The little brother has just got a bigger brother to kick the sand back on the skeptics.
Say what? Well, according to Doug Graham, sales director at Neat Acoustics, the tiny Iota Alpha floorstanding speakers were too small and small to be taken seriously … by some audiophiles. Novelty value, not real speakers. No matter that they were sown by the acclaimed Original Iota, a tiny bookshelf / desktop speaker with a planar magnetic tweeter and optimized for use near a wall. I first heard of Iota – the King of Where’s-the-Sub – at a show in Manchester. They had me at hello.
With the aim of building on the success of the iota, Neat developed a standing version – the iotas alphas – which took the original iota and added a second bass driver underneath it. The original section has been angled up to compensate for the dwarf 45cm height. They were critically acclaimed, but I sense that it wasn’t a huge commercial hit (they’re still up to date). Neat thought the form factor was well received, so they developed a bigger brother by increasing the size. That brings us to the topic of this test: the Iota Xplorer floorstanding speakers.
You stand alone
Seen in the pictures next to the alpha, the Xplorers look really pumped – significantly larger. Not in the flesh, however. The Xplorer remains small according to the floorstanding loudspeaker standard and looks like many a pedestal. My Harbeth C7s look huge in comparison.
The Xplorers are only 74 cm tall. Also flat at 22cm depth. The width is more like 30 cm. The overall visual effect is unconventional – think little Naim SBL – but I don’t think I’m the only one appreciating anything else.
Not only are the Xplorers small, they also work really well – yes, best – near a back wall. In my case 20cm. On the reverse, this is a surprising finding. I think Neat didn’t read this rule.
My couple wore menacing black oak. Natural oak, American walnut and satin white are also available. Fit and workmanship are good all round, as it should be with an offer price of 3495 €. I prefer the sound with the little grilles removed. They can easily be reattached when the neats are not in use.
The sensitivity is 88 dB / W, so that no flea power amplifiers have to be used. The impedance is nominally 6 ohms, never less than 5, so in practice they are not a difficult load. A 60 watt Ayre AX-7e (£ 2,750) drove them with ease.
In terms of positioning, the larger neats require a certain proximity to the limit. Move them out and everything will be malnourished. The speakers are symmetrical so you can have the tweeters inside or outside. I went for the latter, which undoubtedly contributed to the bigger sound than ‘in’. A slight attachment of the loudspeakers brought advantages – instruments were better defined in the recording room. Even more with a 12kg, 45x45cm concrete slab under the speakers – everything a bit tighter. At £ 10.06 we can hang the cost up.
When you put all of that together, the Xplorers are a neat (groaning) solution from the real world that lives peacefully with their owners and doesn’t selfishly dominate the living space. What matters – the radio workshop atmosphere of a hi-fi system is like that in the 90s.
Hidden talents
They may be from the Iota, but the Xplorers have completely different drivers. The top frequencies come from an Air Motion Transducer (AMT), a first for Neat. It looks like a ribbon tweeter, but the technology is a little different – see Darko’s interview with HEDD Speakers for more information.
Decent play on home soil with isobaric bass loading that is already being used successfully in several of their more luxurious speaker models. Think of it as a buy-one-get-one-free (BOGOF) – a second hidden woofer that amplifies the first. With a good design, the output is deep and crisp and even, no thunder and lightning.
In the Xplorer, isobaric charging is realized by Neat’s own P1-R2 170 mm woofer, which fires down from the speaker, with a second above, inside the case and out of sight. The two occupy their own chamber, which takes up a lot of space in the lower part of the Xplorer – see how high this rear port is.
Finally, a P1-R3 driver – from which Neat derived the P1-R2 – covers the upper bass and midrange. Both drivers are used in Neat’s momentum and ultimatum areas over the Iotas – no savings are made there.
Montana sound
You could argue that it doesn’t matter if the Xplorers don’t deliver. No fear. The first impression was impressive – and remained consistent. Think of wide views and a big sky. From my audio notes, ‘huge picture, enormously attractive’.
The soundstage is mountain-wide and high, underpinning every aspect of the sound to affect all types of music. The size is important. The isobaric bass load must play a role here. The better subwoofer demonstrations – that’s where REL occurs to me – show how good bass adds to the soundstage even when the music doesn’t contain any obvious bass. The Xplorers seem to confirm this with no third party intervention.
Dentists are happy when the Xplorers’ fillings rattle and bend down to 33 Hz at -6 dB. Ignore the numbers, the bass is impressive for a small speaker. The additional depth is clearly noticeable with the appropriate music, remains controlled, not loose or booming. Grace Jones, Lorde, Lizz Wright – all incredibly good.
No doubt the included Mytek Brooklyn + DAC (£ 2000) and the SBooster power supply (£ 300) powered by an Allo USBridge (£ 180) helped. A short session with the updated CD-1000 CD-1000 from GoldNote (3800 euros) as the source confirmed the properties of the Xplorers.
All of this means that the Xplorer sound bigger than they are – strong in bass, but not bass strong.
The Xplorers are not a one-hit wonder. Your clarity is another strength. Think of a clear spring morning – bright sun, cloudless sky, the cold concentrates your senses. You notice everything. The glittering spider web, the hi-hat pool, the dewdrops in the grass, the subtle harmonies of the background singers. You also see the whole, how the detail builds up the overall picture, be it sonically or visually. Micro and macro in harmony.
And like a British spring morning, we don’t easily notice the Xplorers’ lack of warmth. Warm and rich, that’s for summer evenings. For Harbeths. Enjoy them another time. In well-cared for hands, we welcome the fact that our senses are sharpened.
In addition, the Xplorer avoid tipping over into the dry. Like the sun that sets in spring when it is fresh and cold. When details become inexorable, when joy is undermined. Some listeners like this palette, for me it’s a bete-noire. The Xplorers page with me.
Comparisons
Overall, the Xplorer deliver a large, detailed sound that fits all styles of music. In contrast to my Harbeth C7 / 2s, which don’t rock out quite as well. It’s true that the Harbeths are more delicate and refined than the Xplorers. They are also richer without falling into luscious and loose. Ying and Yang, both excelling in what they do. Same playing field, same level of performance, different approach. The Klipsch Heresys are rappelling down somewhere.
If you want to hear the Xplorers at their best, dig up the Queen’s Made In Heaven theme song and turn the wick on. Pomp, majesty, gigantic sound. Everything is there with buttons – simply wonderful.
Or visit Tidal for the Beatles cover albums by Manuel Barrueco and Milos Karadaglic. The warmth of Barrueco contrasts with the direct style of Karadaglic. Both fabulous and yet different. These differences are how I hear the Harbeths and the Neats.
Put to bed
Choose your partner equipment carefully. The Ayre AX-7e balanced the clarity of the Xplorer well. Tubes would be interesting. The otherwise beautiful GoldNote IS-1000 amplifier would likely make too clean a presentation. It’s not new to carefully choose partnering equipment, but do you know that the Xplorers will show subtle changes themselves – the concrete slabs, speaker cables, etc.
My advice: don’t treat any of the iotas as novelty speakers. And yet, I did that with the Xplorers first – it’s this form factor. Look beyond their looks and you will hear beyond that, too. A niche product yes, but a well-executed one. And one that appeals to audiophiles as well as aesthetes – only a few manufacturers succeed as well as here at Neat.
Further information: Clean acoustics
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