2025 Awards – Product of the Year, Innovation & Extreme Audio

Loudspeakers may come and go, but some carve a place in history. The original Trapez from 1979 is one such loudspeaker. The three-way angled floorstander was the brainchild of Ole Klifoth and established the Audiovector brand in its native Denmark and beyond. And 45 years later, Audiovector – now in the capable hands of Ole’s son Mads – has developed the Trapeze Reimagined; a three-way, Isobaric Compound Bass-loaded floorstanding loudspeaker design. It uses a 12-inch highpower mid/bass driver (with an eight-inch driver in an isobaric configuration), a five-inch-high speed midrange, and an Audiovector SEC Air Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeter specifically designed for this loudspeaker. The loudspeaker is also one of the few designs that takes an amplifier’s damping factor into account, with a three position switch on the rear panel. Trapeze Ri retains the original wide-baffle trapezoid loudspeaker enclosure, but in build and finish, this is every inch a modern loudspeaker, drawing from those 45 years of design and development to create something at once classic and new.

A charmer

The first impression is this is a loudspeaker that puts a smile on your face. Audiovector’s Trapeze Ri is at once a serious and accurate portrayer of musical intent, and a charmer with an innate and almost mischievous sense of humour. If you are the kind of music lover that plays Bach’s cerebral Goldberg Variations back to back with pounding Techno played at club levels, Trapeze Ri has got everything you need!

In our test, Alan Sircom said that “Trapeze Ri is the complete opposite to the stuffy audiophile loudspeaker that only springs to life when fed beautifully recorded music.” He also likened it to the classic Linn Isobarik loudspeaker…” with the nasty bits smoothed off. It’s got that same sense of a visceral, ‘meaty’ and rhythmically precise bass, but this time coupled to a midrange that expresses itself beautifully and a treble that is at once detailed and never peaky sounding. Like most Audiovectors – and like most wide-baffle designs – it gives a fine presentation of stereo imaging.” He concluded by saying, “For those who want something that plays music with fun and force, those who want something that can produce detail and danceable tunes, and for those who want bass that has depth, slam and a wicked sense of rhythm… the Audiovector Trapeze Ri is calling you.”

Reviewed in Issue 231

Audiovector • www.audiovector.com

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The Focal Diva Utopia is the result of the well-documented union between Focal and Naim, and marks a bold step in high-end active speaker design for both the brands and in the wider context of audio in general. While higher-end streaming loudspeaker systems have been seen before, none approach the project with as much élan as the Focal Diva Utopia. This visually striking speaker seamlessly blends Focal’s renowned driver technology, including its signature beryllium tweeter, with Naim’s acclaimed amplification and digital processing prowess.

At its core lies a sophisticated system featuring a SHARC DSP and Burr Brown DACs, working in unison to provide precise control and effortless power delivery to each driver. The Diva Utopia also incorporates Naim’s proprietary wireless protocol for seamless communication between speakers, ensuring a wide bandwidth and robust signal stability.

Captivating

Sonically, the Diva Utopia delivers a captivating listening experience characterised by exceptional detail, expansive soundstaging, and a striking sense of musicality. Its ability to effortlessly handle both delicate passages and demanding dynamics is a testament to the meticulous engineering that underpins its design. Our reviewer stated that, “The application of digital cleverness might be subtle, but its effectiveness is hard to overstate. One neat little trick the Diva pulls is gently enhancing the bass frequencies as the volume gets turned down.” and signed off saying, “The Focal Diva Utopia is both superb and likely to be a portent of things to come.”

Reviewed in Issue 237

Focal • www.focal.com

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Californian high-end loudspeaker expert Magico has built a reputation for crafting very high performance loudspeakers. So high in fact that while for most brands, the mighty M7 would be considered its extreme statement, in Magico’s case, this extraordinary loudspeaker draws inspiration and technology from the ultimate expression of Magico-ness; the flagship M9. Standing at 163 cm and weighing 239 kg, the M7’s impressive design reflects the brand’s meticulous approach to engineering, including the use of a carbon-fibre and aluminium monocoque enclosure designed using state-of-the-art Finite Element Analysis (FEA) modeling.

The advancements continue in the sophisticated drivers, including a diamond-coated beryllium tweeter and a five-inch midrange driver made with the latest Nano-Tec technology. Magico also employs its proprietary Elliptical Symmetry Crossover (ESXO) in the M7, linking the six driver, four-way design perfectly.

Beyond the norm

A loudspeaker that costs as much as a few minutes of space tourism is the very definition of ‘extreme’, but it delivers a sound that is out of this world, too. In our test, Alan Sircom said, “This is the kind of loudspeaker that pushes so far beyond the norm that our usual vocabulary runs out of road.” He also felt the sound had an impact more profound than he expected, “Put on something with a lot of emotional content and you get to do the ugly cry. So don’t play the Firebird Suite unless you want to throw a few chairs around.” He concluded by saying, “The air is thin up where the Magico M7 lives, but that just makes the challenge of getting there all the more rewarding!”

Reviewed in Issue 229

Magico • www.magico.net

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