KitSound Reunion Wireless Speakers Review

Excellent audio quality and great specification for the money

by Greg Hook
Hi-Fi Review

5

Recommended
KitSound Reunion Wireless Speakers Review
MSRP: £99.99

What is the KitSound Reunion?

For those of us that are of a certain age, multi room audio meant turning the volume up to maximum on the HiFi System, probably in the lounge and pushing the cheap speakers well past their limit. Probably the type with a turntable on top, then an arrangement of a twin cassette deck (so you could copy your mate’s cassettes) and if you were really posh a CD player below. Fond memories remain of our cherished Aiwa NSX system which had the ultimate luxury at the time, a 3 CD player, so you didn’t have to move for 3 CD’s worth of music!

Thankfully (or not depending on your point of view), technology has moved on significantly from those early days. Today, you can have a fairly low-cost audio system in every room of the house if you so desire with different music playing in each room. Thanks to almost every house having WiFi, the home audio options are almost unlimited, and it can all be controlled from your smartphone.

One such system comes from KitSound, their British engineered (although China made but isn’t everything these days?) Reunion Bookshelf Speakers retail at £99.99 as at the time of writing (August 2017). They offer both wired and wireless connectivity via Bluetooth, 40 watts of stereo sound and a vintage leather finish. Hoping for big things from small packages, read on to see how the Reunions fare as we turn the dial up to 11.

Design, Connections & Control

Picture those leather covered radios from the 1950s or even the likes of the Roberts Revival radios that you can buy today, it's a vintage design classic. This is what the KitSound designers have taken to heart with the Reunion speakers. They are all black with a leather effect wrap to the bottoms, sides and top, and a stylish black steel mesh grille. It really creates a pair of very smart looking bookshelf speakers. Ones that you would happily have on display.

The connections are fairly modest with just a 3.5mm Aux In and stereo RCA, although there is of course Bluetooth, but the absence of an optical or coaxial digital input is disappointing. One speaker is the host for all the connections, including the amplification, with the second speaker just having the standard speaker cable binding posts.

As well as the connections, the main speaker hosts the power switch plus independent bass and treble controls together with the volume control. The main speaker also includes a single LED light which illuminates red when in standby, blue when powered on and flashes purple when changing the volume for example. Since these are powered speakers the main unit will need to be connected to a mains socket and a two-pin power lead is included for this purpose.
KitSound Reunion
The controls work in conjunction with the included remote control and, as such, on the speaker itself there are no numbers on the dials of the controls, so sadly we couldn’t actually go to 11. The remote control according to KitSound should also be ‘leather effect’, but it clearly isn’t. it’s just a standard plastic remote with controls for the volume, bass and treble together with play, pause and skip, mute and switching input source. The remote worked as expected, to turn on you have to hold down the power button for 2 seconds and then to turn off you do it for 4. It’s not the end of the world but it's slightly annoying that you can't just press the button to turn the speakers on and off.

Features & Specs

  • Frequency response: 50 Hz – 20 kHz
  • Output RMS: 40 W
  • Drivers: 2 x 4 inches + 2 x 1 inches
  • Speaker magnets: NdFeB
  • Sensitivity: 85 dB
  • Bluetooth: V4.2
  • Bluetooth range: up to 10 m
Featuring Bluetooth connectivity alongside the RCA and Aux In connections, you can of course pair your smartphone or tablet to the Reunion and it will play any audio your smartphone will allow. If you aren’t into a full 5.1 setup or have a sound bar, then the RCA connection would allow the Reunion to make for a handy pair of stereo speakers to use with your TV. Of course, you can also connect other devices via the Aux In. The absence of WiFi is a shame and the Reunions don't form part of a genuine multiroom system but you can't expect everything for less than a hundred pounds.

How was it setup and tested?

The setup of the speakers is very quick and easy. Once out of the box, you simply connect the speaker cable to both speakers, then if you plan on using Bluetooth, pair your smart device to the speakers and that’s it. You can now enjoy that Celine Dion song you have secretly kept hidden on your phone, you know that one from Titanic. The RCA and Aux In cables are also provided out of the box.
KitSound Reunion
During testing we found the feedback of the volume, bass and treble controls to be slightly strange. Due to working with the remote they just keep turning and turning, so you don’t go from 1-10 for example. If you turn the controls quickly it hardly changes anything, whereas if you slowly rotate the controls it will quickly change. For the bass and treble this creates a grey area because you don’t know where you are on the scale. Perhaps this is an intentional move by KitSound so you just have it set to a level that suits you, regardless of where it is in the scale. For the volume control only, the speaker will emit a beep when you reach the maximum level.

To give the Reunion speakers a good seeing to, we tested with a variety of music covering orchestral, pop and heavy rock to find out how the speakers coped. Given this pair of bookshelf speakers are priced at just £99.99 (and can be picked up for even less) and with the inclusion of Bluetooth connectivity, we weren’t sure what to expect, but after giving them a damn good thrashing we were very impressed.

Performance

So via Bluetooth the audio was clear and well-presented even at maximum volume. We have a feeling the maximum volume is pre-set a tad lower than the speakers could cope with but has been set like this to preserve the quality. The Bluetooth connection had good range and no breaks in audio were noticed even when moving about with our smartphone or with it in our pocket. The range of the Bluetooth is listed as 10 metres and we found this to ring true with no areas in our house where we could get it to cut out. Once paired, it will remember the connection when you turn the speakers on, so no messing about with inputs or re-pairing.

The audio didn’t feel thin and had plenty of punchy bass but without suffering from that annoying booming effect which often drowns out a lot of the audio on some cheaper speakers. Listening to podcasts, for example, also presented no issues with the speech coming across clear and concise. Via the RCA or Aux In cable from our TV we were also impressed. It’s no match for a home cinema system but, as an alternative to a sound bar (assuming you don't mind analogue audio), it worked very well. We tested in our largest available room (about 23’ x 10’) and the sound filled the space perfectly.

KitSound Reunion

This is a subjective area of course, but to our ears the KitSound Reunion speakers sounded very impressive and appeared to punch above their weight. So there's no doubt that they offer good value and a decent level of performance. There is also the option to connect other audio devices via at the RCA and Aux In connectors and provided cables, making the speakers quite useful regardless of how you listen to music. Only the absence of an optical or coaxial digital input disappoints, in what is otherwise a decent pair of budget powered wireless speakers.

Conclusion

Pros

  • Stylish vintage design
  • Great audio performance
  • Bluetooth connectivity
  • Good build quality
  • Decent value for money

Cons

  • No Wi-Fi
  • No optical connection

KitSound Reunion Wireless Speakers Review

Should I buy one?

Available for under £99, the KitSound Reunion Powered Bookshelf Speakers offer a stylish vintage design with a leather effect wrap and have a suitably high-quality feel and build. The audio quality was very impressive and we found no negative points at all in this area considering the price point. With the independent bass and treble controls you can tweak the audio to your exact liking.

The connections whilst not bountiful include RCA, Aux In and most importantly Bluetooth so you can playback whatever your Smartphone will allow, such as music, TV and podcasts for example. This was our first experience with KitSound and given the price point we were unsure how these would fare, but there is nothing negative we can really say about them. The inclusion of digital inputs and Wi-Fi would have been nice, but perhaps that’s pushing it at this sub £100 price point.

What alternatives are available?

For Bookshelf speakers with Bluetooth connectivity, there are a few alternatives such as the rather stylish 33W Edifier R1700BT offering similar connectivity and independent controls but at a higher price of £130. You can of course go a lot higher and you will find speakers with the addition of digital connections, WiFi and multiroom support but at under £100 the Reunion speakers are a very impressive set indeed and offer a level of performance and quality that exceeds their budget price tag.

MORE: Read All HiFi Speaker Reviews


Scores

Build Quality

.
.
8

Connectivity

.
.
8

Sound Quality

.
.
8

Ease of Use

.
.
8

Features

.
.
8

Value for Money

.
9

Verdict

.
.
8
8
AVForumsSCORE
OUT OF
10

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