B&W XT Series

The basics

B&W XT are a series of speakers for home theatres which followed the trend of slimmer and wall friendly TV designs. The system includes alluminium cabentry, bulging topside tweeter pod, and yellow Kevlar midrange drivers. The best piece of the series is the XT4 tower, which in itself is considered as art by most experts.

The good

Conventional wisdom would have you believe that all-metal cabinets sound painfully harsh and bright. But then conventional wisdom probably wouldn’t spend £3,500 on home cinema speakers. The XT speakers are extruded from a single piece of aluminium and adorned with exceptionally precise Nautilus tweeters and Kevlar mid-range drivers to produce the most accurate, transparent sound you’ve ever heard. Add the phattest of spherical PV1 active subs and you’ve got a matchless system that can turn your legs to jelly or melt your ears with the sheer beauty of sound.

The bad

This is as close to sonic heaven as mere mortals are ever likely to get. The XT speakers do require some pretty impressive components to sound their best, though, so get that Van Gogh down to the auction house sharpish.

The bottom line

Speakers that look and feel as good as they sound are a rare breed. Upgrade your ears before you think about spending any more on movie sonics than these British beauties.