Neat Acoustics Motive SX3 review

As the audio market continues to expand, more and more audio equipment is entering ordinary households with the improvement and deepening of speaker technology. Currently, there are also many speakers with solid quality and moderate prices that have won the favor of many users with their excellent cost-effectiveness and affordability. For small listening environments, everyone will choose to use bookshelf speakers. Choosing a suitable bookshelf speaker and pairing it with an appropriate amplifier can make the sound performance balanced, standard, rational, and improve the sound quality of the mid and low frequencies. In fact, this configuration is as good as it gets. When it comes to speaker selection, we have introduced many products from the brand Neat Acoustics, and their speakers are generally not the kind of large-sized boxes. Since I came into contact with this brand, Neat Acoustics has occupied a place in my heart as a cost-effective speaker brand. This time, let’s take a look at this Neat Acoustics Motive SX3 bookshelf speaker.

Purely replaying music

Neat Acoustics is a British brand founded by Bob Surgeoner and Paul Ryder. They are both former band members. When musicians create audio brands, they also prove to audiophiles that the manufacturer has authoritative criteria. Given the backgrounds and expertise 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 connotations such as “neat”, “orderly”, and “pure”, and Neat Acoustics obviously has a similar intention to replay music.

Bob Surgeoner is a musician who is proficient in various genres such as blues, rock, jazz, and folk. He created Neat Acoustics based on his love for music and the pursuit of original sound reproduction in recording. This is a rare situation for Hi-End audio brands. Since it is a brand born for purely replaying music, what kind of box design and unit construction does Neat Acoustics use for its speakers? I was surprised to find that Neat did not have too much gimmicky appearance design. It is still a square box, but the actual listening experience will find that their music replay is really infectious.

Small bookshelf, excellent configuration

Before this, I also played with a small bookshelf speaker IOTA under Neat Acoustics. This time, I continued to experience another bookshelf speaker Motive SX3 under Neat Acoustics. I learned that the Motive series was first launched in 2005 and was revised in 2013. At that time, the high-frequency unit of the Motive series speakers was mainly improved. The original Motive used a titanium dome hemispherical high-frequency unit inherited from the Ultimatum series. After that revision, the manufacturer redesigned and replaced it with a 25mm SXT high-frequency unit, which was said to be transformed from the previous NMT unit. Basically, the two use the same magnetic structure, but the SXT high-frequency unit of the Motive series replaces the diaphragm with an anodized aluminum material that has been treated with an anode. It looks gray-black and is concave. The official also introduced that the Motive series has undergone a significant evolution in internal wiring and crossovers. As for the mid-low frequency unit part, the original factory did not provide further data introduction. The official website provides a parameter of 134mm in diameter, which looks average, but the overall appearance is still durable, and they are all produced in the UK.

Delicate sound performance

For vocals, the Motive SX3 bookshelf speaker performs transparently and analytically on the system, which is very surprising. In the album “Eva Cassidy”, that kind of transparency has a little gloss, which is pleasing and not simply thin. It can also show the magnetic charm of the singer’s voice. The sound is not thin, and it can also perceive the outline of the female singer through the sound. The female singer’s form stands in the middle of the equipment and sings, which is easy to listen to and relaxed, naturally beautiful. The music that accompanies it has good separation from the vocals, and the distance is moderate, forming a sense of space. The sound field shaping is very standard, not overly large or convergent, and the sense of reality is very strong. When the classic “Hotel California” by the Eagles is played, under the interpretation of the Motive SX3 bookshelf speaker, the vocals exhibit fullness and magnetic characteristics, and the mid-range penetration is extremely excellent. The live feeling is like real, the mouth shape and music are just right, the sound is natural and relaxed, without any sense of pressure, and it reproduces a realistic and wide sound field. The vocal performance is natural, showing the full spirit and first-class state of the singer. In the climax of the song, the male voice and guitar complement each other, and exhibit excellent separation and live feeling. After listening

When playing “Puccini Opera: Bohemian”, the performance of the human voice is real, with prominent texture and muscles, but it is also gentle and relaxed. The seemingly unremarkable Motive SX3 has a surprisingly accurate sound image positioning of the human voice in the slightly backward position of the sound field, and the size of the body is real, almost within reach. In the low-frequency range, the low-frequency energy released by the not-too-large mid-low frequency unit cannot be ignored. It is strong, powerful, well-controlled, and has moderate diving ability and rich level reduction. Driven by an amplifier with sufficient power, the low-frequency of the Motive SX3 bookshelf speaker still has a moderate sense of speed, and the shock performance is well-organized. As for the experience of stringed instruments, I chose Mute’s “Carmen Fantasy”. Throughout the song, I feel that the ultra-high frequency performance has extremely strong analytical power, and the background is extremely quiet, but at the same time, there is no uncomfortable high-pitched sound. The warm places are particularly warm, and the meticulous analytical power fully expresses the rich harmonic details produced by the strings. The melody interwoven with the piano is falling in the air with great detail, easily giving people a sense of elegance. The Motive SX3 shows a versatile violin appearance, which is very smooth and smooth. The overtones emitted by Vertex are bright and not irritating, and the energy is condensed and strong, making the violin sing more vividly.

In summary, this pair of Neat Acoustics Motive SX3 bookshelf speakers, at first glance, always seems a bit inconspicuous, but the more you look at them, the more durable they seem. I think this subtle change in attitude is always related to listening to its sound. During the listening process, the rich details, delicate tone, and excellent extension create a strong sense of atmosphere, and the Motive SX3 gives music a kind of agility. From another perspective, the Motive SX3 has such sound performance, such configuration, and small space listening, it is definitely a cost-effective choice.