https://www.hifichoice.com/content/neat-acoustics-orkestra

This is more than just a ‘big Ekstra’. The Orkestra takes everything that the slimmer floorstander does so effectively and adds a level of scale and effortlessness that ensures it will tackle pretty much anything you care to throw at it with assurance and genuine talent. You can buy prettier speakers for the asking price and they will need to be driven rather than powered, but so long as you can meet these two requirements you have a speaker that is capable of truly extraordinary performance that is hard to rival at the money. Neat’s evolutionary journey continues to deliver the goods and it’s fascinating to see where it takes us next.

https://www.hifinews.com/content/canton-vento-100-loudspeaker

In terms of fit and finish the speaker ticks all the boxes, including high-quality bi-wire enabled terminals around the back. The Vento 100 is raised over a broader plinth that lets the speaker ‘float’ above the floor and allows its down-facing bass port to vent uniformly out from the base of the cabinet. Spikes can be added and, of course, the Vento 100 doesn’t mind standing a bit closer to the wall compared to rear-firing bass reflex boxes.

The ‘100 is the biggest of eight passive Vento models, alongside the Vento 90 and Vento 80 floorstanders, Vento 30 and Vento 20 standmount/bookshelf speakers, and centre channel, surround and on-wall options for multichannel systems. The range extends further, though: Canton has been a proponent of active designs for decades, offering so-called ‘Smart’ versions of many of its loudspeakers, and that’s the case here. Not of the Vento 100, but there is the wireless, active Vento 9 S2, related to the Vento 90, with claimed built-in amplification of 600W and support for 96kHz/24-bit playback.

https://www.hifichoice.com/content/pmc-twenty523i

This is a speaker that looks and feels very similar to its predecessor and loses absolutely nothing of the positive qualities it possessed. Instead, it works in new talents that broaden its appeal still further. It isn’t cheap and you can point to rivals that will challenge it in relatively straightforward rooms. Where the 23i starts to make its worth felt is as these locations become more challenging. Thanks to the care extended on the decoupling, the ability to create a consistent and believable stereo image and the clout it can wield from a comparatively small cabinet, the PMC can continue to deliver its many virtues as rivals start to struggle. The twenty5.23i looks like business as usual, but in fact marks an impressive step forward for the company. It isn’t very big, but it is rather clever.