Loudspeakers

The idea of cramming a complete hi-fi system into a pair of speakers isn’t new; perhaps the best-known example is KEF’s LS range, which has expanded from a single model to encompass everything up to the mighty LS60 floorstanders. And it’s not hard to see why the concept has caught on, with a number of manufacturers offering wireless speaker systems of varying degrees of completeness, from models fed from offboard hubs to complete solutions: it’s all about that ideal of ‘invisible hi-fi’.

The trend has clearly not gone unnoticed in Japan, as Technics has launched not just its own take on the idea, but a very upmarket compact wireless speaker system. Finished in a range of soft-touch suede-effect wraps (in Charcoal Black, Silky Grey or Terracotta Brown), the SC-CX700 system has all the lifestyle appeal you could want – the speakers stand just over 31cm tall, have what appears to be a single driver and require no more wired connections to the outside world than mains cables to each enclosure – yet are also packed with all kinds of in-house technology to optimise their performance.

And Technics has plenty of tech at its disposal. From its R1 Reference Class series network player, hefty power amp and massive floorstanding speakers come plenty of know-how that’s trickled down into other products.

For example, these may look like nothing more than bookshelf speakers with amplifiers in the same enclosures, but they’re actually divided internally with a solid wall between the acoustic section and electronics, this ‘Acoustic Solitude Construction’ minimising any interference between the two while contributing to the all-up 9.1kg weight of each cabinet. And that single driver is really a two-in-one unit: at the centre of this Phase Precision Driver’s 150mm mid/bass cone is a 19mm ring-type tweeter, designed to create a ‘point-source’ effect for optimised stereo imaging. Bass is tuned with a slot-type port, but there’s more cleverness literally behind the driver: in the electronics bay, and running in the digital signal processing, is Model Based Diaphragm Control (MBDC) – based on lab measurements of the driver, engineers have been able to inject corrective signals to cope with the way it performs under load, reducing harmonic distortion for a cleaner sound.

Even the transmission between the two speakers, which is either wireless or – if you must – using a wired connection (which ups capability from 24-bit/96kHz to 24-bit/192kHz), brings in technology from the Reference Series; the company’s JENO Engine, designed for Jitter Elimination and Noise-shaping Optimisation, is in place in an effort to reduce any disturbance in the signal between the two.

SpaceTune technology, meanwhile, allows the speakers to compensate for their positions in the room. You can choose presets, let the cabinets suss out their surroundings for themselves or, using the Technics Audio Center app running on an iOS device, make the measurements using your phone or tablet’s microphone.

Put it all together and what have you got? The Technics Orchestration Concept – see what it’s done there?

Each speaker is driven by a total of 100W of digital amplification – 60W for the mid/bass driver and 40W for the tweeter – and the speakers are supplied as Primary and Secondary units, the former having the inputs and doing much of the signal processing. The system supports UPnP playback from network sources, as well as Spotify Connect, Deezer, Amazon Music HD, Tidal, Qobuz and Internet radio, can handle Bluetooth, and with its latest firmware is also Roon ready.

File-handling depends on how the signal is fed into the speakers; via the USB-C input for direct connection of a computer it accepts PCM files up to 24-bit/192kHz and DSD64/128, while the network connection (wi-fi or wired) ups that to 32-bit/284kHz and DSD256. There are also connections for optical digital input, HDMI ARC for TV, line analogue on a 3.5mm socket and moving-magnet phono inputs as well as a single line out for a subwoofer.

The system is simple to setup and operate, using the touch controls atop the Primary speaker, the remote handset provided or – preferably – that Technics Audio Center app. A 3m speaker link cable is supplied, but the wireless link works very well; you can designate the Primary as either the left or right cabinet for convenience, and the Space Tune system defies all our efforts to fool it by placing the speakers in odd positions. Mind you, we find the standmounts give their best when placed on dedicated stands.

Sound quality
In simple terms, it all just works; to delve rather deeper, this system sounds a whole load more impressive than any pair of relatively compact speakers have any right to. For a start, there’s powerful, solid and tightly defined bass, crashing out the rhythm section of everything from Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Welcome To The Pleasuredome to Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, and just as convincing with the weight of the Dudamel/Simón Bolívar Orchestra’s album of Wagner extracts. The opening of the Götterdämmerung Prologue is beautifully detailed, but as those Wagnerian horns enter and the scale of the piece grows, the speakers sound just about unburstable, taking the massive dynamics in their stride, and conveying all the rasp of the brass and thunder of the percussion.

Impressive, too, is the way the decidedly odd Black Eyelashes by Franz Ferdinand powers out with all its martial and Mitteleuropean influences intact, and a focused soundstage image – well, with a slight toe-in of the speakers anyway. Never once do we feel the need to add a subwoofer to fill out the bass. In a room of about the size you expect to be suited to speakers of this size, there’s more than enough low-end welly in evidence – all delivered with that mixture of taut control and fine integration with what’s going on in the midband and treble.

Playing The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony, the stately beat fails to drown out the strings as it can with some small speakers. The system instead delivers the music full-fat but with fine definition across the frequency range, and it’s just as capable with the close-focused vocal of Holly Cole on her downbeat cover of Walk Away Renee bringing out every nuance of the velvety voice, along with the piano and bass accompaniment, cementing these very clever little speakers as a solid all-round choice, for audiophiles and casual listeners alike.

Conclusion
Bold move, Technics. Not only entering the competitive ‘system in speakers’ market, but also pitching the product above the best-known competition. But the combination of in-house technology and solid design has paid off in a setup truly the match of anything else on the market, and with performance to delight. AE    

DETAILS
Product: Technics SC-CX700
Type: Two-way wireless active speaker system

FEATURES
● 19mm ring tweeter
● 150mm mid/bass driver
● 100W amplifier in each speaker (40W tweeter, 60W mid/bass)

Read the full review in  Issue 526