Welcome to our latest product review of the exceptionally compact Ophidian Minimo 2 bookshelf loudspeaker.
Ophidian were founded by Gareth James in 2011, based in The Wirral in the North West of England. Their goal was to create a series of loudspeakers made in the UK that would outperform its physical dimensions.
All Ophidian cabinets are made in the UK in Sheffield and checked at their headquarters in The Wirral before assembly.
Gareth has spent hundreds of hours listening, prototyping and testing his designs to get the best out of each model for its price and size.
All Ophidian speakers feature their unique Aeroflex bass topology which ensures clean and accurate bass from even the smallest of cabinets.
I recently had the pleasure of meeting Gareth when he visited our Lincolnshire showroom, and he brought with him three sets of speakers from the M Series: the Minimo 2, the Mojo 2 and the Mambo 2. I was incredibly impressed with the whole range and he very kindly offered to send me a pair of Minimo 2's to have a more extensive play with.
Having given them a couple of days to warm back up from their journey here, I decided to pair them with a sensible, appropriate system of a Rega Apollo CD player and Rega Brio Amplifier, with Chord Company cables and using Atacama Apollo Cyclone speaker stands.
Spinning up Phil Collins's 'The Singles' album, I'm immediately impressed with these diminutive speakers' timing and how they produce music effortlessly. Although you wouldn't expect massive amounts of bass from such a small speaker with only a 4.5" mid bass unit, you would be mightily impressed with just how much bass information you are getting, even with the speakers 20cm off the rear wall. Ophidian's Aeroflex bass system really does work very well indeed, and reminds me of another speaker manufacturer's timing, depth and transparency at a different price point.
Even as I write this article, I'm sat here tapping my foot to the tracks I'm listening to and keep wondering what I should listen to next.
Popping in next Bryan Adams's 'MTV Unplugged' album, the Minimo 2's easily draw up the atmospherics of the room and the haunting Irish pipes, bringing a smile to my face. Bryan's voice is rock solid in the centre of the image as the rest of the band swell round him.
From a bit of American Gospel where I'm sat here bouncing along to the beat, all the way to Leonard Cohen's gravelly tones I can't quite get my head around how good these speakers are and this system is. For just about £2500 I'm not sure how this system could disappoint anyone! It's just great fun, with plenty of detail, presence and bass weight, even in a reasonable sized room like our demo room.
Up until recently I would have said my favourite compact speakers in the shop were the Dali Menuet SE's for £1299, but at £900 and even smaller, I really think these Ophidians are terrific value for money and would be a wonderful addition to any system where space is limited but performance does not need to be.
If you would like to come and have a listen then give us a call or an email, or pop in to see us in our Lincolnshire showroom.
