Loudspeakers

The Manger P2 coped very well indeed, giving an open and tangible rendition of the instruments. Brass had a satisfying rasp, yet it didn't shout. Saxes sounded throaty and raw yet were delicately carried. The drum kit had a natural directness to it, its cymbals showing a pleasing lustre and sheen, without a hint of hardness.

Bass was fairly impressive too, but only when the aforementioned positioning issue was sorted. Herbie Hancock's 'I Have A Dream' [The Prisoner; Blue Note 7243 5 25649 2 7] showed this to clear effect. Sat correctly, the double-bass was supple, propulsive and bouncy. It gave a vibrant underpinning to the main percussion work, really motoring the song along. There was very little in the way of overhang, and the low-end integrated well with the higher frequencies, giving a fairly seamless, almost electrostatic-like sound.

So the P2 is a highly able loudspeaker, but like many high-end designs focused on doing something particularly well, the P2 is not a jack of all trades. Positioning issues aside, it lacks the ability to move seriously large amounts of air around the room, and at high volumes in largish rooms, you might find it a little lightweight.

For example, 808 State's 'Ancodia' [from 808:90; ZTT XECZ-1001-1002] is a classic piece of '90s electronica with a fulsome Roland TB303 bass synthesiser working overtime. This floorstander seemed just a little breathless when asked to reproduce this, for while it didn't betray any overt signs of distress, neither did it commit to thundering out vast tracts of bass. The track was still enjoyably animated, highly detailed across the midband and good at capturing subtle dynamic peaks, but didn't have the sheer head-banging physical presence that some might wish for.

Delicate And Dramatic
Otherwise the Manger P2's purity of tone makes flitting between recordings fun – it's starkly apparent that every album you play was recorded in a different studio with a different producer, rather than everything having a generic 'Stock, Aitken and Waterman Hit Factory' sound. So 'I Have A Dream' sounded dramatically different to 'Humans', with a far more diffuse and warm sound thanks its 50-year-old microphones, mixers and tape recorders. Yet still you're well able to enjoy the music; I loved the delicacy that this loudspeaker was able to show here, especially in rhythmic terms.

The counterpoint between the drummer's rim-shots and hi-hat strikes created an infectiously supple feel to the song, and this syncopated beautifully with the louche piano work. This speaker is great at capturing subtle rhythmic accenting and I found myself focusing in on individual instruments and following them as if they were performing their own little solos within the mix.

The exquisite opera 'Light The Red Lantern' by the Symphony Orchestra of the China National Ballet [Raise The Red Lantern; EMI M-4018-2L], proved a fascinating listen. Having witnessed this ballet live at Beijing's National Centre for the Performing Arts, I was delighted with the accuracy of the imaging and depth perspective on show – very close to the real thing.

It's a bright and stark recording that loses just a little of the concert hall's warmth but it didn't grate via the P2. Indeed the kettle drums and brass stabs emerged from an inky-black silence, precisely positioned in space. There was a decent sense of front-to-back depth too.

All The Way To 11
Indeed, this is one its strengths – though you'll need to be generous with the volume to really get the Manger P2 fully out of its shell. At lower levels, 'Sputnik' from Public Service Broadcasting [The Race For Space; Test Card Recordings TCRCDA02] was a little spatially constrained, but things certainly picked up as the volume went north.

This done, I heard a broad and expansive sound that – if not quite cathedral-like – had a good long reach. Inside this, elements of the mix were tightly positioned yet given room to breath without being smothered by other strands. Move off axis though, and the subtle sheen that shines a gentle extra light on the upper midband falls away and things can sound slightly duller and more diffuse. With the Manger P2 it's all about the sweet spot.

Hi-Fi News Verdict
The joy of expensive loudspeakers is that designers have far more scope to focus on what they consider to be important. The engineers responsible for the Manger P2 have blended a mix of the novel with the conventional to deliver a sound that's far from ordinary – clean and even over a wide range, it has a fast, lithe sound at the expense of outright bass weight. If that's your thing, then the P2 will be a must-hear.