How to Use Windows

Asus today announced the launch of its Cine5 PC speaker. According to Asus, it’s the world’s most compact five-channel speaker and serves up multi-directional surround sound. “By integrating an array of speaker drivers into a single bar, the Cine5 PC speaker helps users save space in their study rooms,” Asus said. “Additionally, installation is simplified by eliminating the need to set up multiple satellite speakers—users just need to place the Cine5 PC speaker below the computer monitor

For the full story, go to Maximum PC

In France, speaker brand Cabasse is celebrated for its avant-garde creations, but are we Brits ready for floating tweeters and balls that balance on rare-earth magnets? Let’s see… There’s actually a good reason for the spherical design and concentric drive units of Cabasse’s iO2 satellite speakers: the single point source audio that it produces provides an uncoloured and direct sound beam that suits home cinema particularly well. Meanwhile, the powerful magnets mean super-fast and efficient drive units. And, I think you’ll agree, the styling is magnifique! HCC’s test sample, from UK distributor Coherent Systems, featured a black pearl finish and light oak stands; traditional pearl speakers and darker wenge wood stands are also available, and you can mix the finishes to suit

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

Previous speakers made from glass have tended to sound rather brittle and bright, but then the construction of a glass speaker is an extremely bold move. Not only is the production process highly complex and expensive, but there are also serious sound quality concerns. But, by incorporating sophisticated damping techniques, Waterfall has refined the process to the point where its latest Evo range is in no way compromised by the material itself. Instead, what you get is a distinctive speaker with the positive benefits of glass, such as high density and rigidity. The question is, can function truly benefit from form?

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

The Everest DD66000 is JBL’s ultimate state-of-the-art hi-fi loudspeaker, a magnificently massive monumental affair that effectively doubles up the already dramatic K2s. Indeed, if asked to nominate my all-time favourite among the thousand or so speaker systems that i’ve tried over the past twenty something years, I’d definitely pick the Everest’s predecessor, the JBL K2 S9800. I was, therefore, unlikely to say no when asked whether i’d like to review a pair of DD66000s for the christmas holiday. A quick Google, however, indicated some inevitable practical problems.

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

Tannoy is a legend in many markets. We still hear the expression ‘Tannoy System’ for when people are referring to say, announcement systems at shopping malls, and it is also revered for its recording studio monitors, having made ones big enough for me to live in! Lately it has been getting right on the home cinema case with both superb HCC-award-winning high-end sets and entry-level square-corner speakers for folks on a budget. But bass? Well a huge studio monitor rumbles, but subwoofers are a specialist side to the speaker-maker’s art and Tannoy has previously left me wanting. Its new three-strong TS series woofers do look like the part, though, and I reckon they provide deeply superior performance to what’s been offered in the past.

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

It’s very smelly in the Nautilus room at the Bowers & Wilkins factory – there are no leaky aircon pipes to connect it to the outside world and it’s lined with stinky rubbery stuff. But it’s where B&W locks golden-eared engineers inside for short periods (very health and safety conscious, you see) to tweak and tune the Nautilus’ individually-assembled crossovers. Even ‘un-tuned’, as I once heard these iconic speakers, gleaming dully in their rubbery gloom, they are ruddy awesome. Of course, for people who cannot afford a 9.1 system of those £55,000-a-pair speakers, it’s nice to know that a slice of the clever Nautilus tech has filtered down B&W’s range until it can be used in less esoteric products.

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

The Minnesota-based US Magnepan Corporation has been making its various Magneplanar speakers for more than 40 years, though the range has rarely found its way to the UK during that time. The good news is that Hifi Sound of Stockton-on-Tees is taking on the agency. Maggies are uniquely different. The fact that they’re full-range dipole panel designs means that their closest relatives, technologically speaking, are Quad’s electrostatic designs

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

Until recently, Adam Audio hadn’t figured heavily in the UK’s domestic hi-fi market. Yet, in reality, the company is far from being an insignificant player – especially in the studio and professional markets for active monitoring speakers and can be found in places like the Abbey Road Studios, as well as the BBC and Fox Digital. Not all its speakers are aimed at the pro market, however, and they’re not all active designs by any means. This test model, the Tensor Delta, is active and although it looks rather like a studio monitor, Adam Audio describes it as a domestic hi-fi speaker.

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

Audiovector might not be one of the larger Danish loudspeaker companys to participate in the global hi-fi scene, but it does create models that bristle with original and interesting ideas. We’ve reviewed some half-a-dozen examples to date, but these have been spread across a 15-year timespan, and the current distributor, South Yorkshire dealer Mayflower Sounds, is the fourth operation to take on the company during that time. In truth, Audiovector finds UK distribution no more difficult than any other overseas brand, but over the years, very few non-UK firms have managed to get themselves properly established here. Yet few deserve UK success more than Audiovector, which has a string of mostly worthwhile USPs to shout about

The full story can be found on Tech Radar

The Tannoy DC8T is the middle model in the three-strong Definition range, which have very little in common with the models of the same name that were marketed in the mid-1990s. It is essentially a cross between the other two, using the driver size of the standmount DC8 within a floorstanding two-and-a-half-way configuration like the DC10T. The other model in the DC range is the DC6T.

The full story can be found on Tech Radar