Neat Ultimatum MFS vs Totem Mani 2

Neat Acoustics has made a return to the USA after nearly five years, debuting their new Ultimatum line at CES 2012. The new importer/distributer is High Fidelity Services at www.hifiservices.com.

Hi Rja,

Well the audio scene is divided basically into 3 groups.
Group 1) All CD players sound the same, exotic cables are nonsense.
Group 2) CD players make a difference so do cables
Group 3) minced meat, the is a small group who let there gear be modded by a man who's forum name is minced meat or meat ball.

So there are also 3 2 channel hifi fora more or less divided according to those 3 groups. But like most fora, discussions can get out of hand but they are all friendly people in real life. There some audio shows each year. Some of them are more about meeting people and seeing friends then about audio. But most of the audio scene take place on fora. We should leave our computers more often and make home visits. 12 march I will be going to Sneek it is a 1 shop hifi show with the focus on analogue. I think last year that shop had the world primier of the TW acustic Balck Night. But agian it more about haging out with people you know, after the show we all go for dinner at the local Chinese restaurant.

I do think the (visible) audio scene is less high profile then compared to the US. The really big spenders are people who are low profile who often don't visit shows or fora. he most active people are white man around 40 with an average income. I do think audio is relative expensive here compared to the US. Due to import tax and other taxes.

Also our house tend to be small, we are a rather crowed country, so even people would have the money for a mega buck system if you live in a town centre chances are you will have no place to put it. Luckily I have a very forgiving girlfriend. So my audio take up a prominent place in our living room.

The Netherlands used to be great but now with the crisis people are more afraid and conservative and that shows in politics. I'm a social liberal and there seems to be few of us.

There are some good Dutch audio brands, like Master speakers, Van den Hul, Impulse, Van Medevoort, Array audio DSS, Prima Luna.

Feel free to visit me if you are ever in the Netherlands.

Mordante,
The Netherlands seems like a fabulous place. Curious, what's the audio scene like there?

Hi Ryder,

I am not sure but i don't know if master speaker are even being sold out side of the Netherlands. If I understood correctly Master started as a DIY speaker that Rick Paap build for himself. Howere other people also were interested in this speaker. So he made a modest line of speakers. The new Master Persuader is his 1st attempt in building a 3 way speaker. I hope to hear this speaker in Sneek during the Analoog dagen.

Dynamic Solutions don't seem to get much publicity here but the Master One looks pretty solid and well-built. The specs are quite impressive too going down to 21Hz. A near full-range speaker.

Enjoy~

In the end i bought Dynamic Solutions Master One speaker 2nd hand. I couldn't be happier.

Well the Mani-2 were sold already. So I have to wait for an other pair to show up on the 2nd hand market. Not really sure if the Neat is still for sale. I need to contact the seller one of these days.

However things took a turn. While browsing for speakers I can across a set of Master One speakers. I don't think there are being sold outside of the Netherlands. For info see:

http://www.dynamic-solutions.nl/one.htm

These just might be the speakers that I'm looking for.

Neat speakers are no longer distributed in the US. However, you can buy them directly from Neat in the UK and you save about 20% off the old US distributor’s prices. For pricing or more information email Bob Surgeoner (Co-owner of Neat): bob@neat.co.uk

Extravaganza,
If I may ask, which shop? Very interested in finding a US dealer.thanks!

I just remembered one case when I was visiting shop,just to listen Dynaudio,the salesman instead of listening dynaudio confidence c4 was listening Neat speakers,very pleasant sounding speakers,especially bass.

I'm not sure if they Neat speakers are being sold in the US.

Any Neat dealers in the US?

Thank you for your replay Jaybo. Do you have any additional info on the Neat. I have found very little info on this speaker. Can you tell me how low it will go. All info would be welcome.

the ultimatum is a great speaker, and would be my choice over the mani 2. it is however a very rare speaker, and resale wold be a bit harder than the mani 2. that said, it is a keeper for sure.