The audio industry is going through a period of change due to numerous factors. Cost of living pressures, lingering changes post-pandemic – including the drift to web-based decision-making – and a changing demographic in the buying public are all having an impact. Another major factor is the change in the aesthetics of our living environment. Most of today’s contemporary housing designs are stripped-back and minimalist, with sleek lines and lots of polished concrete, glass and marble.

I subscribe to several architectural websites that give me regular feeds on current new builds/renovations. I rarely see a contemporary design where a pair of tower speakers and an audio rack would fit in. When I first started in this industry, the hi-fi system held pride of place in many living rooms. Today, it needs to integrate with the rest of the décor, which in most cases means it needs to be smaller and discrete or even disappear entirely.

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Many audio companies are rising to this challenge. One of the pioneers of this trend was Sonos. Its offering is compact, relatively inexpensive, and reliable. It does not pretend to offer the performance capabilities of the well-known specialist hi-fi brands, but nevertheless, it has struck a chord.

Some years later, British high-end manufacturer Naim Audio released its Unity Series, which is a range of all-in-one hi-fi components that simply requires the addition of a pair of loudspeakers. While requiring more living room real estate than Sonos, the difference in performance is beyond considerable and approaches the sound characteristics and quality of Naim’s more traditional and larger siblings. The increasing number of compact but high-performance bookshelf speakers from the likes of Sonus faber, Serhan Swift, B&W and Triangle has played perfectly into this market.

In more recent times, the floodgates have opened. We are now regularly seeing new ‘just add speakers’ products from numerous companies. Some, such as the WiiM Amp Pro, are still decidedly lo-fi but work well and offer incredible value for money. Others like the soon-to-be-released Naim Uniti Nova PE, rated at 150 watts per channel, take the concept to another level – and join the ranks of companies such as NAD with its audio equivalent of a Swiss army knife, the M33. Sitting in the middle are products such as Marantz’s M1 – a compact 100W streaming amplifier that sells for $1,699.

Other companies are taking a different approach. For example, the eagerly awaited Triangle Capella speakers have all the necessary technology built into the speakers – amplifier, streamer and DAC. A separate hub also talks to the speakers wirelessly and lets you connect external sources like turntables or TVs if desired. Companies like Meridian and Bang & Olufsen have been marketing active speakers for decades, but the concept has taken on a whole new life in this modern world of streaming. Almost all these offerings let you connect your TV – doing away with the need for a soundbar – resulting in improved TV sound and vastly better music performance.

Can these components be considered high-end hi-fi? Not really. If you want that level of performance and have the space and funds, the latter is still the way to go. But this new breed of compact systems is an acceptable compromise, where a conventional hi-fi rig is no longer feasible. They are still capable of conveying the emotion that the artist intended and are a considerable improvement on many of the alternatives so popular today.

Systems such as these are also a great introduction to our industry for anyone desiring something better than a Bluetooth speaker or a compressed wireless multi-room system without turning these desires into a hobby. This can be a fascinating industry with many moving components, but there can be a danger of some of those moving parts getting in the way of the end goal—the music.

I recently read an interview in a local hi-fi magazine with a self-confessed lapsed audiophile, but who was still a music lover. He said: “I still enjoy good sound, just not nearly as much as I value the emotional impact of music.” You and I may argue that the two go hand in hand, but I understand what he is alluding to. He talks of comparing valves and cables, and while they undoubtedly have a part to play, there’s a danger of listening to the valves (or cables) rather than the music.

We now have a generation or two of people raised on a diet of compressed music and earbuds. Hearing their music for the first time on a simple but high-quality system, such as a Naim Uniti with appropriate speakers, can be a revelation. Yet they have no interest—not yet at least—in going down the valve/cable comparison route.

This new generation of systems is also far more appealing to women. There was an interesting article on the Headphonesty website where they discussed a review on a Krell amplifier that had 9,500 views. Not one was from a female, and significantly, no one was under 35! In my experience, women firstly have better hearing and appreciation for music, and secondly, they buy for the right reasons and are not swayed by size or specifications – although design does play a bigger part. There is obviously a huge market out there not being tapped by our industry.

Single-box solutions really do have a lot going for them. They may not compete in performance with audiophile offerings, but come a close second. They are certainly a giant step up on Bluetooth speakers and soundbars, and should be celebrated for that alone!

For more information visit Len Wallis Audio