XSA VANGUARD LOUDSPEAKERS REVIEW

Costing $999 and sold direct, the Vanguard speakers from US brand XSA are a throwback to the classic British speaker Stuart recalls from his youth. How do they perform in the modern world?

I love the name of this brand and I like that they have been bold enough to dare to do something different from the norm. For  the record XSA stands for Extremely Sexy Audio that are US-based and says that their design and management team have over 110 years of combined experience in the audio, electrical, and aerospace engineering fields. They also say that they offer value via their direct selling model – there are no distributors or dealers.

So what you have here is a pretty normal and conventional-looking loudspeaker that has a 13cm paper cone woofer and a 2.8cm silk-dome tweeter. There are a single pair of good-quality binding posts around the back and these will accept all the usual speaker cable terminations.

Nothing fancy but certainly effective

These are a compact two-way speaker measuring 7.5” x 12 x 8, which from the front has them about the same size as an A4 sheet of paper. This size should see the Vanguards acceptable in pretty much any space and mean that they can be mounted on shelves or on stands. However, once they are on stands they will, like any standmounter, take up a similar amount of real-estate as a floorstander.

The package felt lightweight (the speakers are a little over 11lb (5kg) each and I though thought these speakers were going to be a tad flimsy and, well, lightweight. I was wrong and once out of their box, they feel solid and well put together.

The speakers are 83dB sensitive and offer an 8ohm load. The former is pretty low but I had no trouble driving them with the Clones Audio’s 25W a channel.

In reality, there’s not much else to say about the way these speakers are put together, other than to add that they come with grilles that attach magnetically. The review pair came in “Satin Brown” but for the same price you can have them built in bamboo which is an eco-friendly product or for $100 more you can have them in Gloss Blonde. For European markets, I think the lighter colours are better and I particularly like the look of the bamboo, though I’ve only seen that online.

HOW DO THE VANGUARD LOUDSPEAKERS SOUND

These are a small speaker very much in the vein, in my opinion, of the classic sealed box speakers such as the KEF Model 102, indeed, both are pretty similar in their make-up and the size of drivers used. This is a good thing and I have a soft spot for small, infinite baffle standmount loudspeakers. I’ve always found that despite being limited in bass (you can’t beat physics with regards the size of the enclosure and no bass loading) but they often make up for this with superb imaging (which is very important to me) and a nicely integrated sound.

I allowed the speakers to break in for a bit and put them in our main system mounted on a pair of SolidSteel stands which put the tweeters exactly at ear height. The tens of thousands of pounds worth of kit before them is wholly inappropriate, of course, but I will be commenting on them used with a more modestly priced Clones audio amp in due course. However, for the main part, they are in the main system and in a pretty big room firing across the room rather than down it, around 2m apart, and a good metre or so from the rear walls and nowhere near side walls. I am aware that a small speaker like this is more likely to be used in more confined spaces than this.

Imaging, as expected, is excellent with these speakers and whilst it isn’t as good as, say, our Falcon LS3/5As there’s nothing to whine overly about here. The Renegade Sound Wave “In Dub” record has lots of sound effects and psychoacoustic effects on offer and these little speakers do a fab job at getting this across. In fact, they are very good indeed in this respect, and whilst they don’t go particularly low, I did get a good impression of the basslines on tunes such as Black Eye Boy. I’d say these are quite monitor-like in their imaging abilities with left-to-right effects being excellent and the image having decent enough depth. When warming up I found that the Vanguards were pretty insistent and grumbly that I keep the volume down, but once they loosened up I found that I could push these speakers quite hard and on the Leftfield remix of Renegade Sound Wave I could push the speakers to volumes that would be uncomfortable for long periods, without them getting too flustered. There is a point where all speakers have their sweetspot with regards to volume and the music being played and the Vanguards are no exception in this matter – they like to be pushed a little but not too much to get the best from them.

The simple format continues around the back with just one set of binding posts

As I mentioned, I do like a sealed box speaker (infinite baffle) and it seems that the modern norm is to add loading in the form of ports which can lead, in some but not all instances, to a bass that errs on the side of one-note and a bit slow and boomy. I’d much rather have a tight and coherent bass that doesn’t go mega-low than one that is flabby and bloated. The Vanguards pull the tight, sealed box bass sound off really well and I didn’t really miss the trouser-flapping lows. In a smaller room you aren’t going to miss this anyway and it may well prove to be a benefit!

I’d purposefully chosen tunes to listen to that were demanding of smaller speakers and I think the Vanguards did a rather splendid job with electronic music with their main strengths being imaging in the left to right field. I especially enjoyed the delayed plinky-plonky delayed sounds at the start of Richard H Kirk’s Lost Souls On Funk and the way the different elements of the mix were separated into their component parts. Like I mentioned, quite monitor-like in their presentation and I could see these being used as nearfield monitors. Jean Michel Jarre’s Oxygene was particularly enjoyable. Tonally on electronic music like Jarre, I would say the Vanguards are quite neutral and pretty uncoloured. Detail and timbre of these electronic instruments was good through the mid-band but not (as I would determine) as accurate as say our Falcon LS3/5As, but then they cost a LOT more.

The classic BBC design and these speakers are bound to draw a comparison, and the LS3s are the only small sealed-box speaker I actually own and have to hand with which make direct comparisons, but the differences are not massive. The Falcons win the contest overall with better imaging and mid-band but then the Vanguards go a little lower. The difference is not equivalent to the extra money the LS3/5As cost, BUT audio and pricing NEVER works like that.

On Jazz (Kind Of Blue) I found that I needed to up the volume a little to get the best out of the Vanguards (that sweet-spot thing again) but once you get the optimum loudness the Vanguards proved to be a pleasure to listen to. Basslines stroll along and are easy to follow, there are good representations of the horn and the hats and snares are snappy and fast. There’s also excellent imaging of the musicians laid out in front of me on the imagined stage and my only slight criticism here is a smidge of confusion where with the upper mids and lower-top end…certainly nothing to moan about, but worth mentioning. Overall I let the balance on this kind of music was excellent with nothing being at all shouty or being too forward.

And fully clothed with grilles that attach with magnets

On more rock-orientated material (Hawkwind’s Hall Of The Mountain Grill) there’s a little fall-off with regard to overall cohesion but this is at times pretty hectic music. However, the saving grace of these little Vanguards is their ability to draw you into the music and the image of the music and all that is going on in there. I did find myself getting lost in the tunes and this is what I like to do when reviewing kit – it shows that the product is doing something right.

So, I said I would pop these speakers in a system with the Clones Audio amp in there instead of the Total DAC AMPA 1 and I did just that. This turned out to be a nice little system that just played very nice music with the speakers allowing a good deal of the amp’s character to come through. I’m not going to go into the whole deal with this system as I actually did something I said I never do in reviews and put a system together made up of a couple of bits that were in for review that I thought sounded very good together and I’m going to do a mini-review/not review on them in a wee while simply because this seemed to be a system that gelled together very nicely for the money.

Also available in Bamboo at the same price and a blonde finish for $100 more

NIGGLES

Not a lot at this price, to be honest. These are very good-sounding speakers with my only criticism being that slight confusion at times in the upper mids.

CONCLUSION

Yes, these a bass-limited, but don’t let that put you off as what bass there is tight and taut. In lots of ways, they took me back to my youth when I first started experimenting with speakers and audio.

What I particularly enjoyed about these speakers was the way that they integrated top to bottom. They aren’t at all dominant in one area, though they are strong through the mid-band with my only criticism here being that they can get a little muddled in the upper mids on some busier music.  At the top end, they are articulate and yet relaxed.

These are a good speaker for the money and I really enjoyed them in my system and when combined with other relatively modestly priced components – you can put a system together with these speakers for way less than £3K and have a very nice sounding system.

Overall I’d thoroughly recommend these speakers and I really enjoyed that they are closed-box speakers, though they do need to be wound up a little to get the best out of them. They are an engaging and enjoyable speaker with, in reality, very few flaws at this price.

AT A GLANCE

Build Quality:

Well put together and finished

Sound Quality:

These are a good sounding speaker that I think have a lot of what was great about the speakers I grew up with when I first got into HiFi in a serious way

Bass is obviously limited but that will be a bonus if used in a smaller room

Closed box design has these speakers deliver a very nice bass that appeals to me

Can get a little muddled at the top mid point but overall they are liquid and easy going

Value For Money:

I think these offer pretty good value for money at less than $1000. Obviously, those living in the EU or the UK will need to factor in shipping and import duty

We Loved:

An engaging and involving speaker to listen to

An honest loudspeaker that isn’t trying to be something it isn’t

Natural soundstaging

Easy to listen to for long periods

We Didn’t Love So Much:

Can get a tad muddled on some music at the frequency point I mention

Elevator Pitch Review: Hailing from America, the $1000 XSA Vanguard speakers are a compact, sealed box design that harks back to the classic designs of yesteryear. They are a no-nonsense design that is devoid of bells and whistles that shout “Look at me” and that will appeal to many. Sonically the Vanguards are a very pleasing loudspeaker to listen to and whilst they don’t go super-low, they do have a tight and bouncy bass performance. From top to bottom, they are a delight to listen to with my only criticism being that they got a little muddled on busier tracks in the upper-mids. Other than that, I highly recommend these speakers.

Price: $999

Stuart Smith

SUPPLIED BY XSA LABS