Review: Mark Craven

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.

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.

Long anticipated, Constellation’s series two amplifiers witness the transition from huge linear supplies to custom switchmode PSUs. Weight is slashed, and performance boosted

Californian amplifier specialist Constellation Audio isn’t one to regularly refresh its product catalogue, so when – after years of maintaining the same models – it begins a complete overhaul of its entire range, audiophile ears prick up. First to hit the market are the new Inspiration 2 and Revelation 2 series, with the latter’s stereo pre/power system being debuted at the UK Hi-Fi Show Live 2024. These will be followed by the Performance 2 and Reference 2, with the lineup then topped off by the flagship Statement amps first ‘teased’ in 2023 at the Munich High End show.

Even if the title isn't familiar, you'll know The March Of Progress by Rudolph Zallinger. Published in a 1965 volume of Life Nature Library and depicting 25 million years of human evolution as a series of side-on illustrations, from the ape-like Pliopithecus to modern man, it popped into my mind when I unboxed PS Audio's Aspen FR5.