“The latest CDM iteration adds tweeters from the Nautilus series, and the 9NT is a completely new top of the range, using 2 paper/Kevlar bass drivers, a woven Kevlar FST (Fixed Surround Technology) midrange, and the aforementioned NT alloy dome tweeter. The cabinet is front ported, and a plug for the port of cylindrical foam is supplied. In the manual this plug is described as a “bung”, so I guess we’d have to describe the port as a ‘bunghole’….”

“It’s been some years since the first Energy Veritas models appeared, the v1.8 and the larger v2.8. At the time these represented what designer John Tchilinguirian knew about loudspeakers, and were widely hailed for their accuracy and musicality. The former have been my reference since then, so it was of considerable interest to have the first of a new Veritas series come into my listening room…”

“The baby of the Klipsch Reference series, the RB-5 is a quite compact bookshelf model that uses an 8″ aluminum-coned woofer with Tractrix-horn-loaded titanium tweeter crossed over at 1950 Hz in a rear-ported enclosure. The cabinet is made of MDF, and comes in various wood veneers: mahogany, medium oak, and black oak. The review pair was in the mahogany, and a very nice finish it was, with a subtle sheen that can be seen in the photo opposite….”

“What is Omnipolar you ask? Here’s how the Mirage design team (Ian Paisley, Andrew Welker, and Stefan Hlibowicki) put it: “Mirage research and development centers on how the ear/brain processes sound. To realistically portray a recorded sound, a loudspeaker must control both direct and reflected sound within the listening space. The reflected sound must be optimally shaped by the off axis dispersion qualities of the drivers and the form of the enclosure….”

“Just as the regular Acoustic Energy speaker line, led by its famous AE1, seems overly expensive, paradoxically, the new Aegis line seems almost too inexpensive, when you actually examine what is offered in the Aegis Two. The first indication of this is the finish, which is a very oak-like vinyl. These little towers are solidly made at about 30 pounds each, with front and rear panels of over-an-inch-thick MDF, with sides, top and bottom of 3/4″ MDF…”

“Rip Van Winkle would have owned Quad loudspeakers. Awakening after a 20 year nap, he would find that while much has changed some things have not. He would not be shopping for new Quads since the ones he went to sleep with are still the current models. Has there ever been a speaker manufacturer who in its more than 40 year history has introduced, until now, only two models? Think back to the late 50s (some of us were alive then) and the introduction of the first Quad speaker which came to be known as the ESL-57…”

“A revolutionary way to go about reproducing sound, NXT panels have some significant advantages over traditional, pistonic transducers. Among them are wide and very uniform dispersion characteristics, reduced room interaction, no need for an enclosure or crossover, and the practicality of a smooth, flat surface which can sit on the wall or even be integrated right into it..”

“PSB has just introduced its Image series of speakers that promise “high-impact performance with a low impact on your lifestyle and on your budget”, according to their brochure. There are 10 models in the group, including a subwoofer and two centre channels. The 4T is pretty close to the middle of the group, a tower model that uses a pair of polypropylene coned 5″ woofer/mid drivers and a 1 1/2″ aluminum dome tweeter that is ferrofluid damped in a front-ported reflex enclosure…”

“PMC is primarily a professional speaker maker, who also distribute Bryston products in Britain to both pro and consumer markets. In turn, Bryston handles PMC products in North America in both markets. Quite a few post production studios have recently installed Bryston/PMC surround monitoring systems, and the list of films and TV programs monitored through these systems steadily grows…”

“The Waveform Mach Solo is a smaller version of the mighty Mach 17, with only one woofer, and a passive crossover. The 17 comes with an electronic crossover made for Waveform by Bryston, and costs $12,000. The egg midrange/tweeter module is the same in all models, though a different woofer/midrange driver is used in the MC. The Solo woofer is a 10″ treated paper cone driver with a rolled rubber surround. The crossover is a 4th order Linkwitz- Riley type (14-dB/Octave) at 575 and 1850 Hz. Low end response is said to extend to 35 Hz in a normal room…”

“It’s almost a year since we reviewed the Reference Active/40 (Wtr 99), and I thought it would make some sense to follow up with a look at its unpowered sibling, the Studio/40. This speaker uses the same drivers, but with a passive crossover, and it doesn’t have the flexibility of level and frequency contour adjustments. However, it does have the potential of sounding better when driven by a superior amplifier to that provided in the Active/40… “

“The 5.0s is a bookshelf speaker that has optional matching stands ($499), using a “5.25″ rigid poly fiber cone” and a “1.125″ double chamber, silk dome with unique proprietary coating applied by hand”, according to the brochure. Both drivers are magnetically shielded. Origin of these drivers is not revealed, though it appears they are custom made for Soliloquy, and are inverted, the tweeter below the woofer/midrange…”

“A veteran internet merchandiser, Newform Research’s John Meyer (pronounced Mayer; he’s of Norwegian background) has been selling his speakers without any dealer network for years. He has weathered the drop-step slam dunks of the courier known as “Oops!” to sell his ribbon loudspeakers all over the world; recently the first order came in from Australia…”

“Definitely designed to be a full range reproducer with very high dynamic capability, the Studio 100 uses a pair of 8″ polypropylene woofers with very large cast baskets, a 6 1/2″ woven Kevlar midrange, and for this second iteration of the Studio 100, a new aluminum dome tweeter identical to that used in the Active 40. All drivers are designed and made in-house, Paradigm, like API, a very vertically integrated company…”

“Perhaps it’s unfair to characterize the Totem Arro as the Kate Moss of speakers, but it is a thin little waif of a thing, with a 4 1/2″ woofer/midrange and a 1/2″ dome midrange. It’s also cute, nicely finished in rosewood, with just about the smallest footprint I’ve seen. It sits on a 7 3/4″ by 8 5/8″ base that fits spikes, and is rather tippy; I’m inclined to want to use some Bluetac to secure it to the base. The Arro should not go into houses with rambunctious children or dogs, not to forget exploratory cats…”

“Verity Audio is a Quebec City manufacturer that bases its claims to high quality loudspeakers on very fast, accurate drivers and extremely inert and solid cabinets. The Fidelio is quite heavy at close to 60 pounds. Though a single unit structure, the cabinet is in two parts joined by alternating layers of rigid and absorptive materials to keep bass energy away from the mid/treble unit on top…”

“This small monitor has been an unusual project for Mirage in that most of their flagship products are large, like the M-1si. But chief designer Ian Paisley took it upon himself to design and build a small monitor that was neither bipolar nor Omnipolar, and recruited young engineer Andrew Welker to work with him to complete the project. Both of their names are on the gold-plated plaque underneath the binding posts on the rear of each speaker…..”

“Now something of a pioneer in consumer active speakers, Paradigm is becoming very good at it, as the listening tests showed. Engineering a speaker from a line-level input onward gives the designers control of much more of the ultimate performance than when designing a speaker to work from an amplifier output. Of course, the amplifier(s) employed must be very good, or the design will be compromised…”

“Some speaker reviews are relatively short because there’s not much to say about yet another conventional or budget speaker; but others are so because the designer has done just about everything right, and has added to this synergy genuine creative intelligence. The latter is definitely the case here….”

“These monitor/subwoofer matched pairs come in a configuration that, as the width measurements suggest, stacks very neatly. And the neatness is augmented by the very nice veneered finish of the boxes, with their rounded corners and black front baffle. The subwoofer contains a high-pass filter, with an extra set of gold-plated 5-way posts to send it to the CHS-2. The speakers can also be bi-wired or amped…”