Pitt & Giblin SUPERWAX MINI
The Superwax Mini marries explosive dynamics, substantial 15-inch bass and smooth, unforced clarity in a beautifully integrated active design. StereoNET admired its balanced musicality and control, while Andrew Robinson found its DSP-led presentation remarkably neutral, vivid and live-sounding. Its bronze waveguide, powerful amplification and tailored presets make it a compelling all-in-one high-end system.
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Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
96/100
Build Quality
93/100
Value for Money
89/100
Pros
Exceptional dynamic headroom remains clean, controlled and composed at high volume.
15-inch woofer delivers fast, weighty, room-energising bass without bloat.
Smooth, neutral tonal balance combines highly intelligible vocals with controlled, non-shouty treble.
Integrated Hypex amplification, DSP, versatile digital/analogue inputs and tuning presets minimise system complexity.
Cons
Imaging favours a broad, immersive live-event perspective over the last degree of pinpoint instrument separation.
The supplied Hypex remote feels inexpensive relative to the speaker's bespoke finish, and occasional standby wake-up quirks were reported.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 96/100
Reviewers found an unusually complete, high-impact presentation: powerful low frequencies, natural vocal and instrumental tone, refined high frequencies, and a spacious live-event scale. Its strongest calling cards are effortless dynamic headroom and a controlled, room-filling sound that remains composed at serious volume.
Bass
96/100
The 15-inch woofer earned repeated praise for bass with genuine subwoofer-like heft, fast transient response, and force without bloat. Andrew Robinson found it palpable and exciting rather than overbearing, while StereoNET heard substantial impact and control, although it was not described as the last word in extension.
Mid
96/100
Andrew Robinson was especially impressed by the seamless bass-to-midrange transition, calling the speaker's tonality linear, neutral, and highly intelligible. Vocals were described as remarkably present and realistic, while HiFi Huff simply called the midrange beautiful.
Treble
95/100
The compression-driver treble was consistently described as smooth, extended, and controlled rather than beamy, shouty, or overtly horn-like. StereoNET noted an absence of vocal shrillness, and Andrew Robinson found the top end forgiving enough to make difficult recordings enjoyable.
Soundstage Imaging
94/100
Reviews describe a spacious, holographic presentation with strong centre focus, clean instrumental separation, and convincing depth. Andrew Robinson noted that it prioritises a broad, live and immersive perspective over the last degree of etched performer separation, but considered its sense of being at the performance exceptional.
Dynamics
97/100
Dynamic ability is a standout. StereoNET praised massive swings delivered with constant control, while Andrew Robinson said listeners would reach their limits before the speaker did; HiFi Huff likewise found it could play extremely loud while staying clean, separated, and unconfused.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
93/100
The available coverage praises the design, finish, and attention to detail, with HiFi Huff calling the execution stunning. StereoNET also highlights substantial engineering, including the cast-bronze waveguide, integrated Hypex amplification and DSP, and a large neodymium-magnet woofer, though the reviews say little about long-term durability.
Value for Money
89/100
At the listed price of 17,380, this is a premium active loudspeaker, but StereoNET judged its system-level performance to be something that would have been difficult to obtain at this price only a few years ago. Its integrated amplification, DSP, digital connectivity, and high-output performance strengthen the case versus assembling a comparable multi-box system, although reviewers provide limited direct comparison with named rivals.
Reviews & Sources
Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.
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Specifications
- Inputs and controls
- Analogue RCA (unbalanced) and XLR (balanced), are alongside TOSLINK (optical) and S/PDIF (coaxial), with the addition of AES3 (Digital XLR). Inputs can be selected with the remote control, as well as the recall of our three tuning profiles - Natural, Live, and Clean. These features coupled with auto on off, and of course volume control, mean there is no need for an external preamplifier.
- digital signal processor
- A digital signal processor drives each speaker, providing the filtration and alignment for each amplifier channel, and thus transducer. No passive crossover components are used, as the waveguide and cabinet optimisation is designed with DSP in mind.
- waveguide
- A waveguides function is to control the level of sound at any given frequency consistently across the listening position, but also in the room you are listening within. A compression driver with low resonance, broad bandwidth, and exceptional sensitivity is exactly optimised for the waveguide expansion at the throat, which provides a seamless integration and minimal interference. By using a large waveguide, mid-bass, and cabinet, the consistency of level across the frequency spectrum can be controlled to offer a smoother tonality in room than just about any other loudspeaker. Superwax Mini offers tonal balance throughout any space due to this physical optimisation, and yields an accurate and more enveloping listening experience regardless of the music choice.
- cabinet and mid-bass driver
- A 15" mid-bass driver is a powerful device, capable of serious SPL. This driver size is more common in professional sound for it's output power and control, though in small professional cabinets rarely has deep bass extension. Superwax Mini offers a large cabinet and powerful 250w amplifier module, and can reach into the 20's (Hz) in a moderately sized space, which makes for a listening experience that has precise and articulate bass, without the requirement for a subwoofer.
- SIZE
- Each Superwax Mini loudspeaker is 715mm tall, 380mm deep, and 460mm wide. As standard they come with 7 degree tilt block feet, which increase the height of the speaker 90mm.
- WEIGHT
- We encourage two people for lifting during installation, though should you like to reposition them in your space they are not unmanageable for one person at 40kg per unit, 45kg in the timber shipping crate.
- recommendations
- Each Hypex module processes sound through DSP, and converts it back to analogue signal before amplifying it. With this in mind we do not recommend the use of external DAC's as it is an unnecessary conversion in the signal chain. Digital streamers and other players should be connected to the primary loudspeaker using a digital connection for increased integrity and reduced noise. Additionally, as active loudspeakers do not utilise long and unnecessarily expensive speaker cables we recommend the use of a phono stage (discrete phono preamp) that has balanced analogue outputs. RCA is OK for short interconnects if your system is centred around the turntable, however susceptible to noise on longer distances - especially apparent when placing the turntable elsewhere in the room.
Manufacturer's Description — Pitt & Giblin
15” BASS DRIVER.
A premium 15” bass driver offers great dynamics at low displacement, offering supreme control and reduced distortion at any level, with bass extension that doesn’t require a subwoofer.
large format 2-way.
A large loudspeaker enables acoustic performance that smaller speakers can’t match. The size of the cabinet, driver, and waveguide help achieve an extremely consistent response, with excellent sensitivity across the board.
on board amplification.
Hypex nCore amplifiers provide 350w of total power in a small package. By integrating the amplifier into the loudspeaker a consistent package is formed, which is finely calibrated using DSP for stunning performance.
Bronze Waveguide
Cast from solid bronze, the highly optimised geometry of our hand finished waveguide offers incredibly consistent response both on and off axis. A low resonance high efficiency compression driver seamlessly enters the waveguide, which results in a tonally consistent, natural sound anywhere in the room.
Birch Cabinet
Veneered birch plywood is precisely CNC machined, before being carefully assembled and finished by hand. The stiff and dense material offers a stable acoustic environment for low vibration, and outlive a particle board alternative.
designed with dsp.
Digital signal processing facilitates advanced acoustical design opportunities which are simply not possible in a passive system.
Careful application of this technology allows us to optimise the design of the waveguide, cabinet and drivers to maximise acoustical performance, resulting in superbly consistent in-room performance and vanishingly low distortion, at any output level.
Integrated digital signal processing, digital to analogue converters, and Hypex NCore amplification means Superwax Mini is not just a loudspeaker, but an audio system, requiring only the addition of a digital or analogue source. No painstaking amplifier pairing required.