Audiophilepure

https://www.stereophile.com/content/kii-audio-seven-active-loudspeaker-system

I was surprised by how similarly the two speakers reproduced a solo voice or instrument. The ambience and soundstage cues are another matter. Consider the old chestnut Eliot Fisk Plays Bach and Scarlatti (SACD rip, Red Rose Music RRM 06). This is an intimate recording with negligible space around the instrument. With this album, there’s very little difference in the presentation of the Kiis and the KEFs. It is almost like listening to test tones, which also sounded much the same.But any recording with good spatial ambience revealed that the KEFs and Kiis are no more twins than Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger. On “Tarrega’s Capricho árabe,” performed by Stefano Grondona on La Guitarra de Torres (CD rip, Divox CDX-29701), we hear everything from the touch of fingers on the strings, the strings themselves, and the resonant tones from the body of the instrument, all within a richly warm ambience. The SEVENs directed more attention to the early items on that list—the close-in, local things—while the KEFs made a stronger case for the ambience.It comes down to how they interact with the room. With the SEVENs nearly against the front wall, listening from a seat fairly close to the speakers, the cardioid radiation minimizes the excitation of room modes and delivers a finely detailed soundstage defined by the width of the speaker pair. The KEFs sound best a few feet from the walls and from a listening position farther from the speakers than they are from each other. Under those conditions, the soundstage conjured is consistently wider than the speaker span. While their imaging is marginally less incisive than the SEVENs’, they are somewhat better at separating the music from the speakers. Tough choice.

It’s nearly impossible to fault the Raidho X2.6 floor-standing speakers. Their designers set out to create a perfectly neutral and accurate speaker, and they achieved that goal. They’re so neutral that they make most of the speakers I’ve heard before sound colored. They take accuracy to another level. And therein lies a quandary.

I’m a fan of neutral speakers, and I’ve said so on many occasions. The X2.6’s accuracy gives rock and heavy music an addictive quality. They capture the feel of every band’s performance style and their recording aesthetic in a way I haven’t heard before. I could listen to Pantera and The Beatles, and everyone in between, all day and twice on Sunday.

But my main interest is classical. As I’ve also said on many occasions, there is a huge gap between the best and the worst orchestral recordings. The X2.6s are almost too good here. They demand the best fidelity and balance from orchestral tracks. Anything short of reference quality sounds fine until you hit the volume barrier. Then, it’s less enjoyable. This is a small thing that I don’t see as a flaw, but as something that comes with audio gear that is so meticulously precise. And I can’t say it better than that. The X2.6 floor-standing speakers are incredibly good at their job, and Raidho is to be highly commended. If you want to rock out at arena volume levels, or you want to build a library of classical reference recordings, there are none better in my experience.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/mofi-sourcepoint-v10-master-edition-loudspeaker

MoFi’s SourcePoint V10 ME gives you a lot of loudspeaker for the money, and rewards with an authentically largescale, enveloping and weighty sound. Always easy to listen to, thanks to that smooth treble, this floorstander is also easy enough to drive, further bolstering its bang-for-your-buck appeal. The size and styling of these heavyweight cabinets means they won’t suit everyone, though!

https://www.soundstagehifi.com/index.php/opinion/2025-recommended-reference-component-arendal-sound-1528-monitor-8-loudspeaker

The ability of the Monitor 8s to reveal details was illustrated by several recordings that Philip auditioned during the review period. For instance, with The Cannonball Adderley Quintet in San Francisco, Philip describes how he “could hear everything through the Arendals” and that the pair “sounded as clean as any speakers” he’s ever reviewed. “Adderley’s band was spread wide across the front of my room, and the position of each musician was a cinch to visualize.”

Listening to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers’ Moanin’, Philip writes how “the wide stage conveyed by the Arendals was bookended by the rich tones of the trumpet on the left and the tenor saxophone on the right. The drum kit emerged with commendable clarity almost directly behind the right speaker, which seemed to disappear entirely.” He sums up his listening impressions of this song by explaining that the speakers “called little attention to themselves and simply communicated what was in the grooves of the vinyl.”

Philip compared the 1528 Monitor 8s with his reference speakers: a pair of Monitor Audio Gold 300 5Gs. The Gold 300 5G is a three-way design that is now discontinued. It sold for US$9500 per pair when Philip made his purchase. Like the Monitor 8, the Gold has two 8″ woofers, but it has a 2.5″ midrange and a 1″ AMT-type driver for high frequencies, and it’s a floorstander. Philip describes an extensive back and forth that demonstrated to him that both pairs of speakers have “a fair amount in common,” but in the end, he leaned more to the 1528 Monitor 8s, declaring: “At higher volumes, the Arendals were more effortless, betraying no sense of exertion whatsoever. That being said, the 300s could also play louder than I’m able to tolerate, but the Arendals were just more at ease doing so. . . . For this reason, I found they encouraged higher playback. If you have a large room and/or listen at high volumes, you’ll almost certainly favor the Arendals.”

https://www.dagogo.com/dealership-audition-magnepan-2-7i-three-way-quasi-ribbon-panel-speakers/

The MG2.7i is a three-way speaker consisting of a foil bass and mid and a 40” True Ribbon Tweeter column.  The 2.7i can be thought of as an MG1.7i with a True Ribbon Tweeter.  In both performance and price, it nestles perfectly between the $2,995 MG1.7i and the $9,495 MG3.7i.  Besides the $2,495 Mini Maggie system which is intended for desktop use, the MG2.7i is Magnepan’s smallest model with a True Ribbon Tweeter.  It is designed for smaller spaces than the larger Magnepans.  The Magnepan’s operation is very different from that of dynamic speakers, which has its pluses and minuses, as will be discussed below.

There is no questioning that the DALI Epikore 11 are a superb-sounding pair of loudspeakers. Transparent, revealing, along with being almost insanely musical, and relentlessly appealing to listen to. They have just enough of a sonic personality to them to draw you in, yet not become tiresome or boring. You need to have the right room for them, though, because perceived bass output almost borders on the absurd (not that I minded at all). Much of the driver, crossover, and design behind the Epikore 11 are directly taken or adapted from DALI’s flagship Kore speakers, so the purely Danish R&D and craftsmanship involved here are tried, true, and essentially peerless. But beyond sounding wonderful, they also looked outrageously beautiful in the high gloss walnut finish that I experienced. For me, they legitimately crossed that realm into being an object of desire. It’s as if a Dane and an Italian got together and had an extremely pretty yet surprisingly sensible baby with a beautiful singing voice.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/devialet-phantom-ultimate-streaming-loudspeaker

On first listen, the bass output here will grab your attention. There’s no doubting the LFE reach as Devialet’s SAM technology works in the background to coordinate those two 200mm drivers in a fashion that would be impossible with a conventional passive solution. While this remarkable extension is combined with detail and fluency there are clearly practical limits to its bass amplitude [see PM’s Lab Report]. So there was a slight softening to the deepest, loudest bass notes in Paul van Dyk’s ‘Artefact’ [Vandit Records; 44.1kHz/24-bit], which is where a ‘bass-head’ might yearn for a dedicated sub, but this is a trifling niggle considering the all-round sonic appeal of these speakers.

As said, I used the ‘Monitoring’ mode for most of my listening. The app’s EQ tools are useful for adjusting the Phantom Ultimate’s sound to personal taste but remember to pay attention to Devialet’s presets. ‘Music’ mode invokes a ‘Loudness’ DSP by default, while the brand’s Active Volume Levelling is automatically switched on in ‘Movie’ mode. Also seen on Devialet’s Dione soundbar, this works to normalise dynamics – preventing, for instance, movie explosions from drowning out accompanying dialogue