If like me you treated yourself to a Bluetooth turntable for Black Friday, or if you just want a nice pair of bookshelf speakers you can stream to over Bluetooth or connect to your computer, Majority's new D40X active bookshelf speakers may be just what your ears have been waiting for. They're good looking, affordably priced and offer a pretty good specification too.
The star here is the rigid Kevlar cone, which responds more quickly than the plastic cones you often find in affordable speakers and which the Cambridge-based firm says delivers a "livelier tone". And the speakers have been designed to work with a wide range of audio sources, wired and wireless. If you're looking for bedroom or small study speakers that won't break the bank these are worth considering.
Majority D40X active speakers: key features
The drivers here are four-inch models, powered by a built-in amplifier delivering a total power output of 70W. Bluetooth is 5.3, and you can also connect sound sources via RCA, optical, Aux or USB. There's also an SD card slot, built-in transport controls and a headphone out too (the speakers support wired headphones but not Bluetooth ones), and the package includes a remote control that enables you to switch modes as well as control the volume, bass, treble and, with USB, Bluetooth and SD card sources, the playback.
For digital music the supported file types are MP3, WMA, FLAC, MAV and APE, and SD card sizes of up to 64GB are supported.
The physical controls here are kept to a minimum, with just three buttons in a recessed section on the side of the right speaker: a mode button and then two transport buttons. Everything else is handled via the remote.
These speakers aren't going to be giving Bowers & Wilkins any sleepless nights. But they're not supposed to: they're affordable, capable and flexible audio options for small spaces and relatively small budgets, and with a three-year warranty as standard they're a safe buy. The RRP is £89.95, but Amazon is currently offering them for £69.95 with a further 5% off via a coupon deal.
