Neat Iota Xplorer - Preston Explores The Latest Loudspeakers From Neat Acoustics

Brand new into the Preston store, we have the new Neat Acoustics Iota XPLORER, and we have to say we love them.

The bigger brother of the award winning and ever popular Iota Alpha, the Xplorer's are twice the size but use the same basic configuration as the Alpha's. The top section is sealed off from the lower and acts as a two way infinite baffle loudspeaker.

Situated in the base of the cabinet is an Iso-baric subwoofer to give this speaker some real depth with the lower frequencies.

We have found them to be a well balanced speaker that works well with a wide variety of electronics and are equally as forgiving with placement in any room environment to get a stunning sound.

The offset tweeter enables you to place the speakers with the tweeters either further apart from each other for a wide open soundstage or for a more concentrated image you can place the speakers in the room with the tweeters situated closer together.

We tried various types of music on them using the Naim  Nova , Rega Elicit and Quad Artera electronics and all worked well but all giving a different presentation. The Neat Iota Xplorer's give fast and accurate soundstage but the separation between instruments has to be heard to be believed, they certainly brought a smile to our faces.

Supplied in the box are instructions, floor spikes, floor protection discs and a pair of magnetic grilles, we chose the American walnut finish but they are also available in Natural Oak, Black Oak and Satin White.

We look forward to playing them for you.

Ian, Gavin & Andy - Audio T Preston

Neat Acoustic loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Brighton, Cheltenham, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading

Special Speaker Alert! Neat Iota Xplorer Are Here!

The Neat Iota Xplorer - hand crafted by the boffins at County Durham's finest loudspeaker manufacturer - is the new big brother to the smaller Iota Alpha's, which has been one of our most popular little speakers of recent times. 

Anyone who has heard or indeed owned a pair of the smaller Iota Alpha and hankered after that next step up will adore these. Bigger than the Alpha's and with the same overall shape as them but still not a big loudspeaker by any stretch of the imagination. The Neat Xplorer very cleverly conjures up oodles of extra bass extension (not boom) by using the iso-baric double bass driver trick which fools the drive unit on the outside into thinking that it is in a cabinet that is way bigger than it actually is! Genius or what!! This system is not easy to get right but Neat have well and truly nailed it with this design. It sounds for all the world like they have their own built in subwoofer!

Another big stroke of speaker boffin design genius puts Neat's very own P1-R3 170mm bass/mid range drive unit and the rather grandly named Air Motion Transformer (AMT) together. and are mounted side by side in their own rear ported enclosure separate from the bass units. Designed and built this way to give a cleaner sound with a wider dispersion of the stereo image.

The enclosures have a tuned rear port, we have found they work equally as well placed close to the  the rear wall or in free space . They are isolated from the floor by some rather smart and very shiny coned spikes. This also keeps the isobaric bass units on the bottom the ideal distance off the floor!

We gave the speakers an initial listen fresh out of the box with results that were OK but not great, so we left them on for two weeks running eight hours a day, giving them the best part of 80 hours of quality running time playing a combination of Kraftwerk's Tour De France  and Deadmau5's Random Album Title! Going back to them again after all this time they sound like a totally different pair of loudspeakers!

My initial thought was "Wow" .... bass was now deep and tight just when it needed to be. Top end now sweet and nicely extended. Mid range now nicely open lending voices that type of expressive detail that makes you hang on every word.

The one thing that makes the most difference to the overall presentation of the sound though is how these speakers manage to throw an image way outside of the boxes. It sounds like the walls of the room disappear and you are left with the image of the music just hovering in the air   in front of you . a lovely experience and a rare one too! Not many speakers of any size or price can quite manage this!

Amongst lots of things I played one of my favourite demo tracks which is Get Miles by Gomez from the Bring It On album. This piece has cavernous deep bass which was very deftly handled by the isobaric bass system but the thing that struck me the most was how easy it was to hear right into the mix. The three vocal parts spread across the soundstage. Drums far left, guitar far right. I was totally sucked in to the music! But then I suppose that is exactly what a good loudspeaker should be doing!

Oh and the electronics being used to make all these lovely noises......... the new Arcam CDS50 CD player and SA20 amplifier from the new Arcam HDA range, with my favourite Rega Couple interconnect and Chord Company Odyssey speaker cable ...... but then that's a blog for next time!

Why not come in and have a listen and we'll even make you a cup of Audio T.

Jon, Farid & Andy, - Audio T Cheltenham

Neat Acoustics loudspeakers are available from the following branches of Audio T:
Brighton, Cheltenham, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading

New Neat Iota Xplorer Loudspeakers on Demonstration at Audio T Brighton

Neat have taken the concept of the groundbreaking Iota Alpha to a new level with this intriguing additional model to the Iota range.

Introducing the Iota Xplorer. This exciting new design uses the same basic configuration as the Iota Alpha, in an enlarged form. The top section is sealed off from the lower, and acts as a two-way infinite baffle loudspeaker. It houses Neat’s own P1-R3 170mm bass/midrange drive unit alongside an Air Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeter in a horizontal array, as per the Iota and Iota Alpha models

Our nice natural oak demonstration pair can be used with or without grilles. Interesting visually and more discreet than most loudspeakers, we believe these will be popular with the ladies. Gentlemen please take note!

The lower, ported section of the Xplorer houses not one, but two of Neat’s P1-R2 bass drive units. These are similar to the R3 unit, but specially tailored for extended low-frequency response. One unit is located on the bottom panel, facing the floor, whilst the second is located internally, directly above the first, in a sealed iso-baric arrangement, handling only low frequencies and acting as an integral subwoofer system. Iso-baric loading allows deep, well controlled low frequency (LF) bass performance from a compact enclosure.

Upside down!

The Iota Xplorer delivers a compelling portrayal of all types of music. Like the Alpha, the Xplorer belies its small stature with a full-range agile presentation and huge soundstage, which projects far beyond the modest confines of the cabinet.

Already sounding engaging after just running in overnight, there will be much more to come as they run in and open out further.

Suitable for use with Naim Uniti models and above; well anything rather good really.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Size (hxwxd): 74 x 30 x 22cm
Weight: 18Kg each
Impedance: 8 Ohms (minimum ~5 Ohms)
Sensitivity: 88dB/1 watt
System: 2.5-way, iso-baric bass reflex, incorporating integral iso-baric subwoofer.
Drive units:
1 x Neat P1/R3 170mm LF/Midrange unit
1 x AMT HF unit
2 x Neat P1/R2 170mm LF units.

Finish options. Satin white. black oak, natural oak, American walnut.

Neat loudspeakers are available at the following Audio T stores:

Brighton, Cheltenham, Oxford, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading