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MAGAZINE REVIEWS
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Bob Bottman, USA |
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| Because of the R8-2's clarity, I found myself quite satisfied to listen at lower levels. These more than any other speaker in recent memory, gave me a clear, non-fatiguing, picture window view of the music, allowing the listening experience to take on a more intimate quality. The fine detail of the ribbons was addictive. | The Newform R8-2s are musically revealing and forgiving at the same time, able to gracefully, but unequivocally, display the weak links in an audio chain. And their soundstage illusion is near state-of-the-art period. At their (list) price point, I believe the R8-2s are one of audio's best buys. |
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Ernie Fisher, Canada |
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| These speakers are capable of delivering astounding precision at all volume levels. As expected, the highs are crystal clear. As not expected (for a Ribbon) there isn't any sort of ringing or stridency in those upper regions. The midrange too, is very clear, very detailed and breathy. The Newforms, when set up in the proper manor, offer a stunning image. | They do sound stunningly high end. They are one of those rare finds, sold at a price that must be considered a song and dance. You are well advised to look at these loudspeakers. Don't let the price dissuade you. |
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Chris Beeching, England |
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| The Newforms performed superbly, with a real weighty deep full pedal performance and the Ribbons complementing by keeping the strings smooth, yet detailed and well focused. The acoustic was well presented with a lot of air and space. The Ribbons do have this ability to recreate the acoustic with uncanny reality. Must be the nest best thing to having Charlie Parker in your living room. They must be one of the most musical speakers on the market today. | In conclusion, it's such a good speaker that it's price of around 1800 pounds seems far too little. Their small footprint makes them ideal even in smaller rooms and there's little if anything to touch them in the sub-2000 pound bracket. |
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Andrew Marshall, Canada |
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| Looking at the measurements, we see one of the flattest speakers I have ever measured, with superb dispersion over a 60 degree horizontal window. The neutrality of the R8-1 could be heard on choral and female voice tests as well as with orchestral music. Strings had a nice sheen without sounding overly bright, and the middle strings, violas and cellos, were heard with appropriate warmth and weight. Pop vocalists also sounded extremely neutral and almost in the room, the clarity of subtle inflections always heard. | I listened to the R8-1 for many hours and never felt a sense of listening fatigue. It is an accomplishment for any company to produce a speaker this good, especially at a relatively reasonably price for high end sound. |
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Timmermann, Germany |
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| ...even with a crossover of 1kHz, there is a fantastic and stable soundstage in the making. On or off axis, the Ribbon shines with the best output, it deserves to be coupled with the finest mid-bass. | In frequency response and soundstage, it overshadowed everything that has so far been offered. |
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| The ribbon speakers themselves gave plenty of depth and were extremely smooth and laid back. No harshness at all, rather an ultra polite sound with plenty of detail, especially in orchestral music. | |
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Ernie Fisher, Canada |
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| The R8-1s basically sound the same as their larger siblings, the R8-2. The same precise, clear and succinct highs, the same beautifully clear midrange and an uncanny tonal balance, make these speakers exceptional. The almost electrostatic like revealing quality is nothing short of astounding, which places the Newforms into the high-end (not high price) category of loudspeakers. | The image presented to listeners by the R8-1s is breathtaking. With the R8-1, Newform Research has created what we consider to be audiophile loudspeakers for the budget conscious consumer. |
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Aaron Shatzman, USA |
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| Aaron liked the R8-1s a great deal but TAS has a policy of not allowing quotes for their reviews to appear with quotes from other publications. Please refer to your back issues for the complete review. | |
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ShaneTenace, USA |
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| Upon first listen, I was impressed with a huge, rich and tactile sound which emanated from the R8-1-30s. On "Behold Man", a track from Reference Recording's Testament the power of the choir was well conveyed. I'll go on line and say that in this respect, the Newforms rival anything on the market (megadollar speakers included). What about those Ribbons? Pretty sweet actually. Through the R8-1-30s the individual (brush strokes by drummer Mike Buck) were easily followed. This sort of essentially natural presentation is highly prized. | In the end, I was pretty impressed by the Newforms. Their soundstaging alone places it beyond the performance of most competitors. Add to that the weighty bass response, excellent tonality, coherent, natural highs, overall sense of balance and you are left with a loudspeaker that is an absolute steal at $1236. |
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Tim Parker, USA |
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| The clarity of the Ribbons was immediately noticeable. The treble is clear and crisp and remarkably undirectional. The R8-1-30s imaged superbly with both audio and video sources. These speakers are great for videos with 2 or 3 people watching, especially when the centre channel is turned off. With my video system's subwoofers cutout, the train wreck from "The Fugitive" was still visceral. Jazz is sublime, as is small orchestral groups. Each instrument is placed just so, and as clear as a bell. | The bottom line? For their price, these are very competitive loudspeakers and worth a listen if you like jazz, classical and non-pounding rock. They are also a superb video speaker and compare very favourably with speakers costing many times their price. |
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Andrew Marshall, Canada |
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| What was heard then was the same striking openness and clarity I've remembered from previous Newform ribbons. My listening notes say "sparkle without sizzle." Timbral accuracy was joined by exceptional imaging, the line-source ribbon allowing precise instrumental placement in both horizontal and front to back planes. | In sum, this is a very good compact system. The combination of exceptional bass quality and reach (Sub 1) with ribbon sweetness and speed makes for a speaker system with very special qualities. |
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John Johnson |
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| Newform have come up with their own design, giving the quick transient response of light weight Ribbons, but not the difficult-to-place problems that dipoles have. There was good side-to-side dispersion, better than some other ribbons. Of course, the others are dipoles, so this isn't a fair comparison. The bass was very tight. We could play the system rather loud and and the woofer did not break up. The mid-bass was natural and clean. | Since the Newforms have a large soundstage, but without the placement problems of regular dipole ribbons, they make for a nice front left/right for home theater situations (nice for a rear surround for that matter with DD and DTS). A big sound stage can make quite a difference with movie sound tracks. Also, because the Newforms have good lateral dispersion, the movie viewer gets that soundstage even when sitting off axis. Quick transients, no dipolar placement problems, ... nice sound stage. |
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Doug Schneider |
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This ribbon's sound is exceptionally transparent, revealing, with wonderful body and
weight. There is an incredible amount of detail and a fabulous sense of transparency.
At the same time, this ribbon retains its composure and unlike other ribbons I have
heard is never, never, never harsh.
If it sounds as though I am raving, it is because I am. The ribbon has extremely good horizontal dispersion resulting in good off-axis performance. As well, they handle a lot of power and are capable of producing near ear-splitting volume levels. Where many speakers begin to choke, the Newforms begin to sing. ... the R8-1-30 captures and conveys the "soul" of the music. As well, with the detailed yet non-fatiguing nature of this speaker, they were ideal for overall voice reproduction. The R8-1-30s are some of the best speakers for home theatre that I can think of at anywhere near this price. The result was thrilling. Furthermore, I felt no need for a subwoofer at any time. |
Starry Eyed ... The R8-1-30 offers aspects of performance that outclass many speakers near this price. As previously noted, the high level of performance is mainly due to the ribbon unit. Within the ribbon's range, the speaker compares to other speakers costing upward of two, three, or four thousand dollars. The performance in the lower frequencies is very good, but not outstanding in the same way and is more in line with speakers selling in the sub-$2000 range. Taken as an overall package, the R8-1-30 is a star performer. At $1236 the R8-1-30 represents superb musical value and is simply a steal for someone contemplating setting up an outstanding music/home theatre system. |
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Andrew Marshall, Canada |
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| The R8-1-30 achieves a superb +/- 2dB tolerance between 40 and 10,000 Hz. The 30" Ribbon is as well a behaved treble reproducer as I have seen. A pair of these speakers can form the acoustic end of a very fine high end audio system, and a quartet, well, they make up as good a home theatre system as I've ever heard. These speakers will handle power like few others, the ribbon having tremendous dynamics and no breakup modes whatsoever. Because of excellent lateral dispersion, the individual speakers tend to disappear, but very exact imaging is provided by each line source. The other aspect of the Newform ribbon that should be emphasized is its speed: the dynamic capabilities are lead by extraordinary transient capacity. | I've lived with the Newform quartet now for a couple of months, and have come to appreciate their honesty; next to them most other home theatre systems are decidedly coloured sonically. It took living with and then measuring the R8-1-30 for me to objectively realize how really good these speakers are and how superbly well suited they are for high end home theatre systems. Simply put, reference quality. |
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Doug Schneider |
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| The Newform ribbon is one of the finest midrange/tweeter ribbon drivers I have ever heard. It is exceptionally detailed, yet smooth, with excellent dispersion characteristics. The NHB sound at the show was very detailed with an excellent soundstage. Newform Research deal only factory direct which makes their speaker prices very competitive. | John had things very well balanced and the system was sounding very natural with the ribbons, dynamic modules and subs integrating seamlessly. Speaker placement must be a breeze with these because I was getting good imaging from just about anywhere I stood. |
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| In short, comparing with many other speakers used in Audio Land, the high frequency by Newform Ribbons is much better in producing tender and natural sound and greater detail. I was so absorbed in the human voice I went through all 15 cuts at one time. Examining with great care, I found that the high, mid and low frequency were totally balanced. It sounded gorgeous beyond my expectation. | At the beginning, I placed the Ribbons in the normal position in our listening room and I could focus the human voice and 3D soundstage with great ease. I pulled the speakers apart to adjust the size of the soundstage. That was all I did. It was a piece of cake that the 3D soundstage appeared in front of me like a miracle. |
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