Roth Audio OLi3 review

We gave a glowing five-star review to Roth Audio's Oli1, the company's entry-level bookshelf speaker. Now it's the turn of the Oli3 floorstanders to come under careful scrutiny.

First impressions are good
Take a cursory glance and you'll be impressed with what what's on display. The two-and-a-half-way speaker design features twin 5.25in woven fibreglass hybrid cones, and is topped off with a 1in soft-dome tweeter.

Build quality is solid, and the OLi3s exhibit impressive class that belies their budget price tag.

They're also the only speakers in the Roth Audio range to use the company's DALtech (Dead as Lead Technology) damping. This involves positioning special damping material at strategic points within the cabinet.

Roth Audio claims this absorbs any unwanted vibrations to help deliver a purer sound.

Spin Madonna's The Power of Goodbye and the OLi3s dish out their take on Madge's vocals with relish. They sound solid, cohesive, expressive and up there with the best at this price point.

Yet not all is well elsewhere in the frequency range. Your attention is drawn to a hint of thinness in the treble. It's not a major problem, but we certainly wouldn't recommend that you partner them with bright-sounding kit.

Struggle to impress
The OLi3s also struggle to impress lower in the spectrum. The rampant bassline fired out during Madonna's Sky Fits Heaven sounds soft and ill-defined.

The class-leaders at and around this price point, such as the Monitor Audio Bronze BR2 (£200) serve up greater precision and punch, and a more dramatic sound.

This is even more obvious when you move onto The Battle from Gladiator. It should build up to an amazing crescendo, but the OLis just fall short.

We hoped the OLi3s would continue the trend set by the OLi1s. They certainly look the part, but something seems to have been lost in the move from stand to floor.