Neat Acoustics Mystique Classic Floorstanding Speakers

Neat Acoustics is a small English loudspeaker company based in Barnard Castle, County Durham. Bob Surgeoner started it in 1989 as a hi-fi shop and moved to full-time manufacture in 1993. He was a performing and recording musician for more than twenty years, and Neat's designs are finished by ear rather than by measurement alone.

The Mystique Classic is a floorstander in a slim, room-friendly cabinet — 78 cm tall and 20 cm wide, with a depth of only 16 cm. It is a two-way design, tuned and refined through extended listening, and the priorities are speed, openness and natural tonal balance.

Neat quotes a frequency response of 30 Hz to 22 kHz. Impedance is 8 ohms nominal with a 5 ohm minimum, and the recommended amplifier range is 25 to 100 watts — an easy load that does not need power to be driven well. The narrow, shallow cabinet lets it work close to a wall in rooms where a deeper floorstander would have to come out into the space.

It sits between the Petite Classic and the Elite Classic in the range. The reason to take the Mystique over the Petite is not volume but reach — the same two-way character, carried five hertz lower and off the stands.

Hand-built in the north of England.

Finishes: Black Oak, Natural Oak, American Walnut and Satin White. Priced per pair.

Configuration: Two-way floorstander

Frequency Response: 30 Hz – 22 kHz

Impedance: 8 ohms nominal; 5 ohms minimum

Recommended Amplifier Power: 25 – 100 watts

Dimensions (H × W × D): 78 × 20 × 16 cm

Finishes: Black Oak, Natural Oak, American Walnut, Satin White

Hand-built in the north of England.