Marantz MCR-612 'Melody X'
Featuring wi-fi, Bluetooth, Internet radio, HEOS and a huge range of built-in music services, the Melody X has you covered for streaming music. It goes much further, though. A CD player lets you keep on spinning your favourite discs. DAB and FM tuners let you listen off air. Finally, a wide collection of digital and analogue inputs make connecting up your other music sources a cinch.
When it comes to streaming music your way, the Melody X is ahead of the game. Apple AirPlay 2 is now standard and Amazon Prime Music, Spotify (Premium account required for full features), TIDAL, Napster and Deezer are all on board. There’s also TuneIn for Internet radio and Bluetooth music streaming.
AirPlay 2 takes this popular wireless streaming format and makes it better. Controllable by simply asking Siri or using your Apple device, AirPlay 2 lets you effortlessly stream music and podcasts around your home – and all in perfect sync. Alternatively, use the Bluetooth connection for a direct stream from your smartphone or other device.
HEOS multi-room music systems connect together by dual-band Wi-Fi, making them easy to set up with your existing home network. Up to 32 HEOS units can be set up at one time, ensuring even the largest of homes are covered for multi-room music. With HEOS already built-in, the Melody X is ready to go as a single ‘zone’ without any further adaptors.
With support for Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Siri, the Melody X has your every request covered. Simply add an Alexa or Google Home device or use Apple AirPlay for effortless voice control of the main functions, such as volume and input.
As a further bonus, the Melody X MCR612 features a built-in CD player. Marantz make some of the best CD players on the market, so it's little surprise to find this one plays CDs to a very high standard. For added flexibility, it will also play MP3 and WMA music files stored on disc.
Another very handy feature is the built in DAB/FM tuner radio. A choice of DAB and FM gives you access to a wide range of local and national stations. For ease of use, RDS (Radio Data System) is included on the FM tuner. At the back of this versatile system you'll find two optical digital inputs and one RCA phono analogue pair. Perfect for connecting sources such as your TV, games console or set-top box, the Melody X improves the sound of much more than just your music. As a further bonus, it even works with your TV’s remote control – perfect for adjusting the volume or mute without having to use two remotes.
KEF Q550
Q550 is the smallest size among the Q Series floorstanders. Featuring the KEF signature Uni-Q driver array paired with a 130mm (5.25 inch) aluminium bass driver and two matching ABRs, Q550 delivers a phenomenal audiophile performance with clarity and more controlled bass.
"Sit anywhere" Uni-Q sound
At the heart of the evolved Q Series is the Uni-Q driver array. The signature innovation places the tweeter in the acoustic centre of the midrange and bass cone, bringing the acoustic ideal of a single point source closer than ever to realisation. The result is a more detailed, accurate three-dimensional sound image, which is dispersed more evenly throughout the room than is possible with any conventional speaker. Uni-Q's ultra-wide dispersion is further enhanced through KEF's 'tangerine' waveguide over the tweeter dome.
Damped tweeter loading tube
With the addition of the damped tweeter loading tube providing a gentle termination of sound produced from the back of the tweeter, lower treble performance is improved dramatically and a new low-distortion inductor on the crossover provides cleaner bass.
New system design
The closed box midrange cabinet design reduces the load on the Uni-Q midrange cone, increasing clarity and detail while delivering cleaner, punchier bass. Midrange clarity is enhanced again through improvements to the mid-bass driver that allowed the DC blocking capacitor to be eliminated. Its removal also created a more natural bass roll-off between the drivers.
Beefier LF drivers and ABRs
Low-frequency (LF) drivers now have a larger roll surround, along with a new suspension to produce cleaner bass at high volumes. A new cone structure improves midrange clarity, and an enhanced Auxiliary Bass Radiator (ABR) with a new surround and rear suspension delivers better controlled and more impressive bass.
