Loudspeakers

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Danny Phillips  |  Aug 21, 2014  |  0 comments

‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ goes the saying, but no-one told Tannoy. Its affordable Mercury V speaker system blew my socks off back in 2012, but that hasn’t stopped the company tinkering with the fifth-generation blueprint in a bid to further pimp up its performance. The result of this tweakage is the Mercury Vi system (not 'six'), which boasts a number of significant component and tuning upgrades but retains the same wallet-friendly prices as the original range.

Ed Selley  |  Nov 15, 2013  |  0 comments

Of all of the big British speaker brands still in existence, Tannoy is perhaps the most unusual. In effect there are two Tannoys; the first produces capable and attractive budget and lifestyle speakers that are relatively conventional in design and appearance; the other produces speakers that are built around the premise of large, highly sensitive speakers that make use of the company’s long-standing dual concentric system, where the tweeter is placed inside the axis of the main driver. Many of these speakers – the Prestige range in general – might look like they’ve dropped through a hole in time from 1959 but they are capable of great things.  Where things get interesting is where these two ranges meet. The Definition lineup has already featured in Home Cinema Choice and those large, elegant speakers left a very positive impression. Now Tannoy has taken some of the elements of the Definition range and created the smaller Precision series. Like the Definitions, the Precisions are a halfway house between the visually elegant side of Tannoy and the classic, high-sensitive designs of old. 

Ed Selley  |  Jul 15, 2011  |  0 comments
Lofty high-risers Danny Phillips has his cockles warmed by this affordable set of floorstanding speakers and unusually capable subwoofer

Compact bookshelf speakers are all well and good if you don’t have much space, but for bigger, bolder home cinema thrills you’ve no choice but to make room for a decent set of floorstanders.

Mark Craven  |  Sep 22, 2023  |  0 comments
Outwardly, this 33cm-high bookshelf appears supremely simple, with a standard-looking two-way driver array of dome tweeter and bass/mid unit. The styling is also decidedly unflashy. However, the price tag of £2,495 hints that it aims to go a little better than a budget bookshelf.
Steve Withers  |  Sep 14, 2022  |  0 comments
hccbestbuybadgev3Can French marque Triangle bring affordable hi-fi to immersive cinema? Steve Withers investigates

The stated philosophy of Triangle is to add a dash of romanticism to the world of hi-fi by emphasising emotion and sensitivity rather than reason and rationalism… so no prizes for guessing this manufacturer hails from France. The question is: do its loudspeakers have that certain je ne sais quoi?

Danny Phillips  |  Sep 09, 2013  |  0 comments

It’s 1981 and the dying embers of disco are still burning the nation’s dancefloors, Diana Spencer is about to marry our future king, and British audio brand Wharfedale unveils its very first Diamond speaker – the progenitor of the 5.1 system you see before you.

Danny Phillips  |  Sep 24, 2012  |  0 comments

Wharfedale is an elder statesman of the audio world, with decades’ worth of expertise to plough into its hi-fi and home cinema kit. The latest recipient of its sonic wisdom is the DX-1 HCP, a compact 5.1 speaker system priced to lure the budget buyer – hopefully without compromising on sound quality.

Ed Selley  |  Sep 28, 2018  |  0 comments
It wasn’t too long ago that an entry-level AVR partnered with a sub/sat speaker package was the default starting position for home cinema thrills. As such, any self-respecting speaker brand had one in its inventory. Yet times change – soundbars have left the compact home cinema option looking a bit less compact. Not everybody has abandoned the old ways, though...
Mark Craven  |  Jan 05, 2024  |  0 comments
Someone once suggested the only things we can be certain of in this world are 'death and taxes'. To that I might venture you can add 'kick-ass compact speakers from Wharfedale', because the UK-born marque, when getting down to the business of delivering fine sounds from small boxes, never seems to put a foot wrong.
Ed Selley  |  May 28, 2011  |  0 comments
5.1-bung jumper adds bounce Adam Rayner reveres Scandinavian engineering and tweaks a-plenty

I was once lucky enough to go to Sweden to make a TV show about tractor pulling. Blokes go along, eat smoked eels, get drunk with true determination, then hoot and holler while mad tractors fling mud around, and some announcer shouts: ‘Fuuuull Puuuull!'

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