Back in the days when signals was stocking Densen and there was a tie up with Morel in Ipswich, Russell K was the man. Even then, Mr K was working on a number of loudspeaker designs and an abiding principle was that there should be no internal damping whatsoever. “It just blurs information, stores energy and slows things down”.
It was no surprise, then, to find that, twenty odd years later, with his own company up and running, that the Red 50, Red 100 and new Red 150 speakers are all unencumbered by internal damping.
And they’re good too. The smallest and cheapest speaker, the Red 50, is superb. Quite probably the best available for under £1000.
These compact rear-ported speakers reward careful set-up and system matching but are actually remarkably easy going. Witness a recent dem where the customers elderly Arcam CD player and Rotel amplifier found renewed purpose.
If you are looking to make a Naim UnitiQute really sing, these are ideal partners too. Finish options include gloss black (pictured) or real wood veneer in mahogany, walnut or oak.
The whole range is manufactured in Poland to Russell’s design and uses content drawn from the EU. Styling is simple and ‘classic’, build quality superb.
Next up the ladder comes the Red 100. Not only is it a larger stand-mount than the Red 50 but it is better too.
Across the range, there is an avoidance of the normal ported box sound, the 50-60 hz bass emphasis that brings a certain degree of familiar warmth. The 100 is even more resolutely ‘flat’ in this respect than the 50.
Please don’t be put off, though. This lack of ‘clumph’ leads to a level of speed and clarity that, if compared to a certain other well known non-ported monitor brand’s products, conveys so much more subtlety of intonation and timing that it’s hard to believe you are listening to the same components in the rest of the system.
As with the 50, the finish choices include three woods plus black gloss. In addition there is a grey plastic outer wrap (not woodgrain) which can be paired with either black or red baffles.
I’m still trying to figure out why we (I, really) opted to have the demo ones in red and grey. Oh yes, it was cheaper!
If you look in the reviews section of this site you can read a little more and see pictures of our aesthetic blunder cum stroke of pure genius in the HiFi choice dealer review of us..
And now, the Red 150 floor-standers. We had the first public-ready samples at our Audio Show East in September 2015 and some playing with them here in advance of the event brought home just what significant products these are.
If your preference is for Naim and have fond memories of the SL2, you are likely to like these. A lot.
I’d say that the the Red 150 actually trounces the SL2 in terms of resolution, scale, extension, neutrality and probably speed too, but the SL2 nevertheless was the one speaker that came to mind when listening.
Development has been on the back of Classe electronics but they are very well matched to even seriously high end Naim systems. They were persuasive enough with the more modest NAC-N 272 Streamer / pre / XPS / NAP250 DR for us to use this for the public demonstrations.
Mind you, Russell was not happy until NAC-A5 had been replaced with Super Lumina.
After all, he has standards . . .