TalkAudio – The Forefront of ICE

The 17cm single-connection coaxials now number some dozen sets arrived, with more due in. I’m wanting to create a really good guide across a lot of price points for that whole category of speaker kit. The idea is that there are levels of involvement with Ice. The really big hurdle is deciding to fit an amplifier. Before that there’s the issue of bothering with a set of component speakers with their separate passive crossover boxes with capacitors and inductor coils in it and all the wiring and fitting of the passives somewhere safe versus simply plugging in a set of better single connection point speakers. So, amp or not, these will all be one speaker connection point and no compos or convertibles with off-board passives.
For there will be plenty who’ll want to improve their speakers while keeping the stock grilles and there will be those who do have the right sized hole but want to put a second or fourth upgrade in. I shamelessly chose the 17cm size as I felt it’d better reflect the driver makers’ abilities to make full range sound. A 17cm is capable of reasonable levels of low frequencies and indeed, a decent throb from your midbass drivers will help to better blend a subwoofer’s output to make a seamless sound.
I recently got a new set of huge Bowers & Wilkins speakers in for the Home Cinema Choice magazine work. I sent a simple list of the models to the Guru. He loves his home audio and sent me a swift one word message back.
“git!”
I think he fancies them!
In addition to those, there’s a good slice of other kit to look at, in the shape of an amplifier and a wiring kit from Armageddon as well as a wire kit from Tsunami and a cute nine inch TV monitor from C-KO, I must also connect the MAP790 navigator from Clarion in the car.
So I’d better go get on it – I’ll start with a new video for the Massive Audio Nano N2 monoblock amp.
Adam Rayner – Online Editor
This week’s strap line by Surj