![]() ![]() Forget any thoughts of needing to have the tweeters at ear-level – the speakers still sit below the eye-line, with the midrange and the AMT treble unit firing up at you. It doesn't take much listening to realise that these are no novelty speakers, even if their looks and stature still take a little getting used to. Add to that the fact the P1-R3 is actually working here as a mid/bass, and not just a midrange, as also is the case in the smaller Iota models, and the two drivers in the lower cabinet are more or less underpinning what's going on in the upper compartment, rather than shouldering all the bass duties. It's partnered here with a Heil AMT (Air Motion Transformer) tweeter, which uses a pleated Mylar diaphragm with aluminium strips, the whole sitting in a strong magnetic field to give extension down into the midrange for better integration. The drivers in the 'head' include Neat's familiar 170mm P1-R3 mid/bass unit, which uses a treated paper cone with a flared profile and an aluminium phase plug, and has already seen duty in the company's speakers from the Petite range all the way up to the aforementioned Ultimatums. The upper section is completely partitioned off from the 'bass column', and both enclosures are themselves sealed boxes. Just as the top section, with its ribbon tweeter beside a mid/upper bass driver, is a design tried and tested by Neat in its previous Iota models, so the isobaric principle is a familiar one for the company, having been used in models including the flagship Ultimatum range. Neat and others that deploy isobaric drivers, here one above the other and moving in parallel, claim it aids control as well as deepening the bass. It's designed on a grander scale, and has a pair of Neat's P1-R2 170mm bass drivers in isobaric configuration in the floorstanding column. So what to make of the Xplorers? Well just as the Iota Alpha model built on the success of the original Iotas by tilting their boxes atop a small floorstanding cabinet containing a downward-firing bass unit, so the new model takes a further step up. The price is certainly up there with the big boys, at £3495 a pair, and the speakers come in a choice of finishes – natural or black oak, American walnut or Satin White – with grilles in colours either subtle or bright as an optional extra. The Iota Xplorers are the new model in a range that began with the tiny original Iotas some seven years ago, and while they draw on the same principles, the newcomers are very decidedly grown-up despite standing just 780mm tall on their polished conical spikes. ![]() One of the best sounds at Bristol's Sound & Vision Show came not from a gazillion-pound set-up, but the latest arrivals from Neat Acoustics, driven by modest amplification, in a small room that just made you want to stay and listen some more. And then there were three: Neat's little Iota range is all grown up with the arrival of the Xplorer model ![]()
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