Multi-room systems
Enjoy your music in any room of the house with one of these great multi-room systems
Audio Pro £350
Audio Pro has an nine-strong line-up of multi-room speakers (with a handful of Bluetooth products that can also be incorporated), but this Award-winning system comprises the Addon C3 speaker, its larger (and more sonically talented) sibling, the Addon C10 and the Link 1 – a hub that connects hi-fi components or wireless speakers into the chain.
The C3 and C10 create a pair of smart, appealing boom-box-style speakers with a ‘koala bear’ driver configuration that is these speakers’ distinguishing feature. The difference in cabinet size is reflected in the Addon C10’s larger mid/bass driver – 13cm in diameter, compared with the Addon C3’s 9cm. The C10 also has a larger reflex port and an 80W digital class D amplifier, so it can delve an extra 5Hz into those bass frequencies.
The disc-shaped Link 1’s job is to collect song selections from the app, connect to your home network via either wi-fi or its ethernet input and dispense the music via the selected output. With a 3.5mm-to-rca cable included, linking to an existing set up could hardly be easier.
The Audio Pro app seeks out available products connected to the home network and allows access to Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. It’s simple to use – drag-and-drop to partner or separate speakers, either in stereo pairs or multi-room zones, and tweak the bass and treble – but is certainly limited compared with most rival systems.
The great draw here is the musicality of these speakers’ performance. Its unrivalled by anything at a similar price. The Addon C3’s level of detail, for example, cleanly exposes the texture and timbre of each instrument and vocal line alike without underplaying cohesion or organisation in favour of analysis. It also times with metronomic precision.
Add the increased heft of the Addon C10 and the performance is predictably grander, able to twist our insides with its low-end authority. There’s also more space to the presentation and greater ambient detail.
The Link 1 perhaps shoulders a lesser burden, but it performs its task with aplomb. It fits our Addon T3 like a glove, which is no surprise, but even hooking it up to feed Spotify into our reference hi-fi system doesn’t hold the performance back, despite the inherent limitations.
For sound quality at the price, this system is simply unbeatable.