Wavemaster Stax Second Generation Speakers Review

1. Introduction2. Stax Second Generation3. Testing & Performance4. Conclusion5. View All Pages

In some ways, speakers like the Wavemaster Stax are so useful that you almost forget that the Second Generation model only costs £39 and you begin to demand much more from them – feeling a strong sense of disappointment whenever the results aren't stellar.

And the results are not always stellar. While they dealt with music challenges with poise and delivered a great gaming experience, they became noticeable during quiet dialogue sections of the film. Something which you'd never want. Speakers should be, effectively, transparent. You should be 100% focused on the visuals and the audio should be so spot on, that you don't think about it at all.

Comparing to the Creatives, they look nicer and deliver a much better audio experience. The gap from the first generation Stax to the second is negligible.

Sure, there is a styling change, but that's purely a matter of personal taste. We actually preferred the metallic contrast look of the older design, the new all-black seems too generic.

Available from Amazon, at the time of writing, for £44.99 with free next day delivery if you are a Prime customer.

Our guess is that Wavemaster has managed to shave costs somewhere in the manufacturing process, but it's not clear where. To all intents and purposes, they seem to be of the same quality as the original Stax speakers.

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Pros

• Audio quality is great.
• Deals well with a variety of music and gaming demands.
• Solid build quality.
• Competitive pricing.
• Desktop Remote control with on/off is handy.
• Additional Line-In on Desktop Remote means you can connect your iPad/Phone etc without disconnecting something else.

Cons

• We preferred the original Stax colouring.
• You'll need to spend more for a true home theatre experience.
• No Bluetooth.

KitGuru says: Even if the price had remained the same, these speakers would have been contenders for a KitGuru ‘Must Have' award. With the price drop to just under £45, the Wavemaster Stax option becomes impossible to ignore if you're looking to give a sub £1,000 PC a solid audio boost. Conclusion? KitGuru's speaker of the year for 2013 just became much more affordable.

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