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With the further expansion of the audio market and the improvement and deepening of speaker technology, more and more audio equipment is entering ordinary people’s homes. At present, there are also many speakers with solid quality and moderate prices. With their excellent cost performance and affordability, they have won the favor of many users. For small space listening environments, everyone will choose to use bookshelf speakers. Choosing a bookshelf speaker that suits you, and pairing it with an appropriate amplifier, allows the sound to be balanced, standard and rational, and sufficient mid-low frequency enhances the sound quality. In fact, such a configuration couldn’t be better. As for the choice of speakers, we have also introduced many products from the brand Neat Acoustics, and the speakers are generally not large in size. Since coming into contact with this brand, Neat Acoustics has occupied a place in the author’s heart as a cost-effective speaker brand. This time, let’s take another look at this Neat Acoustics Motive SX3 bookshelf speaker.
Neat Acoustics is a British brand established by Bob Surgeoner and Paul Ryder, both of whom come from a band background. When musicians establish an audio brand, they also prove to audiophiles that the manufacturer has authoritative standards. Given the background and professionalism of the two founders, the company not only has a listening room, but also a dedicated recording studio, so their products have also been recognized by many professionals. Neat Acoustics has the connotations of “neat”, “orderly” and “pure”, and Neat Acoustics obviously also has a similar intention of music replay.
Bob Surgeoner is a musician proficient in various styles of music such as blues, rock, jazz, and folk. He created Neat Acoustics based on his love for music and the pursuit of the original sound of recording. This is quite rare for Hi-End audio brands. Since it is a brand born for pure music replay, what kind of cabinet design and unit construction do the speakers under Neat Acoustics use? The author was surprised to find that Neat does not have too eye-catching exterior designs, it is still a square cabinet, but actual listening will reveal that their music replay is really infectious.
Before this, I had also played with a small bookshelf speaker, the IOTA, from Neat Acoustics. This time, I continued to experience another bookshelf speaker, the Motive SX3, from Neat Acoustics. Upon further understanding, I found out that the Motive series was first launched in 2005 and was revised in 2013. During that revision, the high-frequency unit of the Motive series speakers was mainly improved. The original Motive used a titanium diaphragm hemisphere tweeter inherited from the Ultimatum series. After that revision, the factory redesigned it and replaced it with a 25mm SXT tweeter, stating that it was transformed from the past NMT unit. Basically, both use the same magnetic mechanism, but the SXT tweeter of the Motive series changes the diaphragm to an anodized aluminum material, which looks gray-black and is concave. The official also introduced that the internal wiring and crossover of the Motive series have evolved significantly. As for the mid-low frequency unit part, the original factory did not provide further data introduction, the official website provided a diameter of 134mm parameters, it looks standard, but the overall appearance is still durable, and they are all made in the UK.
The Motive SX3 bookshelf speaker shows a transparent and analytical performance in the system, which is very surprising. In the “Eva Cassidy” album, the sound is transparent with a bit of gloss, which is likable, rather than simply dry and thin. At the same time, it can better show the magnetic charm of the singer’s voice. The sound is not thin, and the outline of the female singer can be perceived through the sound. The “flesh and blood” form of the female singer stands in the middle of the equipment and sings, which is easy to listen to and loose, naturally rich in beauty. The accompanying music has a good degree of separation from the human voice, the sense of distance is moderate, forming a sense of three-dimensionality. The sound field shaping is very standard, it will not be overly large and convergent, and the sense of reality is very strong. Switching to the classic “Hotel California” by the Eagles, under the interpretation of the Motive SX3 bookshelf speaker, the human voice shows the fullness and magnetic characteristics it should have, and the mid-tone penetration is extremely outstanding, the live feeling is like true, the lip shape and accompaniment are just right, the sound is natural and relaxed, without any sense of pressure, restoring a realistic and wide sound field, and the human voice performance is natural, showing the singer’s full spirit and first-class state. In the climax part of the song, the male voice and the guitar reflect each other, and show excellent separation and live feeling. After listening for a long time, the spatial sound field is wide, the image performance is cohesive and outstanding, the lip shape height and size are in place, as if the listener is brought back to the scene again, lifelike, with flesh and blood.
While playing “Puccini Opera: Bohemian”, the realistic texture and prominent but gentle and relaxed performance of the human voice, the seemingly unimpressive Motive SX3 caught me off guard. With a reasonable unit and crossover design, the vocal imaging is accurately positioned slightly behind the sound field, with a realistic size, almost within reach. In the low-frequency section, due to the physical size of the cabinet, obviously high demands cannot be made, but the low-frequency energy released by that not-so-large mid-bass unit should not be ignored, it is solid and well-controlled, and has moderate diving ability and rich level restoration. Under the drive of sufficient amplifier power, the low frequency of the Motive SX3 bookshelf speaker still has a shocking performance with a moderate sense of speed. As for the experience of string music, I chose Mute’s “Carmen Fantasy”. After the whole song, I feel that the ultra-high frequency performance has a strong analytical power, the background quietness is excellent, but at the same time there is no uncomfortable high pitch, the place that should be mellow is particularly mellow, the detailed analytical power fully displays the rich harmonic details produced in the string music, making people hear “ear oil”, and the melody development intertwined with the piano falls in the air without any omission, easily making people feel elegant. The Motive SX3 shows a variety of violin appearances, very stretchy and smooth. The harmonic luster emitted by Vertex is bright but not irritating, the energy sense is concentrated and strong, making the violin sing more vividly.
Conclusion
At first glance, this pair of Neat Acoustics Motive SX3 bookshelf speakers always seems a bit inconspicuous, but the more you look at it, the more you find it pleasing to the eye. I think this subtle change in mindset is always related to hearing its sound. During the listening process, the details are rich, the tone is delicate, and the extension is excellent, creating a strong sense of atmosphere. The Motive SX3 gives music a kind of agility. From another perspective, with such sound performance and configuration, the Motive SX3 is definitely the choice for cost-effectiveness in small space listening.
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