Audiophilepure

https://www.stereophile.com/content/janszen-valentina-p8-loudspeaker

The reason I discussed the setup of the JansZen Audio Valentina P8 at such length was that this is a speaker that requires such attention to detail in order to get it to sing. But as I found in my auditioning, when everything is just right, this made-in-America loudspeaker can indeed sing, as long as you are in the sweet spot. I particularly appreciated the detailed, transparent midrange and treble, the articulate, reasonably extended low frequencies, and the well-defined imaging. To repeat J. Gordon Holt’s words about the 1966 JansZen speaker, the Valentina P8 offered a “musically natural window” to the sound of my favorite recordings. And I must include a tip of the hat to David Janszen for his comprehensive manual, which I found essential during the setup process

What can I say more about these that I haven’t already covered in the Trio review? They are more of everything! Volume, heft, SPL, and stature. If that is what you’re looking for—you came to the right place. And don’t worry about your room size too much—honestly, due to them being dipoles, you can run them in awkward rooms and get very pleasurable nearfield listening out of them. I can say this with actual experience (they currently are living in a 22′ x 12′ room) so they are quite versatile. If you have the Trios, consider this a major upgrade (if your room allows it) or if you’re considering a PAP system then I say skip the smaller one and just go with these! I can’t recommend the company or the speakers enough. 

https://www.hifinews.com/content/kef-blade-one-meta-loudspeaker

At the heart of the Blade One Meta is the latest version of the Uni-Q, now in its 12th generation and complete with KEF’s Metamaterial Absorption Technology – also used in the company’s updated Meta versions of its Reference series. The driver combines a 25mm dome tweeter with a stiffened dome and a revised tweeter gap damper to accommodate the metamaterial absorber behind it. This circular device uses a complex maze-shaped structure of channels to absorb a claimed 99% of the sound from the rear of the tweeter – or, as KEF puts it, it acts as ‘an acoustic black hole’ – to give a purer, cleaner mid/treble output [for a deep dive into Meta, see HFN Jun ’21].

Finally, the company’s familiar ‘tangerine’ segmented waveguide is used to control, and widen, treble dispersion. The tweeter sits in the throat of a 125mm aluminium-cone midrange unit with a new motor designed for extremely low distortion. The surround is redesigned to allow longer excursion while the profiles have been reworked to smooth the transition from the face of the driver to the cabinet geometry.

The FYNE 500SP

One thing unique to the FYNE speakers is their fifth ground lug on the back of the speakers. FYNE claims it will “ground the driver chassis and eliminate amp or cable born RF interference.” While the TONE studio is a big, metal building (essentially a Faraday cage), we don’t usually have this problem. However, in the house’s unshielded environment, taking advantage of this did make a slightly noticeable – and positive effect. A nice touch, indeed.

While the review set arrived in gloss black, gloss white, and gloss walnut is also available. The finish quality is exquisite. The 500SPs are designed and built in the UK. It shows. If you’ve spent any time at all with modestly priced speakers that hail from China, you’ll notice that the fine details are not executed as well as they are here.

Should you put a pair of 500SPs in your system, the only thing you might consider after you’re used to the speakers is a pair of high-quality jumpers to connect the woofer and tweeter, if you aren’t using bi-wired speaker cables. Jumpers from Tellurium Q and Cardas both added another margin of HF smoothness that is worth exploring.