PARTY PIECE

At the same time, the overall presentation favours transparency, insight and smoothness. You’d never consider these warm or rich, and occasionally the emphasis on midband precision seems to come at the expense of high-end sparkle. I can imagine some considering this speaker lacking in ‘excitement’, but counter to this is the pleasure you get listening to something that never seems to put a foot wrong. I also found it easy to drive with quite modest amplification, and tonally consistent with off-axis listening. I finished my audition, as I knew I would, with ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ [The Ultimate Collection; Polydor 065 234-2], which had me tapping my feet and air-drumming to Keith Moon’s frantic rhythms. So for all the twenty5.26i’s mature looks and neutral performance, that doesn’t mean it’s not suited to getting the party started. At one point Daltrey demanded I ‘take a bow for the new revolution’. I’d doff my cap to this speaker.