REVIEW

the horn and the hats and snares are snappy and fast. There’s also excellent imaging of the musicians laid out in front of me on the imagined stage and my only slight criticism here is a smidge of confusion where with the upper mids and lower-top end… certainly nothing to moan about, but worth mentioning. Overall I let the balance on this kind of music was excellent with nothing being at all shouty or being too forward.

On more rock-orientated material (Hawkwind’s Hall Of The Mountain Grill) there’s a little fall-off with regard to overall cohesion but this is at times pretty hectic music. However, the saving grace of these little Vanguards is their ability to draw you into the music and the image of the music and all that is going on in there. I did find myself getting lost in the tunes and this is what I like to do when reviewing kit – it shows that the product is doing something right.

So, I said I would pop these speakers in a system with the Clones Audio amp in there instead of the Total DAC AMPA 1 and I did just that. This turned out to be a nice little system that just played very nice music with the speakers allowing a good deal of the amp’s character to come through. I’m not going to go into the whole deal with this system as I actually did something I said I never do in reviews and put a system together made up of a couple of bits that were in for review that I thought sounded very good together and I’m going to do a mini-review/not review on them in a wee while simply because this seemed to be a system that gelled together very nicely for the money.

Niggles

Not a lot at this price, to be honest. These are very good-sounding speakers with my only criticism being that slight confusion at times in the upper mids.

Conclusion

Yes, these a bass-limited, but don’t let that put you off as what bass there is tight and taut. In lots of ways, they took me back to my youth when I first started experimenting with speakers and audio.

What I particularly enjoyed about these speakers was the way that they integrated top to bottom. They aren’t at all dominant in one area, though they are strong through the mid-band with my only criticism here being that they can get a little muddled in the upper mids on some busier music. At the top end, they are articulate and yet relaxed.

These are a good speaker for the money and I really enjoyed them in my system and when combined with other relatively modestly priced components – you can put a system together with these speakers for way less than £3K and have a very nice sounding system.

Overall I’d thoroughly recommend these speakers and I really enjoyed that they are closed-box speakers, though they do need to be wound up a little to get the best out of them. They are an engaging and enjoyable speaker with, in reality, very few flaws at this price.

At A Glance

Build Quality:

Well put together and finished

Sound Quality:

These are a good sounding speaker that I think have a lot of what was great about the speakers I grew up with when I first got into HiFi in a serious way

Bass is obviously limited but that will be a bonus if used in a smaller room

Closed box design has these speakers deliver a very nice bass that appeals to me

Can get a little muddled at the top mid point but overall they are liquid and easy going

Value For Money:

I think these offer pretty good value for money at less than $1000. Obviously, those living in the EU or the UK will need to factor in shipping and import duty

We Loved:

An engaging and involving speaker to listen to

An honest loudspeaker that isn’t trying to be something it isn’t

Natural soundstaging

Easy to listen to for long periods

We Didn’t Love So Much:

Can get a tad muddled on some music at the frequency point I mention

Elevator Pitch Review: Hailing from America, the $1000 XSA Vanguard speakers are a compact, sealed box design that harks back to the classic designs of yesteryear. They are a no-nonsense design that is devoid of bells and whistles that shout “Look at me” and that will appeal to many. Sonically the Vanguards are a very pleasing loudspeaker to listen to and whilst they don’t go super-low, they do have a tight and bouncy bass performance. From top to bottom, they are a delight to listen to with my only criticism being that they got a little muddled on busier tracks in the upper-mids. Other than that, I highly recommend these speakers.

Price: $999