So far we’ve been impressed, so it’s time for a bit of competition. We switch over to Wharfedale’s Diamond 121s, and it’s soon clear that the SX-60s are up against exceedingly high standards.

They’re well balanced, too. The top end is prominent without being too bright, and the midrange is direct. The bass is rich, but it’s tight and never less than agile. There’s also a good level of integration. Elsewhere, there’s a good grip on rhythm, a decent amount of detail and a good sense of scale. Smartly finished with all fixings covered by trim rings. For those who would rather not see drive units, an acoustically transparent grille is supplied.

SX-50 comes with grilles. The purpose of the grille is to protect the delicate driver elements from external impacts while still allowing the sound to pass as clearly as possible. The driver fixings are concealed behind neat trims with a slightly rubberised texture that is also present on the rear terminal plate. I was pleased to note that the polarity markings above the single pair of terminals are raised which is a blessing to those of us with non-functioning eyes.

The crossover has been carefully designed to maintain linear phase throughout the frequency range, quoted as 41Hz – 22kHz, though no reference for linearity is actually given. The speakers are 89dB sensitive with a nominal impedance of 8Ω and a recommended 20-100W RMS amplifier power. These two-way speakers (a comprehensive update on the SX-50 we reviewed in 2014) are rear-ported, have a 25mm silk dome tweeter and a 13.5cm treated paper cone mid/bass driver. Cambridge SX-50 comes with 8 Self-adhesive feet which you can use to secure your loudspeaker on the surface that you are putting on. the bass/midrange unit delivers upper midband output strongly, giving a forward sound with swathes of detail” Cambridge Audio says that the SX-120 is ideally suited to complement other models in the SX speaker range, adding the bass extension to your music and movies.I positioned the SX-60s on stands with the tweeters just below ear height and toed in about 15 degrees toward the listening position. I found this gave the best stereo image and the most comfortable listen, as the top end can get a bit edgy at times. One of the natural alternative to the Cambridge SX-50 is the SX-60 which is located one step higher in Cambridge Audio's Passive Bookshelf selection.