Description
Andrew Jones is one of the most respected names in the speaker industry, a designer with many years of experience working at KEF, TAD, Pioneer and ELAC. After the success of the flagship SourcePoint 10, he set himself a more difficult task: to fit the same philosophy of signal purity, accuracy and maximum authenticity of sound into a much more compact body that can fit into almost any room. Thus appeared the SourcePoint 8 - bookshelf speakers that inherit the lion's share of the DNA of the older model, while remaining significantly smaller and lighter.
At the heart of the SourcePoint 8 is a proprietary concentric driver design familiar to fans of Jones' previous work: a 1.25-inch soft-fabric dome tweeter is positioned precisely in the acoustic center of an 8-inch paper-cellulose mid-woofer. This arrangement eliminates the time and phase differences between bands inherent in traditional designs with spaced speakers - the sound is born at a single point in space, forming an exceptional three-dimensional stage, precise localization of instruments and a lively, emotional presentation.
The driver is driven by the proprietary Twin-Drive system on high-induction neodymium magnets - two oppositely directed magnets with copper bushings form a perfectly symmetrical magnetic field. This is the same technology used in the older SourcePoint 10, and it delivers extremely low intermodulation distortion: the speaker motor creates significantly less parasitic overtones, leaving the music clearer and more precise.
The cabinet is made of thick, three-ply panels of 3/4-inch-thick natural wood veneer and is reinforced with a branched internal strut and a sculpted 1.5-inch-thick front baffle. The multi-faceted, "cut-off" shape of the baffle reduces diffraction - a typical problem with flat front panels, when sound waves, bending around the sharp corners of the cabinet, distort the frequency response. Two large bass reflex ports on the rear panel provide powerful bass with minimal airflow turbulence, even at high volumes.
At 12.7kg each SourcePoint 8 will perform equally well in a compact close-in listening room as a full pair in a small to medium living room. These are the speakers for those who want the reference level of detail, staging and emotional engagement from Andrew Jones without stepping into the category of large floorstanding systems.
