Loudspeakers

The WAM750, or M7 to give it its stage name, is one of Samsung’s Shape range, powered by Qualcomm’s AllPlay Wi-Fi platform. It can also receive tunes over Bluetooth and has an NFC button which allows your mates to instantly subject you to their favourite tunes stored on their NFC- equipped smartphones. But Bluetooth can’t be used to send audio to other M7s (or the smaller M3 and M5 speakers for that matter) located around the house; only Wi-Fi can.

Having recently scooped our Best Compact Speaker Package of the Year for its brilliant R90HT1 sub/sat system, Monitor Audio is on a bit of a roll, and now the UK brand has launched an updated version that substitutes the Radius 390 sub for the bigger and beefier Silver W12, and introduces the Radius 270 floorstanders on front L/R duty.

US brand Polk Audio attacks the UK compact speaker market with the TL1600, an affordable 5.1 pack bristling with innovation. In the box are four bijou TL1 satellites that stand just 165mm high, plus a horizontally aligned centre speaker and a cute, cubed sub. The satellites’ gloss finish and curved enclosures catch the eye, whereas as many sub/sat rivals in this market are resolutely boxy. And note that the non-parallel construction serves an acoustic purpose in reducing internal resonances.

The public perception of a brand is a curious thing. JBL is one of the most venerable outfits in the market and has an extensive range, including lush high-end models such as the Everest flagship. Yet in the UK it has a rather low profile, one that is largely influenced by its compact speakers and desktop audio biz.

‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ goes the saying, but no-one told Tannoy. Its affordable Mercury V speaker system blew my socks off back in 2012, but that hasn’t stopped the company tinkering with the fifth-generation blueprint in a bid to further pimp up its performance. The result of this tweakage is the Mercury Vi system (not 'six'), which boasts a number of significant component and tuning upgrades but retains the same wallet-friendly prices as the original range.

Bang & Olufsen's BeoLab 17 is the first speaker in the world that meets the WiSA standard for wireless audio. Decoded sound up to 24-bit/48kHz (WiSA is capable of 96kHz, but 48kHz is imposed for signal robustness) is transmitted to each active speaker.