Tag Archives: hi-fi sound system

KEF Wireless HiFi Speakers deliver audio clarity wrapped in stunning designs

Posted on by

Although humans are primarily considered to be highly visual creatures, we have also become more acutely aware of the important role that sound plays in our lives. Ambient sounds make us aware of our surroundings, especially of potential dangers, while music can sometimes more easily affect our emotions and mental state than images. Sound quality can also make or break an immersive experience, whether you’re watching in a cinema or lounging at home. It no longer pays to compromise on the audio experience these days, especially at home, where people come to expect to enjoy their favorite tunes or lose themselves in captivating movies anytime they like. Fortunately, KEF has drawn on 60 years of acoustic innovation to bring together immersive high-fidelity audio with the convenience of digital streaming in a package that looks stylish and elegant in any space.

Designers: Michael Young and KEF Product Design Team

There are plenty of audio solutions for the home these days, but it seems that most products force buyers to make some sacrifices just to get one or more features. High-end speakers, for example, have laudable audio output, but their bulky forms leave a lot to be desired when it comes to visual appeal. Conversely, more luxurious-looking equipment tends to skimp on performance in order to spend more resources on aesthetics. Fortunately, KEF’s decades of experience have allowed it to design speakers that deliver on those much-wanted features without compromise.

The KEF LS50 Wireless II, for example, comes in a more conventional cabinet design for the best acoustic performance, but its smooth curves and stylish finishes give it a classy appearance that looks beautiful in any interior motif. Of course, it isn’t all looks with its high-quality loudspeaker and support for a variety of music services, making it the ultimate all-in-one speaker system for all your listening needs.

Click Here to Buy Now: $2,799.99

The tall KEF LS60 Wireless, on the other hand, represents the brand’s ultimate vision for HiFi audio experiences. Its slim body, designed in collaboration with Michael Young, stands proudly anywhere you put it in a room, while its crystal-clear audio quality, up to 24bit/384kHz, makes its presence heard and felt. Its striking design definitely makes it a conversation starter and makes you the envy of the town.

Click Here to Buy Now: $6,999.99

Small doesn’t have to be terrible, at least not in a bad way, as proven by the KEF LSX II. Its compact size belies its surprising performance, supporting high-quality streaming up to 24bit/384kHz that will definitely be the life of any party or movie night, especially when paired with other wireless speakers in the house. Its small yet stylish body makes it ideal for placing anywhere, though you will most likely place it where it can easily grab attention by the way it looks and sounds.

Click Here to Buy Now: $1,399.99

With the KEF Wireless HiFi Speaker Collection, you no longer need to decide between performance and appearance. Whether it’s the dashing LS50 Wireless II, the tall LS60 Wireless, or the fun LSX II, you’re guaranteed to have an immersive audio experience that will touch your soul and bring life to any gathering.

Click Here to Learn More about the KEF Wireless HiFi Speaker Collection.

The post KEF Wireless HiFi Speakers deliver audio clarity wrapped in stunning designs first appeared on Yanko Design.

This side table + speaker is every audiophile’s perfect modern home collectible

Posted on by

I don’t know if there’s ever music not playing in my apartment. I even fall asleep to it. Music makes all the difference when it comes to the mood of a home. Whatever we may be listening to, the guitar plucking of folk or the upbeat tempo of disco, music fills the room and sets the tone. Just like when phonographs were the main event of a 19th-century parlor room, speakers are today’s chosen medium of broadcasting our most beloved playlists. Designing a speaker fit for today’s devotion to small-scale and wireless living, La Boite, a team of French technological and acoustic innovators, has created a wireless speaker that doubles as a coffee table called Cube.

The Cube high-fidelity loudspeaker was conceptualized and built with La Boite’s long family history committed to the “traditional high fidelity industry with the design of ergonomic ‘all-in-one’ products optimized for new technologies.” Their patented technology makes it so that from wherever the Cube high-fidelity loudspeaker, which measures 47 x 35 x 49 cm, is positioned in a room, neither the sound quality nor its volume will ever be compromised. Due to its small size, innovative design, and finely-tuned sound quality, The Cube high-fidelity loudspeaker can double as a coffee or side table sized to fit in any space ideally.

Each speaker of the Cube’s collection comes outfitted with a total power output of 200W and features three speakers, one front-facing speaker, two aluminum vent ports for bass reflex, and two rear speakers equipped with La Boite’s patent Wide Sound 2.0 immersive technology. Mindful enough to make the Cube compatible with both wireless and wired capabilities, La Boite also integrated an analog RCA input, a digital optical input Toslink, Bluetooth 4.0 Codec Apt-X built-in, and a mini 3.5mm jack input.

Designer: La Boite

Click Here to Buy Now!

La Boite’s patent Wide Sound 2.0 immersive technology was developed in their Research and Development laboratory to deliver extended stereophonic sound due to the reflection of the sound from the rear speakers on a deflector.

Additionally, each of the speaker’s control panels includes a familiar array of switches: a power button, dials for the volume, bass and treble, pairing buttons for wireless connectivity, and additional auxiliary input sources.

JBL’s 75th anniversary special is a modern day amplifier encased in a uniquely retro aesthetic!

Posted on by

For audiophiles and general listeners alike, JBL carries some of the most iconic pieces of audio equipment in circulation today. While more moderate listeners consistently find JBL’s collection of wireless speakers to be both durable in product design and vibrant in sound quality, technical listeners can appreciate JBL’s fine-tuned commitment to producing commercial amps with detail-oriented, studio-grade standards at an unsurprising market value. For instance, JBL might have been one of the first audio equipment companies to have manufactured a commercial amplifier to confront TIM/SID and LSN problems with the SA600 Amplifier’s debut in 1966. Fast forward to 2021 and, in celebration of their 75th anniversary and tribute to their coveted equipment from the 60s and 70s, JBL plans to launch the new SA750 Integrated Amplifier, along with a limited stock of anniversary-edition L100 Classic 75 loudspeakers.

The new JBL SA750 takes me back to my childhood home’s downstairs audio system, coated in aluminum with teak wood veneer side paneling and stainless steel, sheathed control knobs for sensitive tuning. JBL’s SA750 offers a mellowed upgrade from the audio giant’s amplifiers of the 60s and 70s. With most of the front panel on the SA750 maintaining the original interface of dials and knobs from the late 20th century 600 and 660 SA models, some key differences were made, however, in order to accommodate modern-day technology. Doubling the SA600’s single audio jack for two, one for headphones and one for an aux cord, the new JBL SA750 offers options for both solo and group listening. The new hi-fi amp is also geared for Apple AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast, or UPnP connectivity and can transition between MC and MM to generate the signal for users hoping to plug in their pre-amp.

Just like in the 60s and 70s, JBL designed the SA750 wireless amplifier to deliver studio-quality audio and attempts to achieve this through integrated features like a DAC converter, which converts a digital signal into an analog one, delivering crisper sound from your speakers. Through compression, an MQA decoder also helps deliver the fuller, more robust audio quality listeners expect with hi-fi amplifiers. JBL SA750 is also ‘Roon-ready,’ equipping your music collection with a digital front-end that allows you to source your input from different home-devices, connected together by the installed Roon software. Finally, the new JBL SA750 comes with Dirac Live Room Correction, which removes sound coloration produced by interior rooms’ acoustics. The accompanying L100 Classic 75 loudspeakers are designed to match the amplifier’s teak wood veneer finish and offer bi-wiring with a rear network suited for today, along with improved woofer suspension to mask those low frequencies. Officially launching in May of 2021, JBL SA750 will go for $3,000.

Designer: JBL by Harman

This phenomenal console table will turn your home into a concert hall!

Posted on by

The weekend is here and we can all do something to catch a breather (at home of course). You can either cook up a gourmet meal, read about positive developments for a change, or pick out what sound system should be the hero of your dance party (again, only at home with people already in your home). I am going with the dance-party-for-one option and my weapon of choice this weekend is the Slab Console! Imagine me as Player 1, and you can customize the avatar by choosing different pajamas and switching between sound systems like the Street Fighter but quarantine version.

The Slab Console is an upscale adult furniture piece with a vibrant, fun personality – so you can upgrade your home’s interior design level and also have a lit time with your playlists! This console is the ultimate audio system, it brings you movie theatre quality sounds with living room-worthy visuals. Inspired by the consoles that existed in the 60s and 70s, the Slab brings high fidelity audio to your space with immersive 5.1 surround movies and games. It is equipped with passive left, center, and right channel speakers along with a 12 inch recessed active subwoofer and a 500 Watt internal amplifier which basically translates into “I am a top-performing audio system worth every dollar of my $6,995 price tag.” Because it was designed to be future-proof, you can simply swap out the receiver as and when technology evolves as the aesthetics of the console were made to be evergreen.

You can expand the Slab Console by adding an A/V receiver or an amplifier/processor combination that works for your home. It looks like a credenza but with a 2020 tech upgrade that replaces the individual freestanding speaker set-up you might have. The whole sound experience is now wrapped into this modern, sleek, minimal console. The 390 lb system is created with a CNC precision-milled, multi-layer MDF and uses a furniture-grade plywood core for audio stability which is supported by an aluminum frame. It receives a state-of-art label because each console is hand-assembled with a final finish touch of real wood veneer and no two consoles will be the same, your piece is one-of-a-kind. The Slab Console is truly ultra-rich sound designed with a beautiful, timeless precision. Let’s turn our homes into a private concert hall!

Designer: Slab Audio

A bamboo and aluminum hi-def speaker that sounds as good as it looks

Posted on by

With an aesthetic that melds Japanese and French aesthetics together, the iFi Aurora is a hi-fi speaker that literally looks like it’s levitating off the surface of the table or mantelpiece it’s kept on. The audio unit is clad in a casing made of bamboo, with slatted strips around its periphery, adding contrast while also creating what one would perceive to be the grill for the speaker’s 8 drivers. The speaker is lifted using a pyramid-shaped aluminum frame that helps demarcate Aurora’s control unit and display on the front, as well as its series of input and output ports at the back.

The speaker’s semi-vintage look comes with reason. It opts for analog signal processing over digital, delivering a sound that’s grand, lossless, and well balanced. Its in-built PureEmotion amplifying technology delivers room-filling, rich audio that engages you with music in its purest, hi-definition format. The speaker comes with Wi-Fi connectivity and Bluetooth 5.0, but even has more than its fair share of wired cable inputs, ranging from optical and coaxial to USB and even Ethernet. There’s a 3.5mm input too, allowing you to connect your music player or smart-speaker to it, as well as SD card slot, future-proofing you for the years to come so you’re not dependent on security patches and software updates down the line. Just connect your audio device in a format of your choosing, hit play on Aurora’s remote control, and sit back and listen to rich, creamy, unaltered music.

Designer: Julien Haziza for iFi Audio