Thonet & Vander to Ship to the US: Classic 2.0, M6 Studio, Soundbar Speakers and more

When you think of things to come out of Germany you think of high-end cars, Octoberfest, and trains that run on time. Just including "Made in Germany" will often convince consumers that the product is better than its competitors. German A/V manufacturers include such names as Canton, MBL, and Behringer. With such a long history and reputation for quality, we couldn't help but be curious when Thonet & Vander announced that they were expanding their operations to include the US.

A quick glance at their website reveals that they don't just make "more of the same". While the site is still under development (we noticed a few oddities but for the more part it seems to work fine), it gives you more than enough information about the company and their products to whet your appetite for what they will soon be shipping here in the USA. We'll take a look at each of their product lines in turn.

Classic 2.0

Right off the bat, Thonet & Vander bring something different to the table with their self-powered monitors. These bookshelf-sized speakers have a number of different form factors including the angled back Stahl to the more traditional Kurbis. We're most interested in hearing the Hoch (we don't know if they'll be changing the names of these speakers for the US market). This speaker is reminiscent of larger bookshelf speakers that many entry-level enthusiasts like to purchase as their first foray into high-end audio. The Hoch have an one inch, silk-dome tweeter above two 5.25" fiber (think Kevlar) woofers. They are rear ported, have two RCA-style analogue inputs, 35 watts per speaker, and have controls for volume, bass, and treble. These look to be an interesting solution for those that desire not only in big sound from their computer, but filling a whole room with their tunes.

Thonet & Vander Hoch

Hi-End

The Hi-End line is a bit of a mixed bag. It features a soundbar, a set of bookshelves, something that looks like a small tower, and a subwoofer. The Kugel bookshelf speakers are much like the Hoch but smaller and they have a remote. This makes them ideal for desktop placement. The soundbar and mini-towers have subwoofer outputs for connection with the SW-10 subwoofer. The sub sports a 10" driver in a ported enclosure. The Grund soundbar has two of the fiber woofers and two silk-dome tweeters. It can be connected to by Bluetooth, digitally via coax or optical, and analogue via 3.5mm or RCA. In addition, the Grund has a front-mounted USB port and a card reader for your portable media and devices. The Turm mini-towers have everything the soundbar has but includes an iPod dock as well. We're not sure if the two speakers connect wirelessly to each other or via a wired connection. This is certainly a different sort of offering.

Thonet & Vander Grund Soundbar

Multimedia 2.1 and USB Sound

The multimedia offerings from Thonet & Vander take the typical form factor of a central bass module paired with a couple of satellite speakers. While we normally think of these sort of setups being used exclusively in an office setting, Thonet & Vander often have them placed (based on their pictures) in a living room. This is a fairly interesting spin on these sorts of speakers and will probably appeal to a number of consumers. Secondly, they have USB Sound offerings which are more directed toward an office environment. These take the form of mini-bookshelf speakers to 2.1 systems to very tiny satellites. The Akut speakers in particular caught our eye. They feature a single driver design with an integrated stand that props the front of the speaker up for desk placement. You connect to the speaker via USB (obviously) in the back but it doesn't stop there. On the side of one of the speakers are three additional USB ports and the other has three different sizes of SD card slots. For students, these speakers look like they'd be perfect.

Thonet & Vander Akut

Monitor

Thonet & Vander have a category for Monitor but it only has a single offering. The M6 Studio has a 6.5" fiber woofer and a 1" silk-dome woofer with a Neodymium magnet powering it. Thonet & Vander advertise this as being "flat, precise, professional", three things that should get Audioholics' attention. The M6s are front ported by a slot style port at the bottom of the box. They have an active crossover that operates before amplification. The internal amp has a limiter to prevent damage. You can connect to the M6 Studios via RCA or XLR balanced inputs. The inclosures are wider than they are deep to free up the maximum amount of desk space. We're very curious as to how this studio monitors will sound.

Thonet & Vander M6 Studio

Bluetooth

Thonet & Vander have taken a couple of the speakers from the Classic 2.0 line (Hoch and Kurbis) and added Bluetooth to them. They've also added Bluetooth to the Ratsel Multimedia 2.1 offering. In unique products, they've introduced the Flug which is a Bluetooth streaming accessory and the Luft, a set of Bluetooth headphones. The Luft are an interesting offering in that they are on-ear and have the sort of design and aesthetic you'd expect from a German hi-fi company. The Luft charge via USB which takes 2-3 hours. You are promised up to 6 hours of play/talk time and 160 hours of standby time between a recharge. Thonet & Vander tout their "hands free" solution but it seems that you'll need to control the call from your phone (answer/hang up) but we won't know that until we get our hands on a set for review.

Thonet & Vander Luft