Russell K Red 50 2022 spec.

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New Product

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Russell K Red 50 2022 spec. 〰️ New Product 〰️

Here at Audio T Enfield, we are proud to stock Russell K speakers, and last week we were lucky enough to be the first retailer in the country to get a first listen and look at the new RED 50 22 speakers.

A brief history on Russell K

Russell Kauffman, a personal friend of Audio T, is the Managing Director and Designer of Russell K Ltd. He began his career in the industry as a manager for Hi-Fi retailer Lasky’s during the 80s, later going on to work for Wharfedale, Monitor Audio, Bowers & Wilkins and Morel Acoustics.

Russell K Ltd was established in 2013 when Russell pursued his dream of creating his own Hi-Fi brand, with the first product, the RED 100 speakers, on the market by 2014. Since then the company has gone from strength to strength, distributing throughout Europe and part of South-East Asia. The British based company’s mission is to “build precision audio loudspeakers” where they are “totally focussed on producing the most authentic and believable sound possible”.

Three series of speakers have been developed; The BLACK series (BLACK 50s, 100s, 120s & 150s), the RED series (RED 50s, 100s, 120s & 150s), and the SE series (120SEs & 150 SEs); cloth grilles for all models and JK100 stands for the 100 series are sold separately. They are massively popular amongst Hi-Fi enthusiasts due to their excellent sound quality, and many have received top reviews both in the UK and internationally.

You can read some of Russell K’s great reviews here.

The RED 50 22s - what’s new?

The finishes have changed from gloss to matt with a wood-type veneer, and the once silver screws around the drive unit and tweeter have been replaced with black ones, creating a sleeker look.

The components inside the cabinet haven’t been changed, meaning you will still get the signature Russell K sound from them.

What can you choose from?

As pictured above, there are three new finishes:

Oak & White baffle
Black Wood & Black baffle
Walnut & Black baffle

And so we listened…

For the listening session we played the debut CD album by 90s RnB girl band Eternal, ‘Always and Forever’ on the Audiolab Omnia , using the standard power cables at first. Russell himself joined us on this particular day to provide training, which is always great fun!

The beauty of this album (and one of the main reasons why I love early 90s music) is that it was recorded before auto-tune was invented, so little tweaking has been done to their vocals; the recordings sound much more natural and less computerised/edited. These are great albums to use when testing out Hi-Fi gear; it will really show the system’s capability in playing the true sound of the music.

The RED 50 22s had no trouble giving us the album’s authentic sound; we particularly noticed this on the track ‘Let’s Stay Together’. Easther’s (lead singer) voice in particular has a very soulful tone that was hugely complimented by the speakers; they allowed us to connect more emotionally with the her tone and the music overall. We even did a comparison test with another pair of speakers, and you could really hear the difference clarity-wise; the Russell K’s had much more life and character to them. Russell’s aim when building any speaker is for the listener to be so connected to what they hear, that the Hi-Fi gear disappears and they’re immersed in the music. That’s exactly what happened next…

We listened for most of the morning and then switched genres in the afternoon. I wanted to explore a track that is polar-opposite in its production to really test the speakers’ capabilities. I chose ‘Frozen’ by Sickick and Madonna, which is a remix of Madonna’s iconic 90s synth-heavy track, made famous by TikTok trends. It falls under the genre of ‘trap’, which is a bass and beat heavy style of music with lots of digital production and auto-tune (I really meant it when I said polar-opposite!). The speakers delivered as expected; the bassline was clear, the beat was tight and we were completely immersed by the huge sound-stage.

The verdict

From what I discovered during my training/listening session, the RED 50 22s are capable of anything. No matter the genre, the recording, the production, these speakers will bring any song to life and allow you to connect in a way you may not have done previously. Plus they’d look really good in your home, which means they are a win all-round! As always, we recommend coming in and listening so you get your own feel of the speakers.

Thanks for reading

Elena & John – Audio T Enfield

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