Audience 42
Cigar Aficionado, February 2002, by Matt Kramer
You don't need the behemoths from your college days to enjoy great sound.
It's a well-worn mantra: everything is getting smaller. This miniaturization is expected for everything, it seems, except great stereo speakers. Somehow, the old notion of "bigger is better" still clings to stereo speakers like nostalgia at a college reunion.
So you'll have to forgive me when I tell you: whatever you thought (and what I once thought, too) about great stereo speakers is simply not true anymore. Size doesn't matter. Well, not that much anyway.
The best small speakers - what audiophiles call "high-end mini-monitors" - defy belief. If you close your eyes and listen to the music, you won't believe what you see when you open your eyes. It doesn't seem possible that such a small speaker-a foot-high box about nine inches deep and maybe eight inches wide-could make such a big, beautifully defined, resonant sound. Yet it's so.
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