After a week in lock down and having lost my work spot on the sofa in the dining room where my day to day system is located, I decided I needed a set of desktop speakers for the study which is now my semi-permanent work space. The prerequisite was that they must be active and have Bluetooth, so that I can connect with any of my devices and so can anyone else using the room. Oh, and I clearly wanted them to sound good!
I have become a bit of a Wharfedale Diamond fanboy since purchasing a pair of the originals second-hand for the Scalford Hall "Cheap as Chips" challenge several years ago and have several pairs of various vintage including my last speaker purchase for the kitchen, a pair of Wharfedale DS2. I was tempted to just buy another pair of those (c. £170) but then I thought I’d have a look and see what else was available, especially as the DS2’s don’t have a remote.
After a bit of armchair shopping I settled upon a pair from a brand I had hardly ever heard of, and certainly never heard – Edifier. Originating in Canada but now in China Edifier produce speakers, music systems, and headphones. (In 2011 they bought STAX.) Reviews seem mainly favourable across their range which goes from around £60 to £600. I decided on the R1700BT in maple. (Also available in white/silver or black.) Although they are being used as desktop speakers, I still wanted a remote control so that I could quickly mute the sound if a phone call came in. The speaker’s geometry are also slightly tilted back, so the baffle and drivers are firing towards the ears in a near-field scenario which I liked the idea of. They also have 2 RCA inputs, should you want to hard-wire any other devices into them. They are from the lower to middle range of their offerings, at £129.99 from Amazon.
First impressions when they arrived are that they are very well made for the very modest cost, and reasonably stylish with their wood “cheeks”. The right-hand speaker contains the class D amplification (15W RMS per channel for the treble + 18W RMS for the bass) with a 2m cable to connect the left speaker. Drive units are 4-inch bass and 19mm tweeter, with a front facing bass reflex port. They have removable grilles, should you wish. The master right speaker has a combined volume/power/source rotary/push control, plus rotary treble and bass controls. On the rear is the power switch, the 2 sets of RCA connections and left speaker connection, plus a hard-wired power cord. I’ve only used them with Bluetooth so far, mainly from a laptop running Linux (Ubuntu 20.04) with external hard drive and FLAC files (using the excellent Quod Libet player, but also Spotify (Linux app) and Tidal (browser version)). Pairing is easy from iPhone and iPad too, just locate the name in the Bluetooth menu and connect.
(Stock Picture of the RHS speaker.)
My desk is about 120cm wide, so a speaker at each side, toed in slightly towards me they are very near-field, but this gives a very immersive experience at low volumes, and a good stereo image. Overall, I am very impressed with the sound. Some reviews on Amazon criticise the bass as being “boomy” or bloated, but leaving the tone controls alone I haven’t noticed it being especially bad – and what do you expect from a 4-inch driver and with speakers this cheap? As I’ve been “locked down” since they arrived with wife and two kids I haven’t had the chance to turn them up really loud, but they are capable of going higher than I would normally listen in any case.
What has really stood out is what always attracts me so a speaker’s sound and that’s the mid-range. It’s what I like about the “BBC sound” of my Spendor SP1’s and what Wharfedale Diamonds do so well. But equally I have been very surprised how good the treble is – in fact, it was listening to the Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane that prompted me to write this review, as the treble of the cymbals sounded so good! I’ve often been listening most of the working day, and not once have they sounded harsh or fatiguing. I’m currently listening to Craig Armstrong’s 1997 masterpiece “The Space Between Us” which is slightly apt, as the separation between the instruments and sounds on Weather Storm is far better than it should be on a system this cheap! The strings sound fantastic! So, if you’re on the lookout for some very reasonably priced desktop speakers that do a great job for what they are, I would highly recommend them. If anyone else has experience of the Edifier range I’d be interested in hearing your views, too.
Here are some pics of mine in-situ: