Small speakers are popular. And why wouldn't they be? They're visually less domineering. Their cosmetic impact is quieter if you will. More old than new money. Alas, hard-boiled audiophiles are always quick to point out their inevitable compromises relative to bandwidth and SPL. Even so, clever engineering, hi-tech parts and proper use can mitigate those or render them nearly irrelevant.


As a rare woman in upscale hifi, Gabi Rijnveld isn't genetically prewired to the primitive mantra that bigger is better. Living in the low lands of frugal Holland rather than the US helps, too. With her company, she's no stranger to actively preaching a different gospel: Small is elegant, small is beautiful. That's certainly true for her chic cables.


When it came time to migrate her proven glass or aluminium Arabesque speaker concept into its lowest price point yet, her engineering husband Edwin who spearheads sister brand Siltech had to look for a new material. To hit their target price, the team needed to cut assembly complexity and associated costs.


Take a gander at the below cutaway. It'll have you appreciate at a glance how the faceted bigger Arabesque monitor bolts together; and just why that laborious scheme was flat out of this picture. Don't even start with invisibly bonded overweight tempered glass panels. Those make up Crystal's two top models. That even more outrageous approach was completely off the reservation for what was to become the Crystal Cable Minissimo. But so were the ubiquitous MDF and popular Birch ply. Educated by glass and metal precursors, Edwin and Gabi had higher demands for rigidity and resonance control than those materials afford.