REVIEW: Teufel Consono 25 5.1 speakers

Name: Consono 25 (Teufel)

Type: 5.1 speakers

Specs: Click here for full specs

Price: £179 direct from Teufel

With prices of all-in-one 5.1 home cinema receiver and speaker packages falling all the time, it’s easier than ever to turn your living room into a mini-Odeon cinema. However, while the receivers in these boxes are often reasonably good, the speakers are usually as cheap and weak as they come. Those looking to upgrade their entry-level speakers may want to take a look at German audio specialist Teufel’s new Consono 25 5.1 speakers.

The Consono 25 is comprised of five satellite speakers (four surround CS 25 FCRs and a single centre CS 35 C) and the US 5108/1 active subwoofer.

The floor or wall-mountable CS 25 FCR speakers are of average size (12.5 x 9 x 9.8 cm), each with a removable front grille and equipped with a dual 80 mm mid-range-driver and 19 mm tweeter construction. The longer CS 35 C speaker measures up at 20 x 9 x 9.8 cm and contains a 19mm high-range dome driver alongside two 80 mm diameter mid-range drivers. The subwoofer’s dimensions are 42 x 24 x 36.5 cm and it’s a heavy old thing at 12.80 kg. Each has a glossy black finish that should sit nicely in most living rooms, with a blue LED glowing when the sub is on, red when inactive. This is purely a speaker set, so do make sure you have an appropriate receiver and cabling before purchasing the Consono 25.

After initially connecting the speakers to the receiver, we were unimpressed. Balancing was all over the place, with the rear speakers far too dominant. We had to tweak our receiver settings in some unexpected ways to level out the soundscape, but once we’d done so the Consono 25 speakers were actually reasonably good. The 100 watts RMS power, 200-mm active woofer boomed out Inception’s ominous soundtrack, with the dampening feet doing well to counteract rattling. Crank the volume up anywhere beyond the medium volume levels however and the satellites suffered a little, with voices lost in the central speaker. Still, keep in mind that these speakers are aimed at beginner’s flats and not a cavernous cinema setting and the lower volume levels, in which the speakers perform best, should be more than adequate.

Movement between the surround speakers was also nicely spread out, once we’d given the set a fair bit of tweaking of course. We ran through a handful of matches of Modern Warfare 2 on the Xbox 360 online, and were pleased to be able to pinpoint enemy fire with great accuracy, just from the speaker placement.

While it’s more than capable of providing a solid step up from most speakers found with all-in-one home cinema packages, the inconsistencies at higher volumes will leave a lot to be desired for more demanding audiophiles. However, providing you’ve already got a decent AV receiver, the Consono 25 set will ramp up a beginner’s home-cinema set-up nicely, without breaking the bank.

3/5