bookshelf speakers

A powerhouse bookshelf speaker from Monitor Audio

When I dropped by the Park Avenue Audio NYC showroom, I was on a mission to find an audiophile bookshelf speaker that wouldn't break the bank. The store's selection covers a wide gamut, but the majority of speakers are $1,000-plus per pair. Then I ran across the Monitor Audio "Silver" RX1; it's a medium-size bookshelf speaker, measuring a tidy 12.3 x 7.3 x 9.4 inches. At 15 pounds, it feels surprisingly heavy for its size. It has a 1-inch ceramic-coated aluminum/magnesium-alloy dome tweeter and a 6-inch metal woofer. The speakers … Read more

SVS Ultra Bookshelf speaker offers clarity and bass

I had a good feeling about the SVS Ultra Bookshelf speaker even before I heard it. First, the high-gloss black finish was perfect, and the heft of this 19-pound beauty left no doubt about the speaker's build quality. It seemed solid.

I've confessed many times on this blog my fondness for big speakers, but if you don't have the space for a set of tower speakers, so-called bookshelf speakers are the way to go. I said so-called because the last place you'd ever want to put a set of bookshelf speakers is in a bookshelf cabinet. … Read more

Aperion Audio's gorgeous Verus Grand bookshelf speaker

I've long admired Aperion Audio's Intimus speakers, but for one reason or another, I never auditioned the company's higher-end Verus speakers. The line starts with the $350-per-pair Verus Forte satellite speakers, but I went for the bigger Verus Grand bookshelf speakers that run $598 a pair. The speaker has a 1-inch dome tweeter and 5-inch woven Kevlar woofer. It measures 13 by 7.5 by 9 inches, weighs 14 pounds, and the curved sided cabinet feels like it's well put together.

Aperion Intimus speakers' satin real cherry wood or high-gloss black finishes are superb, but the … Read more

Definitive Technology's new monitor speaker rocks the house

My fondness for big speakers is longstanding, but I'm almost as big a fan of smaller speakers that sound big. Take Definitive Technology's StudioMonitor 55 speaker ($299 each). Measuring 13x7.8x12.3 inches it's not all that big, but it weighs a hefty 15.4 pounds. The StudioMonitor 55 is a handsome, but conventional-looking design, until you peel off the cloth grille on the top of the speaker and see the "racetrack bass radiator." It's a unique Def Tech feature, and one that really helps the StudioMonitor 55 outperform similarly sized speakers.… Read more

GoldenEar Technology reinvents the bookshelf speaker

First a confession: a lot of audiophile speakers can't rock out. They're "voiced" to sound best with acoustic jazz or classical music. Nothing wrong with that, but when you want to party some of them can't cut loose. The new GoldenEar Technology Aon 3 is very much an audiophile-oriented design, so sure, it sounded clear and clean playing Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue."

But what really made me sit up and take notice was the way the Aon 3 knocked out the Drive-By Truckers "Go-Go Boots" album. This CD sounds like … Read more

Atlantic Technology's big-sounding little speaker takes it to the max

I admit it: I like big speakers, the bigger the better as far as I'm concerned.

Big speakers sound more realistic, they play louder with lower distortion, and they have better and deeper bass than small speakers. Then again, I'm an audiophile, so I prioritize sound quality over almost everything else. I also know big speakers are out of the question for most folks, but what if there were a reasonably sized speaker that produced big-speaker sound? The Atlantic Technology AT-2 is such a speaker.

It was just last year when Atlantic's AT-1 tower speaker ($3,000 a pair) rocked the audiophile world and garnered a slew of rave reviews, so when I heard the smaller AT-2 ($1,800 a pair) was about to be released I just had to get it for review. It did not disappoint. … Read more