[£795
Neat
Neat Petite III
HIFICHOICE
A long-time favourite luxury near-miniature, Neat's Petite was first reviewed and Recommended some nine years ago, and to stay in production for nearly a decade is itself an achievement. Although the Petite III has a similar sized main driver and a two-way port-loaded configuration to most of the speakers in this test group, it has a significantly smaller enclosure. It also uses a rather unusual 'area drive' tweeter, where the voice coil that carries the signal is 'printed' onto the thin plastic disc that forms the actual diaphragm.
Both the enclosure and main driver have remained pretty constant throughout the Petite's life, while this is the second significant change to focus on the tweeter and crossover network. Although this latest EMIT-type tweeter looks similar to that used in the MkII, it isn't the same, this new 'radial' version allowing a much simpler (1st order) crossover network.
It's a good looking and very solid little box, nicely finished in classy real wood veneer (with a choice of four finishes) and slightly softened edges. Both drivers are flush-mounted, the tweeter diaphragm surrounded by a foam 'blanket'. Two terminal pairs are individually mounted directly through the enclosure, more to aid bi-amping than bi-wiring, according to the manufacturer.
Room measurement confirmed expectations that close-to-wall is at least the starting point, but the exact proximity needs to be balanced against its adverse impact on midband coloration. In fact the Petite delivers an impressively flat and smooth midband, but shows a distinct peak in the crossover region, due to an octave or so's overlap between the drivers.
Sound Quality
The Petite III didn't really give any clues to its small size when hidden behind the acoustically transparent curtain, though the rather varied reactions of the panel point towards a design which is by no means all things to all men. There was plenty of praise for its openness, clarity and agility, but some felt that the speaker was less comfortable with more complex material.
Carefully positioned, it shows a fine freedom from boxiness combined with surprising bass power. The balance is remarkably neutral and open, if a tad thin and bright, giving fine low level articulation. It was extraordinarily easy to understand the lyrics on 'difficult' rap material, but there was also a tendency to over-emphasise sibilants and consonants, which makes ultra-clean partnering electronics mandatory. Ultimately, the bass does lack something in texture and subtlety, and the speaker could be more dynamically expressive.
Conclusion
Decidedly idiosyncratic in view of its crossover peak, the Petite III should only be used with high quality sources and amplification, and may still be a little too bright for some tastes. But it still sets the standard amongst true tinies, for its fine musical coherence and life, and all-round midband clarity - for that, it retains its Recommendation as it enters its second decade.
THE LAB REPORT
Way back in HFC 167, I criticised the Neat Petite 2 for its huge increase in distortion of some 5-6% as the bass/mid unit struggled to meet the lower registers of the EMIT tweeter. And, despite changes to the treble unit and crossover, nothing has changed as far as the Petite 3 is concerned - distortion still marches unchecked through the midrange till the treble ribbon really takes over. Its sensitivity is slightly improved from 86.7dB to 87.1dB but there's still a 'ragged' 5-6dB peak around 4kHz. The Petite's phase angle shoots to +65degrees through this region, but the tough HF impedance trend (4 ohm at 20kHz) occurs later. Otherwise, the Petite's treble lift is ameliorated by listening 10-20 degrees off axis while, at the other end, its bass alignment remains very 'peaky' with a -3dB point of ~88Hz before falling sharply away. Even with the broad 25-130Hz output of the narrow rear-firing port, the Petite's bass will have plenty of upper bass 'thwack' but little weight to back it up.
