With soundbars, sound bases, Home Cinema and Hi-Fi systems all vying for your attention in pursuit of great sound, a further option has been quietly (or not as the case may be) making ground in the market.
Active monitor speakers have been around for years in professional audio circles, used by recording studios across the globe. Their compact designs save valuable space and work independently without needing an amplifier. Budding bedroom DJs are also happy to utilise their helpful portability when lugging decks and record cases around.
While most of us may not necessarily aspire to open a studio or spin on the ‘ones and twos’, the benefits mentioned above are still highly applicable for your home or office. With two compact boxes, a power socket and a phone full of music and you’ve got yourself a party! What’s not to like?
The Plus 2 speakers are the smaller of two active speakers models from audio manufacturer Tibo – the other being the Plus 3s. The UK based audio experts are hoping to make a big impression with these sleek speakers so let’s take a look at what they’re offering.
Tibo is celebrating its 5th birthday this year.
Standing at just 210mm tall and only 200mm deep, the Plus 2s are as compact as you’re likely to find in the active speaker market. Packing a 4″ woofer and a 1″ tweeter (manufacturers measure these in imperial rather than metric) into each matte-black cabinet.
At the back the right speaker has all the usual binding posts, suitable either for bare-wire cable, or a pair of banana plugs. The left speaker contains the amplifier, along with a power supply connection, volume control, a subwoofer output and a USB output that’s handy for charging devices – nice touch.
For inputs we’re provided two digital optical ports, a set of phono’s and a 3.5mm connection. It features Bluetooth 4.0, which supports AptX for better sound quality. There’s also a remote for controlling volume and switching sound sources.
We put the Plus 2s on a pair of stands and paired them via Bluetooth with a phone. First up was the sophomore release from the folk band Fleet Foxes, ‘Helplessness Blues’. The album is still full of fantastic group harmonies while wonderfully channelling the essence of Bob Dylan’s classic, ‘Blonde on Blonde’ album. They handled the album deftly for such small speakers. Soundstaging wasn’t huge, but all the detail was there, and the bass response when moved close to the back wall showed itself was more than capable. Definitely a fun listen!
For Home Cinema fans one of the big advantages to having optical inputs on the back is easy connectivity with modern TV sets. To that end, we plugged the Plus 2s in to our demo room set and switched to the Marvel action romp ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. Again they worked well offering clear and detailed dialogue that’s a vast improvement on the TV’s built in speakers. Bass frequencies were left wanting a little bit but the larger Plus 3s naturally responded much better and don’t forget there is that handy subwoofer output too.
The Plus series is a superb option for those wanting to enjoy great sound from a small and versatile package, making them palatable in almost any room in the house. Come visit us in-store and experience them for yourself in our home styled demo room.
Author – Chris, Liverpool store
