Loudspeakers

While the usual rallying cry of a Hollywood producer is for any movie sequel to be ‘bigger and better’, Piega’s approach for the Gen2 iteration of its Premium 301 loudspeaker is to make it better while also making it smaller. And considering the original model, released in 2019, was itself described as a ‘compact loudspeaker with a baffle about the size of an A4 sheet’, this is perhaps something of an achievement.

Named after the Maine town where it started in 1984, although now based down the coast in South Thomaston, Rockport Technologies has been known by audiophiles since the 1990s as a manufacturer of high-end – and heavyweight – loudspeakers. The Orion floorstander tested here is no exception, weighing 163kg per piece and selling for £165,000. Suffice to say, it’s a far cry from the early sub/sat systems of chief designer Andy Payor...

Talk about bursting onto the scene. Five years ago, few had heard of Perlisten even though the Wisconsin company had existed from 2016, ostensibly operating in stealth mode. Today it is an established name in hi-fi circles, abetted by two complete loudspeaker series featuring some ambitious technology. The four-way £19,000 S7t floorstander [HFN Apr ’22] had served as Perlisten’s flagship speaker until this £30,000 Limited Edition arrived two years later, boasting numerous detail enhancements. It’s at least 25kg heavier too, at 84kg per tower.

Marten Parker Trio is not, of course, the name of a new jazz act. Marten is the Swedish loudspeaker manufacturer, established as a family business by Leif Mårten Olofsson in 1998, and Parker Trio one of its floorstanding options. Yet the jazz angle still applies, as the company's other speaker ranges are Coltrane, Mingus, and Oscar. Perhaps Olofsson, who heads up the company as its chief designer, has Monk or Davis in mind for the future...

KEF launched its Q series Meta loudspeakers toward the end of 2024 with plenty of fanfare, but to any hi-fi enthusiast with half an eye on this brand, the announcement came as no surprise. We’d already seen how the introduction of the ‘revolutionary’ Meta Absorption Material Technology (MAT) on KEF’s LS50 Meta [HFN Jun ’21] was followed by Meta updates of its Blade [HFN May ’22], Reference [HFN Jun ’23] and then R series [HFN Jan ’24]. At the same time, KEF’s bottom-of-the-rung Q range was last updated in 2017. So, with hindsight, the Q series Meta, topped by the £1999 Q11 Meta floorstander seen here, is about as expected as anything gets in hi-fi.

The Point 5 from Nightingale Acoustics is a very unusual loudspeaker, which might be said to wear its heart on its head. Starting at the other end, its body is a basically rectangular cabinet made of 19mm particle board with an integral front panel that is stepped inwards by 24mm over the top 180mm, the two levels being joined by a slope.

If you have a preconceived notion of System Audio, chances are it’s been formed by its Silverback range of active, wireless loudspeakers. Occupying the top tier in the Danish manufacturer’s catalogue, models including the Silverback 60.2 and Silverback 40.2 [HFN May ’21 and Aug ’21] combine DSP-based crossovers, DACs and integrated amplification, with cable-free transmission via the WiSA standard. Add in the app control and room EQ and there is, to put it bluntly, a lot going on in the Silverbacks – something which can’t be said of System Audio’s new Signature series.