Nola Pegasus Speakers

Reviewed by Roy Gregory In Issue 42

Price: £39OOO UK Distributor: Nola (UK) Ltd. Tel. (44)(0)791 617 6399 E-mail. michael-akuttcr@hotmail.co.uk Manufacturer: Accent Loudspeakers Ltd. Net. www.nolaspeakers.com

Last year we saw a pair of loudspeaker designs, Avalon Acoustics' Eidolon Diamond and the Marten Coltrane, establish a significant new benchmark in the cost versus performance equation. Suddenly you could get so much out of a (relatively) small and (relatively) affordable box that one was forced to question the benefits of larger, more extravagant and vastly more costly systems. All too often, the comparison proved less than flattering to the more expensive models, the harsh glare of the reality check leaving a very select few with their dignity intact. Now that movement has been reinforced by the arrival of the Nola Pegasus, which hits the cost criterion even if it's larger than the other two and rather less elegant. It adopts a very different approach too, relying on a multitude of drive units all equipped with distinctly retro AlNiCo magnet assemblies. But don't be fooled by the obvious differences; in all sonically important respects the Nolas toe the party line, albeit with their own distinctive twist. Striking a near perfect balance of bottom-end extension, drivability and energy distribution, they major on tonal accuracy scale and the organic thrust of the performance. They are also ruthlessly revealing of associated electronics and set-up, but working at their best they are astonishingly coherent. Turn out the lights and they flat-out disappear - which is a pretty neat trick for something this big. Add supertweeters to match the extension of the diamond domes employed in both the Eldolon and Coltrane and you lift their performance another notch. Unfailingly musical and involving, they simply blow away audio sceptics, whose cries of "How much?" shift from the incredulous to the enquiring. It doesn't make them any more affordable, but it's mighty gratifying...