Ratings: 3.5/5
Price: $1199
www.loewe.tv
It’s
a speaker system that’s compatible with Apple’s AirPlay technology
We haven’t played with a Loewe product for
years – in fact, since they stopped making their class-leading 100Hz CRT
televisions. So we were very happy to take delivery of one of the German firm’s
AirSpeakers.
As the name indicates, it’s a speaker
system that’s compatible with Apple’s AirPlay technology, which allows any Mac
or iOS device to play music or video on a compatible AV device over a network.
The AirSpeaker costs a cool $1199, which
means it’s aimed at those who appreciate good sound and have deep pockets. It
also means it’s up against other high-end AirPlay systems like the B&W
Zeppelin Air and the B&O PLAY BeoLit 12 – though it’s dearer than either of
those speakers.
It’s a compact box, 24cm square and 13cm
high, with sides of black or silver and a wide choice of colors for the metal
top. You can choose from Metallized Chrome, Chrome Ribbed, Chrome Micro,
Aluminium Silver, High Gloss Black and a wood finish in Ebony or Light Oak. Or,
if you’re really picky, you can specify any color under the sun for a fee.
Within a small cavity at the back are
power, Ethernet, USB and Aux ports. Arranged along the top back ridge are
unobtrusive buttons for power/standby, volume and source. Tiny indicator lights
give you an idea of the state of play.
It’s all very appealing. However, while a
minimalist design is great, it also means that setup can get a bit complicated.
You have two options when using Airplay –
wired (Ethernet) or wireless (Wi-Fi). The former is recommended by Loewe
because of its better stability and quality, but we imagine that most users
wouldn’t position the AirSpeaker within a cable’s length of a router, so
wireless is likely to be the preferred user option.
However, while a wired connection can be a
simple plug-and-play operation if your router uses DHCP, setting it up on Wi-Fi
can get more convoluted – the AirSpeaker, after all, needs to know which
network to join and be able to break through its security.
This is done by connecting the AirSpeaker
to your Mac via Ethernet and then calling up a browser-based configuration
page. It’s fairly straightforward, if a little Windows-like.
We went through all the steps, hit the
Apply button and … nothing happened. We went back and forth for hours, trying
to work out why the Loewe refused to join our network (which has about a dozen
gadgets attached at any given time), and eventually walked away to regain our
strength and enthusiasm.
About five days later it started to blare
out music, having been discovered as an AirPlay device by our daughter. Quite
when it decided to play ball we don’t know, but we’re glad it did.
It delivers a punchy yet refined sound. Its
four Class D digital amps pump out a total of 80W via two subwoofers, giving an
amazingly clear, clean and detailed sound for its size.
It’s expansive, so it sounds like a bigger
unit, but the sound field is still quite narrow – all the instruments sound
like they’re coming from a relatively small area.
However, our enjoyment was marred by
frequent dropouts, where the AirSpeaker would simply stop playing and disappear
from our list of available AirPlay devices.
Buying advice. The AirSpeaker is the most expensive AirPlay speaker system we’ve
tested, so it has a lot to prove. While it delivered the goods when it came to
design and sound quality, its setup and dropout issues while on test were a
disappointment.
