Speaker Packages

First reviewed in HCC 161

Rating 4/5

Price: £800

First reviewed in HCC 161

Rating 4/5

Price: £1,850

In part two of our credit crunch system special, we cherry pick a bargain screen, projector and speakers and then crank the whole darn rig up to eleven.  read more »

Regular HCC-readers will recall drooling over the Bowers & Wilkins speakers featured back in HCC Issue 156’s Bulletin pages – the set being based on ‘Whizz-Bang technology from the 800 Series.’ Of course, being a fan of both Whizz and Bang, I simply had to find out for myself what the fuss was about.

In due course, a 5.1 array culled from the 15-model strong 800 series arrived, with the newest of the subwoofers and the most gigantic centre enclosure I have probably ever seen. In terms of ranking, this collection sits just below the B&W’s Signature Diamond range, where the brand sell tweeters made with – get this – vapour deposited diamonds.  read more »

What I have before me is Mordaunt-Short’s equivalent of the awesome Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series. It’s darned impressive for the price point, which isn’t low by any means, and sits just one place down from the very finest in the portfolio – in Mordaunt-Short’s case its Performance series. As a speaker purveyor Mordaunt-Short is no Johnny Come Lately, being only five years younger than myself. It has a fine reputation and heritage as one of the bastions of classic British hi-fi.

The comparison with the B&W product continues throughout, although I genuinely believe it to be because of function breeding form. The cabinets of the Mezzo 1 enclosures are curve-sided and have a cut-off swollen teardrop cross section. Also, the tweeter, although mounted within the woodwork of the top of the enclosure rather than perched above it, is clearly in a tapered tube-shaped back-chambered enclosure. They look beautiful from front-on, and since they use magnetic fixings for the grilles, they have no Eelon holes. Hooray!  read more »

Quadral’s German engineers know how to have fun with extruded aluminium shapes and flattened drive units. But at least their strange predilections mean that we’re getting to see some extraordinary all-metal home cinema speakers. The latest is the Signo series, which boasts some of the slimmest and most rigid cabinets on the market.

And, with all the brushed aluminium, wooden panels and glass pedestals, they’re some of the funkiest-looking speakers on the scene too. To make sure the Signos don’t clash with your décor, each speaker has interchangeable side cheeks. You can buy these wooden columns separately, choosing from beach, cherry, silver or black finishes. The base plates come in metal and glass options, too.  read more »