Tangent Clarity 4 Review

majorwedgy

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On the basis that I am very impressed with these speakers having demoed and subsequently bought a set from Richersounds I thought I would add to the tiny (non-existent) knowledge repository that exists for these speakers in the English speaking world.

First thing that strikes you about these speakers when you get them home is that you should be pulling a rabbit out of the boxes - not a pair of speakers as they come in a black fabric bag as well as a pair of white magicians gloves (so as not to cover the piano -black in my case - finish of the speakers).

They are reassuringly solid feeling and weighty enough to feel as though you have bought something substantial but not too heavy to maneuver about easily. They have metal isolation spikes on the base which I have to say are very sharp and will damage shelves/tables if moved about without being picked up first.

When I demoed these speakers against some Mordaunt Short 902i, Cambridge Audio S30, Kef Cresta 10 and Tannoy F1s the first thing that amazed me was the full bodied sound, since I got rid of my aged Technics SB-3050s I have been unable to find a set of speakers that sounded warm and 'complete' not just hitting the highs and lows where required. The 902s were incredibly bright and lacked warmth, the S30s were rather dull but reproduced more faithful bass than the 902s whilst the KEFs and Tannoys were boomy and lacked any real clarity.

I didn't intend to spend as much as I did on the speakers and decided to listen to the Tangents as an afterthought thinking they couldn't possibly sound twice as good as the Cambridge Speakers I intended to buy - unfortunately they did. Listening to Born in the USA and Streets of Philadelphia were completely different songs and made me want to just listen to them on repeat forever. They had all the treble clarity and non of the brightness that plagued the 902s whilst producing the lows the songs really deserved without all the boomyness of the KEFs.

The build quality is very high and you feel as though you are making a good solid purchase that will last the test of time whilst also looking amazing, the gloss finish would look amazing alongside a flat panel TV. I read the review in What Hi-fi that gave these a 3* rating at £200 whilst the 902i's were given a 5* rating at £150. Now either there is night and day difference between £200 and £150 speakers or they are taking back handers for their reviews! All in all a very enjoyable set of speakers and well worth an audition (in my opinion) for anybody looking to invest £200 in a set of speakers.
 
Sounds like a worthy purchase. Reminds me of when a friend of mine was looking for a new pair of speakers. Went in looking for a pair around a few hundred and came out with a pair of Dynaudio Concert 1's? Broke the budget but damn they sound good.

I bought a pair of Tangent Evo's today they follow the gloss finish and solid build giving that 'built to last' feel.

Trev
 
I agree - I spent an hour in Richer Sounds today trying to choose between the Mordaunt Short 902s, some equivalent Wharfedales and Kefs, and couldn't get on with any of them. Hinted I might be prepared to spend more money the assistand fetched a pair of these shiny black bad-boys, and within a couple of bars of Josh Wink (quite a good test track, that) I knew they wiped the floor. Nice, together sound, and as you add volume the whole sound spectrum comes with it, no trebel poking out here or there and bass just kept coming. Awsome I think.
 
Nice to know I am not the only person lucky enough not to have not passed over these speakers due to price or poor advertising by Richersounds. :) The difference between them and the speakers in the £150 bracket is amazing - I have since tried a pair of KEF IQ1's and these were literally leagues above them, how they got such poor reviews I will never know
 
Thought It about time I replaced my ageing Mission 737s. As I've got a pair of Tangent Evos as back speakers and a Tangent centre speaker I thought I complete the set and 5 minutes later ended up back here (should have known!). Just thought I'd add the Clarity 4's are £170 a pair on Amazon. Anyone tried the sub too?
 
I've been looking into a review of the Tangent Evo range. I'm a proud owner of the complete set - Evo 34 floorstanders, Centre, Evo Sub and Evo 4 for the rear. I have however been looking into swapping out the Evo 4's to the Clarity 4's for the depth and extra whoomf.

As a combination, the floorstanders are complemented by the Sub which adds that little extra warmth. Not the largest by far and with a front facing cone, I wouldn't recommend for large rooms. But when used as the full set, the full range is covered - all this after nearly 2 hours in Richer Sounds :cool:
 

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