Edifier have consistently produced high quality speakers over the last few years. Surprisingly, it’s been over two years since we reviewed the awesome Spinnakers.
This latest product from Edifier, the R1700BT, is a bit different, and is aimed more at the professional market, or anyone who needs a higher end multimedia studio speaker.
What makes the R1700BT different?
On first glance, they look like a standard set of bookshelf speakers, but the control panel on the side hints that there’s more to these speakers than first meets the eye. When you see the connecting cable it’s obvious these are designed to be used more for computer use than home audio.
The speakers have quite an aggressive stance with a wrap around kink that make them stand out more than most bookshelf speakers. The enclosure material is made from predictable and neutral MDF with a rosewood veneer. With the grilles on or off they look impressive and as if they mean business.
The knobs on the side control volume, bass and treble, and the volume knob doubles as the Bluetooth connect button. Around the back of the speaker there are phono sockets, a 3.5mm audio socket and the speaker connecting cable socket.
Overall build quality is good – they’re pleasant to the touch and although not high end, are better than their price suggests.
Are they true multimedia speakers?
To be classed as real multimedia speakers, they need to be versatile – accomplished enough to use in a video/audio suite, computer gaming, listening to music, or many of the other functions we ask of our modern day computers.
The R1700BT’s come pretty close in this regard. Music is definitely where they are strongest – connecting and playing music via Bluetooth is not only simple, it also hugely enjoyable.
The overall balance and sound quality is superb and they are a joy to experience. Start playing a game however and the dynamic performance is not quite as high and the overall experience lacks a little of the presence I was hoping for. Voice-overs and speech rendition are another area where the speakers excel, and they are pretty good with film too, except when the soundtrack gets busy.
Overall the speakers are very accomplished, and as a multimedia speaker, they are very well designed and engineered. The speakers are more tailored towards musical performance than film or gaming, so bear this in mind when considering these speakers.
Our verdict
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Design
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Performance
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Features
Edifier R1700BT: Jack of all trades, and a master at some
Multimedia speakers need to be the ‘jack of all trades’ – so there normally has to be a compromise somewhere. The R1700BT’s excel in most areas, but when the sounds become heavy and busy, they start to struggle to maintain the high standards they set themselves with less frantic soundtracks. The connecting cable is around a meter long and it would have been nice if was longer.
The R1700BT’s are yet another high quality offering from Edifier. Bringing a more dynamic look to the multimedia speaker market, they also perform extremely well in most of the tasks you’ll expect them to. We have no problem recommending them and for the money, they’re a great purchase.