Whoever it was who first said of loudspeakers that "a good big 'un will always beat a good little 'un" must have known that precedence was against him. David and Goliath, Bismarck and Hood, Afghanistan and the USSR – history is littered with examples of the little guy giving the big bruiser a bloody nose.

Pressures on living space being what they are, it's a trick that loudspeaker manufacturers have often tried to emulate. The original Goodmans Maxim, the BBC-designed LS3/5A, the Celestion SL6 – all were small loudspeakers which impressed the audio world with their big ideas. Add to that illustrious list the Linaeum LFX – a tiny and intriguing little loudspeaker of serious intent, with a price tag to prove it. It measures a very compact 270 x 10 x 190mm but costs either £649 or £1,399, depending on which of two cabinets you select – of which more in due course.

Small loudspeakers are best associated with the modestly dimensioned rooms of the Old World, as the preceding list of old favourites confirms, but the Linaeum LFX hails from Portland, Oregon in the US of A – a land better associated with loudspeakers at the other end of the size scale. Its origins partly explain its cost, and also the curious device perched atop its cabinet. American loudspeaker manufacturers have consistently embraced novel transducer technologies with more enthusiasm than we conservative British, and the LFX's tweeter reaffirms the point. If you see an odder-looking high frequency driver this year, I'll eat my Loudspeaker and Headphone Handbook (edited by John Borwick; Butterworth: 1988).

Let me attempt to describe it. In plan view the diaphragm is a figure-of-eight, comprising two slightly flattened circles of thin, transparent plastics (actually Mylar), 32mm in height. The top and bottom extremities of the eight – the left-most and rightmost ends as seen from the front of the loudspeaker – are fixed whereas the centre section, where the two Mylar loops join, is free to move. Bonded between the loops at this point is a flat, printed circuit 'voice-coil', bathed in a concentrated magnetic field from two permanent magnets positioned on either side. Absorbent felt pads attached to the front and rear faces of the magnet assemblies diminish undesirable reflections, and narrow black strips of a thin damping material are glued to the exposed sections of diaphragm to help control resonances.

Linaeum's claims for this unusual tweeter – in addition to it representing "the biggest leap forward in audio transducer technology to come along in about thirty years", a claim about as indisputable as Iraq's on Kuwait – are that it works up to 30kHz (±3dB) in a very predictable manner and with low distortion. Its radiation pattern is specified as that of a dipole, although that must be an approximation since the diaphragm is not planar.

The tweeter crosses over to the five-inch, reflex-loaded Vifa bass-mid driver which occupies the enclosure beneath at 27kHz – a comparable frequency to most dome tweeters. Less usual is the use of gentle, first-order (6dB per octave) filter slopes, made practicable by the wide operating bandwidths of both drivers. Although the LFX makes no claim to being linear phase, the gentle crossover slopes do have the effect of minimizing phase distortion through the midrange.

To permit bi-amping or biwiring the crossover is a split type, with electrically separate low-pass and high-pass sections accessed by two sets of terminals at the rear of the loudspeaker. Linking straps are supplied to allow conventional, single-cable connection.

Small loudspeakers are normally inefficient but, despite its diminutive size and 70Hz bass roll-off (-3dB), the LFX has a specified sensitivity of 90dB. Minimum recommended amplifier power is 50 Watts, which in the light of the good sensitivity figure strikes me as unduly pessimistic. I used the loudspeaker very successfully with Audio Innovations' First Audio Amplifier, the nominal output of which is a very modest (but by no means retiring) 75 Watts.

There are, as I have already mentioned, two versions of the loudspeaker, both of which were on hand for this review. In driver complement and crossover they are identical, their one point of departure being the material from which the cabinet is constructed. The cheaper LFX has a conventional particle-board enclosure, available in a variety of finishes. The costlier LFXIC variant is made of half-inch thick DuPont Conan, a mineral-loaded acrylic resin which has a speckled grey appearance.

The raison d'être of the LFXIC, very obviously, is to reduce cabinet coloration. Since small cabinets are inherently better than large ones in this respect, without any help of exotic materials, I was very interested to hear whether the C version justifies its £750 premium.

Novel as it is, the LFX's tweeter is low on aesthetic appeal, so L-shaped grilles are provided which fit over both it and the front baffle. As it is rare for such covers to have no untoward effect on a loudspeaker's sound, I listened to the LFXs with them removed.

If I had to encapsulate the LFX's sound quality in a single adjective, 'refined' would be the one I'd choose. This is a loudspeaker for those who seek beauty in music above all else, and who abhor rough edges. The tonal balance is biased on the warm side, with the treble somewhat recessed. This, coupled with the excellent integration of the two drivers, makes the LFX a loudspeaker at which you can throw almost anything without it making ugly sounds. It is also very kind to impulse noise, with the result that it is unusually tolerant of less than perfect LP surfaces and even of mild mistracking, whether on vinyl or CD.

Specification

Familiar small loudspeaker demerits are there in the form of limited bass extension (though what there is in the way of low frequency output is free, thank goodness, of any compensatory over-emphasis) and also mild compression but provided the LFX is not asked to reproduce organ pedal notes or expected to convey the impact of a symphony orchestra in full cry (Respighi's Feste romane, for example, is not its natural territory), it disguises its modest dimensions well. If you desired more in the way of low frequency extension and power, then I imagine it would be a good candidate for partnering with a quality subwoofer such as the REL Stentor.

Small loudspeakers have benefits as well as drawbacks, of course, one being that they often project a more convincing stereo image. The LFX scores here, although its treble reticence prevents it being the last word in presence.

Of the two variants the more expensive LFXIC is indeed the better loudspeaker, its more inert cabinet manifesting itself in a tidier, better-delineated sound. This is as it should be, but it has to be said that in many hi-fl systems the £750 price differential would be more profitably spent elsewhere.

I enjoyed listening to the LFX, despite my personal preference for a brighter tonal balance. It's a loudspeaker of character, obviously designed by someone with firm views on how reproduced music should sound. If you concur with those views, I fail to see how you could not like it.

It has to be acknowledged, though, that there is still some truth in the good big 'un triumphs over good little 'un theory. Or at least, good mid-sized 'un over good little 'un.

If you must have a Lilliputian loudspeaker, and refinement features high on your list of sound quality requirements, the LFX makes a strong case for itself. If you can house something a little larger, however, and demand above all else the frisson of live performance, even at the expense of some coarseness, then the competition hots up.

Type two-way with 1 27mm bass/midrange, custom tweeter Bass loading reflex

Frequency response 70Hz-30kHz ±3dB

Nominal impedance 8 Ohms

Sensitivity 90dB/Watt/metre

Recommended power amplifier rating 50 Watts

Dimensions (W x H x D) 160 x 270 x 190mm

Manufacturer The Linaeum Corporation, 1238 NW Glisan, Suite 404, Portland, OR 97209 UK distributor Absolute Sounds, 58 Durham Road, London SW20 ODE Telephone 081-947 5047

UK retail price LEX £649; LFXJC £1,399