SPEAKER PACKAGES

Totem Acoustic Sky Tower floorstanding loudspeaker by Buzz Hughes Montreal based speaker manufacturer Totem Acoustic has always been closely identified with company president and chief engineer Vince Bruzzese’s ability to defy expectations for what can be accomplished with bookshelf monitor loudspeakers. Refreshingly, throughout Totem’s expanding journey into free-standing, on-wall, and in­wall speakers the Canadian company … Read more

By Thomas J. Norton GERMANY-BASED ELAC known in the 1960s and 1970s for its automatic (Miracord) turntables. The company disappeared from North America in the ensuing decades while transitioning into a major European loudspeaker brand. A few years ago, it decided that the time was right to return to the U.S. market. To produce new … Read more

Monitor Audio Studio standmount loudspeaker by Alan Sircom Studio, by Monitor Audio, is a one-off design by the company, one of the last to spring from the pen (well, the pen on the tablet of the CAD/CAM computer) of Dean Hartley, who stood down as technical grand fromage of the company earlier this year. The … Read more

Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a standmount loudspeakers by Alan Sircom There is almost no point in discussing some parts of this loudspeaker. The BBC- designed LS3/5a is the stuff of legend, and in our little world as well-known, as ubiquitous, and as popular as the original Issigonis Mini. And, until recently, it was just as consigned to … Read more

Chartwell SUB3 subwoofer by Alan Sircom It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a pair of LS3/5a loudspeakers in good condition, must be in want of a bit more bass. OK, so my days as Jane Austen’s stunt-writer are somewhat numbered, but you get the point. The LS3/5a (in all its guises, even including the … Read more

Vivid Kaya 45 floorstanding loudspeaker by Jason Kennedy While some markets like shiny white or yellow loudspeakers, the majority of the hi-fi market appears to prefer rectilinear boxes with a wood veneer. It has ever been thus and only slowly will it change, but we are finally seeing greater acceptance of paint finishes, especially the … Read more

Sonus faber Amati Homage Tradition floorstanding loudspeaker by Alan Sircom The long-running Homage series from Sonus faber pays tribute to the finest violin makers of the past with loudspeakers that look and sound fantastic. The Amati has long been the conventional top tower of the range, and with the wide-baffle Stradivari out of the latest … Read more