get separated into its individual instrument and vocal parts as much as I had hoped it would. With everything else though, this was a very clear, fast and stress-less performer.

Conclusion

The LIBéRATION is a breath of fresh air in the loudspeaker marketplace and a product that should be taken very seriously if you are in the process of buying a high-end monitor, providing a very open and large sound-space, but with great detail as to placement of instruments, largely from that Raal ribbon. It does work best on classical music, but once I had positioned it correctly and fed it with well-engineered rock and blues, this little robot was very well mannered and I really was sorry to see it go home to its maker.

ATA GLANCE

Build Quality:  Excellent construction and use of components and feet – something often overlooked by manufacturers
Sound Quality:  A detailed and wide soundstage, better on classical music.
Value For Money:  At £17130 including VAT this is not cheap, but boy does it sound good, and beats a large number of speakers at this same price point and higher

Pros
A very open and controlled sound
Wide soundstage
Covers deepest bass to highest highs
Detail and transparency

Cons
Not cheap!
I don’t have the space for another pair of speakers

Price: £17130

Janine Elliot

Specifications:

Bandwidth                       (+/-3dB) 28Hz – 50kHz
Sensitivity                        96dB
Nominal Impedance         6 Ohm
Recommended power     30 – 150 W
Dimensions each             W 60 cm D 32 cm H 102 cm
Weight each                   40kg

PMC has teamed up with renowned guitar tutor, Richard Deyn, to enable The Indulgence Show visitors, with no guitar playing experience, to learn how to confidently play a riff, record it and keep the results, giving them an insight into how to make music.

Located in the Chablis Suite on the ground floor of the show, PMC’s Guitar Recording Studio, will feature the talents of Richard Deyn, the current education consultant to Gibson Guitars UK and founder of the Ipswich Guitar School.

Richard will be helping complete beginners, who have never picked up a guitar before, to learn a rock or blues riff that they can play to a backing track and record using the latest computer based recording software. Each visitor will be emailed a copy of the file after the event as a memento of their visit to The Indulgence Show. More experienced guitarists will also be able to visit Richard and receive professional advice to help them improve their playing techniques.

Bringing this fun opportunity to the show, Keith Tonge, PMC’s creative director says, “PMC loudspeakers are used at many of the world’s leading recording studios, helping artists such as Richard gain a real insight into the music they are recording, underlining our role as the undisputed ‘music makers’ among hifi manufacturers.” He continues, “And, by working with our many contacts in the recording world, we regularly help music lovers learn how their favourite artist’s work is produced. It is a pleasure therefore to be able to continue this by facilitating Richard’s presence at the show, to promote music making and deliver such a great experience to the visitors”

PMC loudspeakers can be experienced in the Mouton Cadet Suite on the 2nd Floor of The Indulgence Show.

Ian Ringstead has reviewed Polish manufacturer TAGA’s more budget oriented loudspeakers previously, this time he takes a listen to their Harmony Diamond B60 Loudspeakers which cost £1610.

I had already reviewed the TAV616F SE speakers and was so impressed that I asked TAGA if I could review one of their flagship models. The result is this model the Diamond B 60 stand mount. TAGA pride themselves in producing superb value for money products so I was keen to see what they could do with a bigger budget. I wasn’t disappointed.

The B60 is beautifully made with the classic boat shaped cabinet and finished in a luxurious high quality clear gloss piano lacquer. Along with the superb finish the B60 is bi-wireable and rather than supply ordinary metal links TAGA provide fabulous wired jumpers with spades and banana plugs as standard. Not many companies do that for this price.

Out of the box I placed them on solid Atacama speaker stands at 50cm high. Cabling was the excellent TQ black 11 I was also reviewing at the same time. The high-end 30mm (1.18”) O-TPTTD (Oversized Taga Pure Titanium Tweeter Dome) is 20% bigger than their Platinum Special Edition series to allow even higher power handling and more accurate, clear, smooth and detailed performance. Ferrofluid cooled and heavy duty 28mm CCAW and silver wiring voice coil as well as 2 magnets help the tweeter to handle high power. It has exceptional precision and works with ultra-extended high-frequency response up to 33 kHz (+/- 3dB).

The E-TPAF (Enlarged TAGA Pure Aluminium Faceplate) and metal grill helps even further dispersion of high-frequencies.

The 165mm (6.5″) in B-60 TNPPCD (Taga Non-Pressed Paper Cone Driver) woofers are provided with oversized magnets and an aluminium chassis. They are extremely rigid and utilize vibration-free solutions. The heavy duty 4-layer pure copper ribbon voice coil allows high power handling. The TNPPCD drivers offer deep, precise and detailed bass performance. Thanks to a larger surface area to push air – the sound can be played at much louder levels according to TAGA.

Set up was painless and simple so I got on with the listening. If you have a smallish room or larger floor standers aren’t your thing, then the B60’s are ideal. Being elegant they’ll enhance any home and they sound as good as they look. Refined is how I would describe their overall balance. They’ll handle all types of music and unlike a lot of smaller speakers that are very popular in the UK (Pro AC tablettes spring to mind) which image superbly and sound fabulous on vocals and acoustic material, their Achilles heel tends to be their bass handling and output. The B60 certainly is hampered by these constraints. The cabinet and drive units are big enough to cope with higher volume levels and unless you are a bass fiend satisfy most people’s needs.

Going down to 36Hz is impressive for a speaker this size and the port design helps here controlling the air flow and cancelling out any turbulence that sounds horrible in poor designs. Many manufacturers have used various port systems and contoured flared ports front or back. Recently companies have gone for ports on the base of the cabinet. The B60 Diamond doesn’t suffer any problems here giving good low bass output that can be pushed within reason to loud levels if required. I don’t like to push beyond my comfort levels or the listening rooms abilities and the B60 could fill a much bigger space if necessary. I love tight clean bass that is precise and deplore overblown boom. The B60 worked very well showing that the bass unit is well thought out and bass players like Marcus Miller and Tony Levin could really groove with their slapped bass style. On albums with real heft such as the Gladiator sound track the orchestra coming in and the tympani were most striking in impact for the speaker’s size. Control is the key here. The mid band faired equally on my beloved female vocalists like Alison Krauss, Alison Moyet and Anita Baker. Each singer’s tonal characteristics shone through whether it was the lower range or soaring highs. Listening fatigue was never an issue and the treble was sweet and clean with good extension reaching up to 33 kHz. So only dogs and bats might hear that but it does make a difference to the timbre and ambience I feel.

Bob James and Fourplay are popular artists on my regular playlist and their sheer ability as jazz musicians is staggering. I saw them recently in London and was bowled over by their talent and humility as musicians. Here are four guys at the top of their game still performing after 25 years together. Bob James is to me a genius on keyboards along with Nathan East on bass, Harvey Mason on drums and Chuck Loeb on guitar. As funky smooth jazz musicians, they are the real deal. Cinnamon Sugar and Between the sheets are just two tracks that really show their talents. It’s the interplay between each musician and the confidence with which they play together like a well-oiled machine. My foot was really tapping along to these tunes on the B60’s. My previous comments on the B60’s abilities highlighted these musician’s skill and the absolute ease and flow was spot on of their timing and interplay with each other.

The B60’s may not be the most holographic speakers I have heard but they make a good fist at it. Top to bottom is seamless with good bass down to a reasonable 36Hz. A great design which doesn’t try to get out of its comfort zone. TAGA do it again with maximum value for the money. The B60 will work with equipment at a much higher price level than some might partner them with. You can push the envelope with expensive kit but with a smaller budget they still deliver. In a £5000 system, they shine like a diamond.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality: Great finish and a luxurious feeling loudspeaker

Sound Quality:  Open and detailed and seamless integration from highs to lows. Not as three dimensional as the best.

Value for Money:  Great value for money.

Pros: Great sound from a beautifully built speaker. Excellent jumper links included.

Cons: None really but use decent stands. They will show up poor sources and amps so match wisely and use good cables.

Price: £1610 at current exchange rates ($2100)

Ian Ringstead

Specifications:

Design: Bookshelf, 2-way, 2 drivers,
Bi-wiring, Bi-amping,
Rear bassreflex,
18 mm MDF S-TLIE enclosure
Crossover point 2.4kHz
High-Frequency Driver: 30mm (1.18”)
O-TPTTD, E-TPAF
Bass-Midrange Driver: 165mm (6.5″) TNPPCD
Recommended Amplifier Power: 50-200W
Frequency Response: 36Hz-33kHz (+/- 3dB)
Impedance: 6ohm
Sensitivity: 90dB
Dimensions (H x W x D): 41 x 23 x 33.5 cm
Weight (net): 26.6 kg pair

The N1A/2 from Melco is intended to improve on the originals sonic performance, particularly for those using USB DACs. It can store a whole library of your music on its on-board drives and costs £2099 as tested. Dan Worth plugs it into his network and assesses its attributes. 

Melco was originally established in 1973 – Maki Engineering Laboratory Company.  Mr Maki – one of the true original audiophiles and founder of Melco still remains Chairman of the company today and at 84 years old is still an avid audiophile. In 1973 Melco were producing high end Japanese hand crafted turntables and valve electronics. Manufacturing and turn over was very successful indeed.

Difficulties with computers in the 70s meant printing boards took a very long time and at this time you could not use a PC for anything else while printing, due to a lack of processing power. Melco created a Print Buffer to fix this problem and sold these on to other companies under the name Buffalo Systems which soon became the largest Japanese IT peripherals manufacturer. To this very day Buffalo Systems is a household name, I myself have had many Buffalo hard drives and NAS solutions over the years and even had one running just a few years ago as my main music library.

Melco/Buffalo have an enormous engineering department and pre-production laboratories, which is where each and every Melco is hand made, utilising renowned Japanese precision techniques and quality components.

It’s hard to believe but Japan has no basic PC awareness, it is very much a closed market and consumers never even had the privilege of owning the famous ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64!  Certainly no BBC Micro. So no essentially there was no basic knowledge of PC by any class other than engineers. PC was always function specific hence word processors, SEGA and Nintendo.

So when streaming products started to arrive from Linn, Naim etc. nobody had the ability to set them up. No one had any skills in this area and the high-end audio shows of recent years within Japan were riddled with folk who had to phone through to the UK in order to get step by step instructions on how to link the renderers to a music library.

Chinese peripherals such as Qnap and Synology etc are not easily available in Japan due to the nature of the closed market. Buffalo Systems had the foresight to begin working closely with Linn in order to suitably create modified versions of Buffalo’s IT NAS solutions for audio use.

Detailed investigations showed that the basic architecture of an IT NAS was not entirely suitable for high-end audio playback.  So a new architecture was proposed. Lots of R&D and testing later, Melco as we know it today was born using the name of its Buffalo forefathers.

The immediate hardware difference was the redundant use of the data switch in the signal path to the Network Player, inclusion of a dedicated ‘PLAYER’ port and low jitter precisely structured data flow. Along of course with software filtering to keep unwanted data which causes unduly wanted crosstalk away from the renderer for optimum sound quality. A Melco will also restructure data from external sources such as streaming services or even other network NAS drives with the intention of improving sound quality…so TIDAL and Qobuz etc should work far better.

The ‘Local Player’ on a Melco also allows users to connect to an external DAC and this will be the main content of this review, although I have an Innuos and an Aurelic here which will be attached and their performance compared in relation to playing from an ordinary NAS drive and also from the Innuos’ internal SSD library storage.

An external USB CD drive can also be attached to the rear of the N1a/2 for ripping disks as well as having the software ability to move existing libraries across the network via a computer or via a transfer option within the Melco’s on screen menu from the front panel via a USB storage device.

The ability to use the Melco without any remote control or app via its front panel to play local files from its internal drive array is also a very welcomed feature, much the same as using a standard CD Player without remote and navigation is very easy. An attached CD drive also allows for the direct playing of discs on the fly with all data reclocked and managed by Melco’s proprietary software and hardware to ensure a very pleasing reproduction of media quality. I don’t spin many discs preferring the ease of use with an app and also the sound quality of the hard drive based files over CD direct, so I do recommend ripping, but for a quick listen of a new album it’s a fantastic feature to have onboard.

The Physical Unit

A unit from Melco will arrive in a double box and very well packaged internally. The physical unit itself in my case was in silver with a brushed silver aluminium front.
The front panel hosts a power button on the left and an OLED screen in the centre, controllable via the four right hand buttons for menu and local music library navigation.

The rear of the unit features two Ethernet sockets, one in and one out for an external music player/renderer. No less than four USB 3.0 sockets are available on the N1a/2, one on the front panel for high speed file transfer to the onboard music folder and three at the rear for ‘Easy Backup, Easy Expansion, Easy Play and Easy Import’. Along side the three rear USB 3.0 ports is a Neutrik USB 2.0 socket for connection to outboard DACs, utilising USB 2.0 is still a more stable platform for the majority of the DACs available on the market currently and for the foreseeable future, although one of the rear USB 3.0 ports on the backside will support any new USB 3.0 based DACs.

Differences Within The Mark 2 Product

Over the first incarceration of the N1a, there are many hardware changes which result in a more advanced sonic platform, making the Melco N1a/2 a great all in one server and player. As well as the aforementioned Neutrik USB output for DACs Melco have also added an additional medical grade, ultra low noise power supply with upgraded audiophile caps, better grounding and isolation properties for the internal drives and also the chassis itself to minimise micro-vibrations to the delicate audio signal.

The player will support all popular audio files types and bit rates for PCM and DSD far beyond what is readily available to consumers today, making it future-proof for many many years to come. Along with the 6TB of internal storage configured with two specially selected drives of 3TB a piece, allowing users to use them as a combined amount of the 6TB, split into two mirrored 3TB drives for maximum redundancy in Raid 1, or Raid 0 which maximises latency, both of the RAID configurations will of course leave the user with only 3TB of maximum storage space. These options combined with the ability for USB external backup gives users incredible flexibility in setting up the system to best suit their requirements.

Myself, I settled with a Raid 0 configuration, after listening to all three options I felt that the Raid 0 setup had sonic benefits over the other two, now they weren’t revolutionary but they were clear to hear and the gains in sonic ability for me far outweighs the additional space, many may disagree but I guess it all depends on the size of your library, mine currently is around 2TB and still with about 1TB of space remaining suits my requirements adequately. I would however need to have a backup of my music for safety as I am using a Raid 0 configuration, which I have already on a NAS drive in Raid 5 configuration with a drive spare also.

Installation

Connecting up the N1a/2 is as simple as plugging in an Ethernet cable, USB to DAC or in my case the Hydra Z clock and a power cable. The Hydra Z, DiDiT 212SE DAC and Mytek Brooklyn DACs which I connected were all recognised immediately without any issues and a quick navigation through the onboard software using the front mounted hardware buttons and OLED screen played music files instantly which I copied across using my Mac.

Once I had a complete front end chain and music playing I added around a terabyte of music which I had on an external drive. A simple USB connection to the front panel and some quick on-screen navigation to the import option choosing an external USB drive, quickly copied across the drives contents. Most NAS drives are fairly slow when transferring files, especially when writing but the N1a/2 made short work in comparison to build my music library, which I based on the simple file structure of the Innuos, ‘CD Quality’, High-res’ and ‘Compressed’. Once copied I had no issue navigating the front panel to play whatever I wished.

Apps

There are many apps recommended for use with the N1a/2 or in fact any of the units Melco offer, for either Android or iOS devices. After trawling through the recommended options and other suggestions made by current users I opted for BubbleUPNP on my Android tablet, being clearly the best for function and usability, allowing me to choose the chosen renderer or player as the N1a/2 with a separate selection for the music source, this can be selected as the Melco’s own internal drives, any associated network storage libraries such as a computer or NAS even a tablet that may contain music libraries (note – the tablet has to be the one that you are using as a Melco remote) Tidal and Qobuz are also available when selecting the onscreen library as ‘Local and Cloud’ opening up the cloud options for the online streaming services. There is no native support for Spotify but in all honesty any hardcore music enthusiast is going to favour the higher quality streaming services over Spotify. Swapping from the N1a/2’s internal library to that of a streaming service is incredibly simple and all features such as search, what’s new, trending, genres etc are available to the user as a complete desktop version of the software packages.

If I had my choice I would MUCH rather prefer the option of the Squeeze-lite platform installed on the Melco, I would MUCH prefer the use of iPeng, which would also include the use of Spotify for its already established and great music playlists available. iPeng is undoubtedly a far better remote and platform for control of an all in one streamer, such as the Innuos I have, navigation is simpler and the Innuos also builds its library instantly when powering on from a complete shutdown, the Melco takes longer to rebuild the library after shutting down. Another peculiarity that I found was that if I selected any music to play from the hardware buttons, using the internal onboard player direct I couldn’t then use an app thereafter, I had to shut down, power up, allow for the libraries to rebuild again and then fire up the app as my first point of control to enable it to work. Yes, the unit will be used only with the app the majority of the time but for any users experiencing the same issue, it just seems like ‘that’s the way it is’ so remember these steps so that you don’t begin to think the unit has an issue or that your not networked correctly.

The Sound

After conducting the review for Innuos’ Zenith MK2 player/server I ended up buying the unit and is a benchmark against the performance of the Melco which functions in a somewhat similar manner. My initial impressions were that the Melco, although easy to use doesn’t have the visually impressive interface of Innuos’ own InnuOS software, even the apps aren’t as pretty and informative as say iPeng which runs off the back of the Squeeze-lite embedded software on the Innuos, which is my preferred software/app configuration even now after many weeks of use. But all that is swiftly put to one side when hearing the sonic performance of the N1a/2 for the first time.

I was quite happy with the Innuos but found my modded Mac mini to offer a more natural and dynamic performance, the Mac really is a one of kind with completely passive cooling and is stripped down to its bare bones both hardware and software wise, with the addition of an incredible power supply made by Paul Hynes. Attaching the Mac to the ‘Streamer’ output of the Innuos also enhances performance due to the direct attached library and linear switch facility.

Listening to the Melco puts the sound on a whole new level of realism, drama and expression. The concern that the drives were mechanical and not solid state soon fell to the side of the road and there are concerns to the way that SSD’s retrieve their information in a high-end audio products anyway, which is why Melco/Buffalo create their own proprietary SLC SSD’s for their high end N1z and remain confident in specially selected mechanical drives for their other models.

I first played Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa’s album ‘Don’t Explain’, I was presented with a vocal prowess of such distinction and purity that I literally sat up in my seat saying ‘that sounds like magic!’ All other comparisons with the Innuos soundwise left my mind and the N1a/2 sat clearly in the commanding role in my system. Bonamassa’s performance throughout the album conveyed more texture and emotion in his methods and string work pinged into freer space in an almost rejuvenated manner as if he had just gotten over a cold and got his mojo back. A more informative placement of the stage where the two were performing and a fuller picture of delicate intricacies and rhythms made for a more playful interpretation of the same album which I’d grown to love over recent months, delivering more personality and emotion than I had previously heard with either the Innuos or Mac.

I had a similar experience with Damien Rice and Derrin Nuendorf, which I played soon after, depicting leading edges to strings that I felt were now a little somewhat muted even on the modded Mac in comparison. I’ve spent quite a lot of effort on the crossovers in my limited edition Ayon loudspeakers and have also made recent modifications to my Gamut power amp which have given me a more tangible richness in texture and tonality, filling out notes with a more robust accuracy. Adding the Melco to this recipe has further enhanced these aspects with more detail within the additional tonal qualities which I’ve managed to render from the music as a whole, showing the importance of a great source in he chain is still of massive importance. The music for me with the N1a/2 now sounds more complete, accurate in tone, colour, placement and naturalness and overall coherence.

Vocals are so much more beautiful now in my system, yes it has been a combination of the whole, but doing many A/B tests with my other front end sources in my own time and with others who have come over for a listen, the differences are not subtle. One extremely picky friend of mine even went as far as saying ‘can I bring the missus over to have a listen, so she can understand why I’m spending all this money to get my system right?’ He was of course joking but the Melco really seemed to strike a chord with him and he’s usually the type of person to criticise equipment rather than appraise it’s plus points first, if you knew him this statement alone would ensure you looked into a Melco product.

As I was saying…vocals, damn the vocals! A wonderfully liquid and exquisite sound is produced from the Melco on vocals. Where the Aurelic Aries has a fluid ultra clean vocal, the N1a/2 has a richer and more sultry presentation with a vocal placement that sits bang on the correct plane, in front of other band members and never forward.

Sinead O’Connors ‘I Put A Spell On You’ did exactly that, the vocal is projected well from centre stage, having roots in a more recessed position than its projected output feeling almost real. The same powerful tones bellowed from Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli’s ‘Prayer’ with the masculinity of his power and endless breath combining in real harmony with Celine’s own power and control, leaving me with goosebumps at one o’clock in the morning after an eight and a half hour listening session with a bottle of something tasty.

Norah Jones’ sultry voice still took me on further into the morning before I gave in for the night, wrapping her wonderful tongue around my brain and just pulling me further into the platform the N1a/2 had constructed before me in my listening room. All the while tapping my feet to the riffs and rhythms of her accompanying band.

A new day and a new set of goals, I was finding myself wanting listening to music a whole lot more, my system seemed to now have a passion that I sometimes felt it lacked, very minimally and I am being very picky but enough to take the sweetness off the crumble. It felt like it had ripened and matured just enough to please my palette and gave more flavour to the music.

Today however I wanted to explore some other genres I enjoy listening to a little more infrequently than my love for acoustic and maybe take the system out of its comfort zone. I thought to myself at the time and I remark back to myself as I write this, that it only seems like I really want to push the boundaries of a piece of equipment, or my entire system in fact, when a piece of kit comes along that shines so brightly and really put it through its paces, not just being satisfied by the staples of its presentation.

My system really isn’t geared up for Rock music, I don’t have large paper cones and horn tweeters, nor do I have the distance to be able to sit so far back that electric guitar feedback at high levels doesn’t make my ears bleed. So on this basis I can’t realistically criticise the Melco for not turning my gear into something it’s not.

What this test did prove for me was that the level of information the Melco could present was strong, I could clearly ascertain more scope on layers of distortion, vocals, drums and cleaner guitar notes, there was also less smearing between them. Many genres of Rock sounded fantastic such as Soft Rock, Rock n Roll and the Blues and RnB combinations, but the accidentally created distortions pioneered by the likes of Ike Turner in the 50’s and explosive narratives of late the 70’s through early 90’s groups such as Led Zeppelin, Van Halen and Nirvana etc still didn’t cut much ice on my system. I did have a great experience with Princes ‘Purple Rain’ but then who doesn’t right?

I have always since a teenager enjoyed Dance music, I grew up in a great era for it and my system has the energy and impact to reproduce it quite well, again it’s no PA rig but what it does offer is a level of detail that a lot of high end PA systems don’t, that combined with great control, strong soundstaging and enthusiasm goes an awful long way. With the N1a/2 in my system I really could hear right into the recording. Good mastering with this genre has so much inner detail and micro dynamics to be released that for anybody to refute this genre as not good enough for critical testing of a Hifi is just ignorant. The multitude of layering is wasted on today’s modern youth, listening to about 20% of the remaining material after it has been compressed many times and fed through an MP3 player.

The Melco also shone when it came to scale and dynamics, I was able to increase the volumetric display of the system more than usual as control and imaging was better, but on the flip side I ended up using a lower volume than normal due to the rush of structuredestroying transients. Needless to say I was incredibly impressed by the hand the N1a/2 lent to the stability of the systems tolerances as a whole.

It’s safe to say that I like this product very much and a quick overview to inform any potential interested party on the likes of Classical and Opera which I don’t listen to an awful lot, was emotional. The amount of resolution that the Melco can produce at this price point is few and far between I’d say, around £2000 in terms of CD players wouldn’t even begin to cut it unless fishing around the secondhand market for a bargain.

The ‘Habanera’ from act 1 and the ‘Toreador Song’ from act 2 of Carmen is undoubtedly two of the most well known versus from any Operatic performance and through the N1a/2 over my other sources sounds glorious. Venue acoustics are clearly depicted and harmonics convey all the drama of the performance so convincingly. The dramatic and dynamic impact of the backing to the lead musicians and expressive vocal hits hard with an intensity that remains really very controlled, conveying a mass of vocalists rather than a smeared mess which doesn’t resemble the live performance at all and the slight warmth in the upper bass/lower mids of the Melco really allows for great character to come through. The same important factors are reflected in the few classical pieces I listened too, allowing large orchestras to have a contrast of instrumental tone rather than a mass of noise smearing the prominence of foregrounds.

Like the Innuos, the Melco N1a/2 has a ‘player’ or ‘streamer’ Ethernet output, where the user can connect an additional streamer such as the Aurelic Aries or the likes of in the same system, or in fact for another room, via a long cat5/6/7 cable. Also like the Innuos, this option gives software and hardware benefits. Any player (audio or video) that requires an Ethernet cable to playback networked libraries and streaming services will benefit quite substantially in sound quality taking the streaming bridge to new levels of performance across the board.

I connected the Aries and also an Amazon Fire TV as I already have a Cat7 cable running through to an adjacent room, allowing me to play uPnP files and attain better sound quality from the AFTV (which also has an aftermarket linear).

The additional performance from Aurelic’s Aries was clearly discernible with a quieter background allowing for more intricate details to stand out more. Undertones and decays were especially more palpable and the additional richness in colour to the Aries was very much welcomed in conjunction with its clean presentation, making bass notes a little rounder and fuller. My modded Mac also thrived on the back of the Melco along with allowing me to have a very localised system rather than using the external switches and multiple Ethernet cables, but I still felt that the Melco on its own did a better job in its standalone form, so rest assured the Melco N1a/2 although having the external ‘player’ feature doesn’t require an additional streamer to work at its best, it’s simply an additional feature that one may wish to make use of.

Conclusion

The N1a/2 from technology giants Buffalo Systems, dubbed with the owner’s original brand name Melco is an absolute triumph of engineering for its price. The N1a/2 has no off the shelf parts apart from its hard drives which are selected for sonic performance. Everything else is proprietary and specifically for Melco’s audio playback devices, which is no doubt why they sound so terrific. Being of Japanese heritage combines attention to detail and sublime engineering which evokes big smiles when the unit is powered up for the first time.

I would like to see a more universal platform software-wise or at least the option to run Squeeze-lite so that iOS users can use iPeng and Android users Orange Squeeze. This would enable Melco to boast Innuos style operating with their own next level of sonic performance. The BubbleUPNP app works best out of the options available and although its menu structure is great, playback is a little less comprehensive attractive at times. So a proprietary app or the integration of iPeng would solve any issues I may have had.

Feature wise the Melco is outstanding and sound wise it’s just sublime, a real rich and full sound with fantastic amounts of detail retrieval, it’s dynamic and has a very large soundstage that images superbly and most importantly connects the music with the listener.

With the ability to play files locally from the N1a/2’s internal storage, from any network attached storage device, USB flash drive, external HDD or USB CD drive, its integration is comprehensive and pragmatic.

I feel the Melco N1a/2 is an audio bargain for what you receive and I only speculate for now what the higher spec’d models will offer.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality – Nice standard styled good built piece of Hifi
Sound Quality – Excellent, rich, full bodied, highly detailed sound
Value For Money – very good value For Money indeed!

Pros
6TB possible music library
Exceptional sound per pound
Great feature rich software
Hardware navigation buttons with OLED screen
Plenty of USB’s
Ethernet out for clean additional players – audio or video
Clean linear power
Looks like a piece of Hifi

Cons
More mechanical vibration than I would have liked
Needs better app in my opinion

Price: £2099

Dan Worth

Ian Ringstead takes delivery of a pile of ready cut wood and puts together the £300 KJF Audio Frugel Horn Lite Speaker Kit. 

The Build

A lot of the products I review come from talking to the manufacturers and designers when I attend shows. I really enjoy talking to people and there is nothing better than getting to know the person behind the product and trying out their creations.

That is how I came about this review and build of Stefan’s Frugel Horn Lite kit. I’ve always wanted to build a speaker but shied away from the hassle of making one from scratch, cutting my own panels and sourcing the parts. The answer to that issue could be this kit which does it all for you apart from assembly of course.

The kit is fully CNC machined from 18mm Baltic birch ply which is the best you can get and is a very reliable ply used by the industry for any quality job. The kit comes with all the parts you need with accurately cut panels that just require gluing together. The front baffle is cut for the driver you specify in the kit, this being the Mark Audio Alpair 6M, although KJF will cut out holes for other drivers if you wish at a small cost if they know it will work in this design. Also, high quality gold plated speaker terminals and good cable are supplied.

The Frugel horn is a tapered hypex horn with an internal choke and the option to dampen the horn with wadding to suit personal tastes regarding bass output performance. You can therefore tailor the sound as you wish. Scott Lindgren designed this current range and it was Scott who got me interested in these in the first place. The kit can be built from scratch if you are more ambitious than me by accessing the Frugel horn website where full plans are provided.

It took me about two weeks on and off to build the kit in my garage, but if you had the time to spare a weekend would suffice. I just needed to purchase some clamps for the panels when they had been glued. These were easily obtained from my local Srewfix at a very reasonable outlay of about £30.

I contacted Stefan about finishing the cabinets off after having built them and he recommended a product called Osmo Polyx which is a wax oil that is tough and hard wearing, resistant to scratching and highlights the grain of the wood. It’s not cheap at about £11 for a small tin 125ml, but it only needs to be applied in two coats for a lovely durable finish.

There isn’t much else I can add to the build side other than take your time and make sure all the panels are accurately lined up before gluing and clamping. Once built I sanded the cabinets down and then applied the wax oil.

Listening

My main speakers at home are Audio Physic Avanti IIs which are at the other end of the scale to the Frugel horns in terms of price and complexity. I put the Frugel horns in my second system upstairs in my studio/ hobby room. They fit perfectly here in a smallish bedroom taking up minimal space and I partnered them with my Temple Audio mono blocks, Tisbury Audio passive pre-amp and a Sony CD player. I spend a fair bit of time in this room when I am building model kits, another passion of mine, so I like to listen to music at a good standard.

After a few hours of running in I started listening to the Frugel horns seriously. It never ceases to amaze me how such a tiny drive unit can produce such a good sound.

The Alpair 6M is very well suited to applications such as this kit for desk top or nearfield use. The warm bass tone aids the often harsh sound of smaller speakers and so helps balance the sound out. The driver has had its cone profile modified to improve vocal clarity and the Nomex rear suspension and new lower mass copper wound coil aid performance over previous designs. Mark Audio recommend careful running in of the drivers operating at low volumes for the first 100 hours and then gradually increasing the volume to normal levels. The driver is only rated at 20 watts rms so headbangers beware. That may not sound like a lot but on normal listening sessions you rarely use more than a few watts as a rule and the higher power ratings on amps are for peaks in volume where headroom is essential at louder levels or driving inefficient designs.

I found that used sensibly the Alpair 6M worked brilliantly for their size and gave me plenty of volume in my small room. It’s all about knowing when to stop turning the volume up. I had so many customers in my retailing days who brought speakers in with blown drivers or amps with blown output fuses purely because they didn’t understand power ratings and being sensible. It’s not sheer power that blows drive units but distorted power. It only takes a few watts of distortion to burn a drive unit out whereas a much larger output power of clean watts will not be an issue for short durations.

Right, lesson over with, back to the sound. The Frugel horns were rather good. Bass for such a small driver was excellent and once my ears had adjusted I happily accepted their limitations. Of course, they won’t shake your room, but believe me they do a remarkable job of tricking the ear into thinking they produce more than they really do. This is down to psychoacoustics and how our brain adapts to different situations. Without going into the complexities and remarkable ability the human brain has for coping with the environment around us, let’s just say they work.

Human voice was indeed very good and I listened to Sting’s “Live in Berlin” album admiring the concert venue and the way in which his and the other artists vocals were captured. Clarity was indeed very good if it was there on the recording. Guitar, whether electric or acoustic from Dominic Miller came over well and the orchestral strings added real feeling and weight in sound to the concert.

Donald Fagen’s latest album “Sunken Condos” was reproduced with all the clarity he always puts into his albums and the backing singers accompanying his songs with their usual sublime harmonies. On a different tack, Jean Luc Ponty’s “Cosmic Messenger” was next and his electronic/ jazz styled violin with its complex rhythms sounded sharp and detailed without becoming harsh and strident. There’s a lot going on in his tunes and it takes a good system to reproduce his music correctly. Intricate harmonies and the interplay between the musicians make these compositions. The sign of any good system is its ability to reproduce any type of music well, and the Frugel horn doesn’t disappoint.
So, a very interesting project with a great outcome of an excellent sounding pair of loudspeakers. For £300 these are a bargain and you have the satisfaction of having built them yourself. Being a full range drive unit there is no crossover of course which aids the very good sound quality.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:  Depends on your skill, but high quality can be achieved.

Sound Quality: Excellent, open and detailed 

Value for Money:  Excellent

Pros: Great sound from a budget product that you build yourself, so giving fantastic value and pride of ownership.
If you have reasonable DIY skills it’s a straight forward build that’s uncomplicated.

Cons: None really unless you are no good at rudimentary DIY skills. Not a high-powered design so may limit the type of music and level at which you play them.

Price £300 approximately excluding any tools you may have to buy.

Ian Ringstead

Ian Ringstead tries out the £3200 Ophidian Audio Prophet P2 Loudspeakers. 

Readers of Hifi Pig will be aware that I am no stranger to Ophidian Audio loudspeakers having reviewed two previous models in the M series range, the Minimo and Mojo. Gareth James the designer and owner of Ophidian had expressed his desire to create a more upmarket range last year when we had met and earlier this year at the Bristol show he showed the fruits of his labours. The smaller P1, a stand mount model was demoed and showed great promise. Then at the North West Audio show in June I saw and heard the P2 on review here. They sounded great and Gareth promised me the first option to try them out.

If you look on Ophidian’s website below is what they say about the philosophy of the design.

“The English word Prophet comes from the Greek Profetes meaning Advocate or Speaker. It was our aim with the PROPHET series to produce a range of loudspeakers based on this principle – to recreate music faithfully without artificially enhancing any aspect.”
What sets the Prophet loudspeakers apart is the combination of a cabinet structure built from plywood rather than the more common MDF and a floating front baffle arrangement. I know designers differ on their ideas about what materials to use and the preferences they have, so it is very much down to suck it and see when developing their ideas. In my experience there isn’t one correct way and as long as it sounds good that’s all that matters.

Plywood is both stronger and lighter than MDF and along with Gareth’s unique AEROFLEX technology this allows the P2 to produce a smoothly controlled and extended bass performance.

The thick floating front baffle is mounted to the chassis via a flexible gasket which allows much less of the vibrational force generated by the drive units to transfer directly to the cabinet walls.

Sound waves travel much faster and more easily with solid contact and so by acoustically isolating the drive unit’s cabinet, colouration is suggested to be significantly reduced.

The Prophet P2 is a 2.5-way floorstander featuring dual 180mm aluminium midbass drivers and a 28mm silk domed tweeter.
The midbass units feature deep rubber surrounds, stiff aluminium diaphragms and solid alloy phase plugs.

The P2 uses an optimised AEROFLEX bass loaded design built directly into the cabinet structure in order to brace and strengthen the cabinet walls.

The 28mm tweeter features a solid aluminium faceplate and lightweight silk diaphragm.

As you can see a lot of clever design work and thought has gone into this model and Gareth’s many hours of research and development seem to have paid off. I only had a short time with the P2 so I made the most of my listening sessions and crammed in as many hours as possible. Fortunately, the P2’s didn’t need any running in as they had been used a fair bit before I got them.

My immediate concern was that their low bass output might interact with the room. I needn’t have worried. They blended seamlessly into my room and immediately impressed with their top to bottom coverage that was very natural and easy on the ear. This was the quality I had noted from my short listen at the North West show and filled me with confidence. As I work full time my listening time at home is precious and often limited by life’s pressures and demands, so I was conscious to give the P2’s as much time as possible. This wasn’t a chore as I enjoyed them so much that missing tv programmes and other activities was immaterial.

When reviewing products, you often find yourself subconsciously analysing the sound and dissecting it, which is not always helpful. The P2’s never once had me trying to analyse the sound, I just sat and immersed myself in musical pleasure. I’ve had several floorstanders in my listening room over the years and not all have worked successfully for various reasons, but on this occasion it was not an issue as the AEROFLEX technology in the cabinets was really doing its stuff. Gareth said I could place the P2’s near to my back wall. I gave them about 18” (45cm). When I placed my hand behind the rear port, playing some loud and bassy music, there was very little air exiting, a testament to the technology.

The design aim for low, accurate bass was certainly achieved and I had forgotten what a good floorstander can bring to the party when music with great bass on it is played. Not only was the sound controlled (I hate loose, boomy bass), the sheer impact of low end notes was brilliant. It wasn’t just on test tracks I know work well, albums that I hadn’t played for some time suddenly surprised me with the detail and low end content I hadn’t noticed or heard before. A favourite album of mine is Joan Armatrading’s “Shouting Stage” and apart from the sublime musicianship the songs really move me, even though it was released in 1988, and I bought it then. Good music never dies. The title track on the album (last one on side1for vinyl fans) has Mark Knopfler on guitar and Pino Palladino on bass. There is a marvellous bass line throughout the track and on a good system it just rumbles out of the speakers and creeps across the floor towards the listener. I never fail to be moved by this track, superb. The P2’s didn’t let me down here.

The mid and top end were equally as impressive with very clear articulate vocals and instruments and silky highs. The P2’s never once offended me or made me think that wasn’t very good. Anybody after a speaker that they want to keep for a long time need look no further. I thoroughly enjoyed them and wished I could have kept them. I can’t say any more than that. Ophidian now have several dealers, so if you are interested look them up. Well worth auditioning.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality: Excellent fit and finish in oak or walnut real wood veneers. I had the walnut on trial. Floor spikes are included to aid isolation.

Sound Quality: Superb natural sounding design that excels across the whole frequency range with a good deep soundstage.

Value For Money: Very good. Although in a competitive price area these speakers really perform and are a serious contender.

Pros:
Excellent voicing and natural un-forced sound across the whole frequency range.

Fabulous controlled bass that works well in many rooms.

Elegant classic slim floor stander beautifully made worthy of the asking price.

Cons: None really. They sound so good and blend in well to the surroundings.

Price: £3200 a pair

Ian Ringstead

Features

• Dual 180mm aluminium midbass with solid alloy phase plugs and dual shorting rings for extremely low distortion
• Braced and optimised plywood cabinet structure with a floating front baffle arrangement
• 4th order crossover between upper midbass and tweeter allowing each drive unit to perform optimally
• 28mm reference quality high frequency unit with a lightweight silk diaphragm
• AEROFLEX port system for a precisely controlled bass performance

Specifications

• Frequency response – 29hz to 25khz
• Sensitivity – 91dB (2.83v)
• Recommended power – 50 to 150 watts
• Impedance – 4 ohms
• Dimensions – 1024mm H x 192mm W x 315mm D
• Plinth dimensions – 232mm W x 320mm D
• Weight – 21kg

Available finishes

All cabinets come with satin black front baffle and plinth with the following options available for the main cabinet:
• Real wood veneers – Oak, Walnut

Janine Elliot takes a listen to the SoundKaos LIBéRATION Loudspeakers that use an open baffle design along with ribbon tweeters in a package costing just over £17,000.

“Martin Gateley is Swiss, though he resides in the UK and was born in Jersey. With Swiss mum and Brummy dad he went back to Switzerland (well, who wouldn’t) but left for the UK again in his mid-twenties, though hopes to return to Switzerland at some point in the future. An architect by profession with a commendable CV including Systemworks, MDA and Interfair, plus events and exhibition management projects at Kaos Events Ltd, he has since 2009 turned his ears and eyes to making very distinctive speakers, using the full range Enviee drivers from Alman Galm coupled with a ribbon top end.”

Read the full review here

Dominic Marsh takes a listen to two somewhat unusually designed loudspeakers from UK manufacturer RMB. The larger floorstanding 22/3 model costs £1850 a pair and the smaller 12/3 standmount costing £1200. 

Not just one but two loudspeaker models from RMB Loudspeakers landed at Dominic towers, delivered in person no less by Richard Best (Mr RMB) himself. That was one heck of a long drive in one day down to me in Cornwall from West Yorkshire and back again. Have to admire the man’s stamina.

RMB Loudspeakers Model 22/3

Construction(Model 22/3)

Anyway, rather than the usual rectangular boxes with drivers mounted on the front, these RMB speakers have a five sided construction utilising 18mm heavy grade stained Birch plywood and visible as such without any camouflage to obfuscate that fact. I found it not unattractive and a refreshing change from the customary painted, veneered or high gloss finishes.

The Model 22/3 is a true floor standing speaker but not in the accepted sense; it is a largish speaker for sure in measuring 1,050mm high by 330mm wide by 230mm deep, but it has built-in legs and there is a good reason for that as this is a reflex ported design with two bottom reflex ports firing downwards.

Cabinet construction is as stated before, of 18mm Birch plywood with considerable internal bracing. All edges have been rounded off so there are no sharp corners and then finally stained and clear varnished all round including the rear and bottom of the cabinets. The review sample had a pale honey colour. There are four colour tint choices available, Natural, Whiskey, Chestnut and Black Ink. I asked Richard Best what happens if prospective buyers would like another colour other than RMB’s standard palette, his response was that plywood is very difficult to finish off to a perfectly smooth substrate, so the tinted and lacquered finish is the best compromise, although he is open to other finishes or for buyers to finish off how they please themselves. I was going to ask for a Hifi Pig pink colour finish but discretion kept that request to myself.

Driver complement consists of a 28mm fabric dome tweeter with 2 x 145mm mid/bass drivers with natural fibre cones. What is unusual with the RMB designs is the sloping front driver baffle plate which aligns the drivers at an upwards jaunty angle. And no, I didn’t measure the actual angle, hence use of the word “jaunty”!

Detachable grilles are supplied, which are a simple wooden lath frame covered in a thin and very transparent black fabric, held to the speaker baffle by small neodynium magnets. These dropped off at the slightest touch during the evaluation and I understand that RMB have remedied this in current builds by fitting stronger magnets.
Model 22/3 – priced at £1,850.00 per pair at time of review.

Sound (Model 22/3)

I was given to understand that the review samples already had some running hours on them, so the evaluation began straight away with the speakers tight up against the rear wall as instructed.

My first impression was how clean and clear they sounded. With a baffle plate angled upwards I was expecting the imaging and sweet spot to be somewhere above my head, but to my surprise this wasn’t so, the imaging placed firmly between the speakers at roughly ear height. Of course, a clean sound also suggested some lightness in the bass registers and more detailed listening confirmed this to be true. Bass went down into the low registers and well defined for sure, probably into the high 40’s in Hertz terms, but lacked weight and body, particularly so in the upper bass/lower midband. I moved the speakers away from the rear wall and this actually lifted bass output slightly. Now rather than actually class this as a “fault” per se, I was trying to figure out and put into words what section of the listening audience would welcome this because not all audiophiles desire a deep prodigious bass output and some are also very mindful of neighbours who might be affected, so in that context this speaker would suit really well. Leaving that aside then, the treble was extended and very natural without being harsh or splashy, cymbal strikes having a crisp realism, while midband was uncongested, with female vocals sounding rather sublime and sweet.
I certainly wouldn’t class this speaker as marrying well with rock or indeed bass heavy pop music and I would be just a tad hesitant to say jazz fans would also be similarly enamoured with that lack of upper bass power. But, feed them some acoustic, chamber music, female vocals, even orchestral pieces and they really did shine with their soft delicate touch and accurate clarity, untangling some rather complex music with ease.

However, when I listened to my benchmark recording in the shape of Fink’s “Wheels Beneath My Feet” live album, the RMB 22/3’s were fighting an unequal battle they simple could not win. Qu’elle surprise. Track 12 “Sort of Revolution“ has a pounding kick drum underpinning the entire track, plus some serious Floor Tom whacks the drummer also inflicts on his drum kit and by golly my listening room certainly vibrates if a speaker passes that benchmark test. The RMB 22/3’s gave almost a polite whimper in that area, lacking the outright slam and weight I would normally expect, although the audience was crisply clear and a delight to listen to, so in the 22/3’s defence, they didn’t render the audience sounding like bacon sizzling in a frying pan and so give credit where it’s due. Treble was pin sharp and very well focused.

All in all I cannot and would not criticize any aspect of the 22/3 speakers performance. I did a web search for people that actually WANT less bass output because of neighbor problems or they simply preferred a reigned back bass quantity and I was to surprised to learn that there are a good number of audiophiles who fall into that category and they might well be reading this review with interest because of that.

RMB Loudspeakers Model 12/3
Construction (Model 12/3)

The evaluation pair of these speakers are a pre-production example and will differ from the finished production sets. The review pair were stained a dark green colour with a high gloss clear lacquer top coat and to me it looked very nice indeed and yes I would say “different” from the general rectangular or cuboid box shape speaker herd they compete with.

Similar in shape to it’s larger sibling with a sloping front baffle plate, the same driver complement and five sided carcass, there the similarities ended. These are deemed to be stand mounted speakers with their own custom designed stands, bolted firmly to the bottom of the cabinet with two bolts. Naturally, they could also be shelf mounted without the stands.

Needless to say they are taller than they are wide and the depth is relatively shallow, with a rear mounted reflex port and single wire speaker terminals. No grilles were supplied with the review pair but I assume the production models will come commensurately equipped.
Price at time of review – £1,200.00 per pair

Sound Quality (Model 12/3)

As I said in the ‘construction’ section above, although there were common similarities between the 22/3 and the 12/3 models, it was the sound quality that really did differentiate the two, so there apparently isn’t a “house sound” that RMB are striving for. And that has to be admired, because people actually want different “flavours” of sound from any speaker manufacturer.

Whereas the 22/3 had a lighter touch to the sound, the 12/3 was even handed from top to bottom of the audible spectrum with no peaks or troughs at all. Bass in particular was full bodied and articulate, dare I say punchy too when called upon to be so. Being rear ported though meant the speaker was at it’s happiest around 10 – 15cm away from the rear wall in my own listening room. Treble clarity was astonishing in it’s ability to pick out the tiny nuances in music and present it naturally rather than spot lit.

With that increase in bass output over the 22/3 model I was sort of expecting it to drown out the fine treble qualities the tweeters could output, but mercifully that was not evident at all during the listening sessions. Imaging was precise and three dimensional, with instrument placement easily discernible, extending out just beyond the speaker boundaries. Imaging depth or height wasn’t huge but more than acceptable.
I listened to my benchmark recording in the shape of Fink’s “Wheels Beneath My Feet” live album, the RMB 12/3’s fared so much better than their larger siblings. Track 12 “Sort of Revolution“ has that pounding kick drum underpinning the entire track, plus some serious Floor Tom whacks the drummer inflicts on his drum kit and by golly my listening room certainly vibrates if a speaker passes that benchmark test and so it was with the 12/3 model, so that brought a big smile to my face. I was starting to like these speakers for their finesse and some raw power too as they showed their capabilities.

On to Hugh Masakela’s “Hope” album which as some of you will know has a good measure of dynamics that a system will deliver with verve and accuracy, or simply mangle it. Trumpet in particular can have some raspy tones with a rough blare to it and to be truthful that must be evident to keep it realistic although well controlled to be rendered well and a fine line to tread for any speaker. Happy to inform you that’s exactly how the 12/3 speakers handled this instrument, so no concerns there and that was another benchmark test passed.
I suppose the real test was could I live with either of these speakers on a permanent basis? My own personal tastes are for a speaker to be accurate, fast and exciting with a big healthy bass and I couldn’t say the 22/3’s or 12/3’s fit that bill entirely. Yes, they could pick up their skirts and serve up some fast transients but I yearn for pin sharp leading edges and equally fast recovery, but this review is not about what I look for in any speaker, it is about me describing what I hear and for you the reader to decide whether they merit an audition, so I will sum up now what those qualities are.

Conclusion

The 22/3’s have a soft and gentle bass output, which does in fact go quite well down into the lower registers. It is the upper bass that doesn’t have a lot of energy and it is that which gives the perception there isn’t a lot of bass content. Not a true “fault” because a lot of people don’t like big heavy tub thumping bass anyway, or they have neighbours to consider and in that respect these speakers would suit those situations well. On the positive side, the treble and midrange are a delight and there is more than enough pace, midrange clarity, nuances and fine details to keep you entertained. They do not sound shrill or harsh and as such they are superb for intended listening sessions without fatigue.
The 12/3’s on the other hand do have a more even handed frequency response and can kick out bass that the 22/3’s simply don’t, which will probably in reality make them to be the more popular model.
Both of them are entirely hand built to order and very well too I might add. Richard didn’t give me any lead times but it really is only the final cabinet finish that determines the timescales so I don’t foresee an overly extended wait for delivery.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality: (Both models)
Given that they are entirely hand built, the finish is exceptional with attention to details some other speaker manufacturers seem to ignore, like around the back of the cabinets and underneath too.

Sound Quality:(22/3)
If you like big powerful room shaking bass then these speakers are not for you. A lot more subtle in presentation and your complaining neighbours will love you for that.

Sound Quality: (12/3)
Of the two speaker models, the 12/3 has a more even frequency response with a more conventional sound to them that will surely make many friends.

Value For Money: (Both Models)
Hand built from the ground up isn’t cheap to do, yet these speakers are not overpriced in that respect. 

Pros:
Superb hand built quality and good value for money. Sound of the 12/3 will win many friends, while the 22/3 model will also have a band of dedicated followers with it’s particular attributes.
Cons:
An unusual cabinet design may not be to everyone’s tastes.

Dominic Marsh

Ian Ringstead recently reviewed the EB 2 from Arcaydis and now focuses on the smaller EB1S. Like the EB2 it is made in Sheffield in the UK.

The review pair of these small speakers arrived in black and were well made, just as the EB2s were. White or oak are also available as standard.

I placed them on my 28” stands and hooked them up to the Temple Audio mono blocks, ATC pre amp, Marantz SA11 S2 cd player and various turntables. Speaker cable was courtesy of Tellurium Q Black11. Immediately they began to sing in my set up and although shy in the bass department produced decent bass for their size. This price area for bookshelf speakers is fiercely competitive and there are many well established brands out there that can produce fantastic value for money models. Kef and Dynaudio are two examples that spring to mind so Arcaydis need to really stand out.

I started with a diet of vocals and acoustic music to break them in gently and get a feel for their characteristics. Compared to the many small speakers I have owned or reviewed over the years the EB1S stood up well. They were clear and relatively uncoloured which is a good sign, so I was able to audition them for some hours without any fatigue. As mentioned earlier, all small speakers struggle with bass output and handling of the lower octaves, but if well designed designers can cheat and fool the listeners ear. In any case when you listen to any component for long enough their shortcomings become less obvious. The human ear and brain are great accommodators of weaknesses and thank goodness, they are. I remember going to a Peter Gabriel concert years ago and the sound where I was sat was dreadful. This peeved me somewhat, but after 30 minutes or so I became accustomed to the venue and ended up still enjoying the concert. It’s the same with hifi.

The EB1S produced a believable sound stage and was fine in my average sized listening room. On bookshelves or in a small room they would be no problem and fit in well. Top end also was clear and not too harsh meaning a decent tweeter and crossover has been employed. Give them a good signal and they will rise to the occasion. Like the EB2’s they are bi-wireable and have decent gold-plated terminals with metal links. I tried wired jumpers which did improve the overall balance and is something I would recommend anyone to do with most speakers that have the facility. The metal plates supplied are usually cheap base metal with a very thin layer of gold on top. Give me decent copper anytime.

Rock music is at times challenging for smaller speakers, but if you are sensible with the volume control a reasonable result is achievable. The EB1S’s managed well and I could tap my feet along and get lost in the music. In my work room, upstairs where I do my soldering and mods along with model making I have a second system to keep me happy. I tried the EB1S’s in this room as it is typical of what they may be used for. On a shelf, the bass was more than adequate in the small room and I enjoyed several hours of my music without annoying my wife too much. The system was far more modest being a Sony cd player and an Amptastic amp, but it worked well. One particular Album I use a lot for reviewing is Michael McDonald’s “Blink of an eye”. This is a superb recording and fabulous music. A dynamic album it really tests a system with the complex mixing and multi tracking techniques by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound. The rhythm section is so tight and has an infectious beat I can’t help but be moved by and never tire of listening to this album even though it is 37 years old. The EB1 worked well, but compared to my reference floor standers you realise where the extra money goes to produce a far more believable sound. The bass on my Audio Physic speakers just oozes out across the floor and is like a tidal wave of pleasure hitting you with its taught accurate and deep nature. The EB1 can’t compete but then I don’t expect it to…we’re naturally comparing apples to oranges. You still get the idea though and if you hadn’t heard this album on a good floor stander then you wouldn’t know what you had been missing.

So, in either context of a bigger system or a budget bedroom situation the EB1S performed well. This price sector is fierce and the well-established brands have a stronghold and advantage here. If you fancy something a little different from the usual brands then the EB1S is one to try out. It’s well finished and won’t offend. The original price on launch was £600 but Arcaydis decided to drop the price to £499 from £599 as they have upped production numbers and reduced overall costs which opens the market a little for these speakers and obviously makes them a more attractive proposition.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quaity: Good on a par with the competition

Sound Qualit: Good with a nice openess and clarity. Bass limited by physical size but still decent.

Value for money: Compared to the tough competition in this price range good as it must be. Neat and compact.

Pros 

Well made, solid design

Easy on the ear

Versatile in positioning 

Cons 

Bass is obviously limited

Very stiff competition in this price bracket

Price £499

Ian Ringstead

Arcaydis EB2S Review

Specifications

• Dimensions:          310mm tall, 170mm wide, 250mm deep. (264mm with grille).
• Sensitivity:            86dB @ 2.8 volts @ 1 metre measured with pink noise.
• Impedance:            8 ohms nominal. 5.9 ohms minimum.
• Drive Units:           130mm paper cone bass/mid. 28mm silk dome tweeter.
• Frequency range:  Useable from 45Hz to 20000Hz.
• Connections:         Gold plated Bi-wire terminals.
• Colours:                 Natural, Black Oak Veneers and White.

Ian Ringstead has reviewed Polish manufacturer TAGA’s more budget oriented loudspeakers previously, this time he takes a listen to their Harmony Diamond B60 Loudspeakers which cost £1610.

I had already reviewed the TAV616F SE speakers and was so impressed that I asked TAGA if I could review one of their flagship models. The result is this model the Diamond B 60 stand mount. TAGA pride themselves in producing superb value for money products so I was keen to see what they could do with a bigger budget. I wasn’t disappointed.

Read the full review here

The N1A/2 from Melco is intended to improve on the originals sonic performance, particularly for those using USB DACs. It can store a whole library of your music on its on-board drives and costs £2099 as tested. Dan Worth plugs it into his network and assesses its attributes. 

“Melco was originally established in 1973 – Maki Engineering Laboratory Company.  Mr Maki – one of the true original audiophiles and founder of Melco still remains Chairman of the company today and at 84 years old is still an avid audiophile. In 1973 Melco were producing high end Japanese hand crafted turntables and valve electronics. Manufacturing and turn over was very successful indeed…”

Read the full review here