Two rather big boxes which Arek delivered in person we dealt with in less than three minutes tops. Each speaker came wrapped in plastic and cradled in a pair of foam protectors inside a regular cardboard box. Two 70cm tall stands of 80 kilograms weight in total arrived as well. Priced at €499/pr, visually modest but finished meticulously and with top plates obviously tailor-made for Blipo, these proved very useful and quite the lookers. They come in versions of two, four or six uprights. Many manufacturers ask at least twice that for very similar goods. Because Blipo is an active monitor, it allows one to build a minimalist setup around it. All it takes to get going is a DAC and source and—if the former has volume control—a separate preamplifier can be crossed off the list. That spends less money on cables and associated electronics and takes up less space. The flips side are more limited options to mix and match. Blipo measures 50x60x22cm HxDxW and weighs 28kg. That's quite heavy, tall and unusually deep yet narrow. The initial impression was a bit intimidating. Technically this is a two-way 3-driver sealed box with a d'Appolito driver array. The cabs are 22mm MDF for the front baffle and 19mm MDF everywhere else whilst the entire rear plate is aluminium. I found the choice of matte paint quite interesting. As a utilitarian tool, Blipo must be able to take a beating with dignity so Arek decided on IGP's proprietary highly weather/temperature-proof DURA®xal powder coat usually found on skyscrapers. I was told that it costs a lot but was found to be worth every penny. Even the silk screening is applied twice as thick as standard solutions.

As a textbook d'Appolito affair, Blipo is loaded with two ScanSpeak Classic 18W/8535 7" mid/woofers which bracket one ScanSpeak Classic D2905/9700 tweeter. These drivers have been in constant production since the early '90s. The former sport cast aluminium baskets, air-dried carbon-fibre mixed cellulose membranes and the Danes' proprietary Symmetric Drive motor whilst the tweeter also referred to as 'the small Revelator' is a 28mm silk dome capable of high output with minimal distortion. Blipo's crossover sits at 2'600Hz via quasi 4th order slopes for each driver. This filter actually cascades two 12dB/oct. filters to improve frequency and phase response. Visually minimalist and monolithic, Sveda Audio's Blipo doesn't look like an audiophile beauty pageant winner but was never designed to participate in the first place. Its stated goal is to do the audible job as good as possible. So most the resources were spent on that. On assembly and veneer quality, I spotted zero nits. Blipo's build quality was commensurate with its price.

The rear proved generously kitted out. There's the logo and brand name and despite single-ended circuitry inside, an XLR input and pass-thru XLR output to conform with pro standards. There's a resistor-ladder input level knob, a ±1dB tweeter contour and a 6dB@30Hz bass boost switch. There's also a ground lift switch, an on/off switch with extra 4A/250V fuse, an IEC power inlet and a compact heat sink in the middle. Should you wonder about a small white square with the word 'JAS' in it, that's the name of Arek's youngest son. When Jaś grows up to fully acknowledge what his old man does for a living, he'll have reason to smile. The enclosure has 33-litre capacity, semi-matte black or American Walnut skins are the two standard options and everything else costs extra but never more than €500 for the most luxurious finish available. Overall choices are generous; gloss, semi-mate and matte coatings can be assigned to various colours and veneers. Internal damping is a mix of aramid angel hair and regular synthetic fibres. Although the drivers work in the same chamber, they are separated from the electronics with a thick MDF wall. The internal circuitry attaches to the back plate and is modular by design. Two separate PCBs link up via a ribbon which Arek described as "dozens of times more costly than regular options". 

A desymmetrizing buffer, protection circuitry and active filter modules based on OP275 op-amps by Analog Devices are found on the board right behind all inputs and switches. From there the signal hits the amplification board several inches away. Each driver is powered by a Sveda class A/B 300w/4Ω amp based on Toshiba 2SC5200 and 2SA1943 Mosfets. All three amps per enclosure are very much alike but the pair fronting the mid/woofers is bridged. Backed by two large Nichicon capacitors, the toroidal power transformer is made to Arek's specs by our domestic Toroidy.pl transformer house whilst Canare furnished the internal wiring. In its standard finish, Blipo fetches €4'999/pr. To wrap up my intro, both the D'Appo and Blipo names result from clever word play. The former is a short form of the Polish far-field (pol. DAlekie POle), the latter of near-field (BLIskie POle).