Raumfeld Stereo Cubes review

German multiroom audio brand Raumfeld has been around for a few years, but parent company Teufel's direct sale business model meant it never became a household name here in the UK. The Stereo Cubes are just one of the brand's many multiroom speakers, which also include the One S and One M single speaker models, and the Stereo M and Stereo L twin-speaker systems. This modular approach lets you pick and choose between models to suit each room.

The Stereo Cubes are comprised of two separate speakers connected by a run of speaker wire, rather than two entirely separate wireless speakers. This means speaker placement is slightly more limited than with competing multi-room products, but it does remove some of the latency between speakers. Whether you can perceive any marginal delay in wirelessly paired speakers is questionable, however.

The speakers are available in either black or white. They live up to their name with a Bauhaus-inspired cubic design that looks unquestionably German with precision lines and a clean, uncluttered look. The team were divided on the design, with some loving the exposed speaker cones and distinct shape, but it's fair to say they might not fit in with certain décor, unlike other speakers.

Construction is at least impressive. Each speaker has a lacquered wooden enclosure that feels robust, and the weight of the cabinets is reassuring. Each one contains a 5in long-throw woofer and a 1in tweeter in a coaxial arrangement. Aluminium accents along the bottom have integrated status LEDs that show when the Cubes are turned on and connected to your home network.

It's a shame the Stereo Cubes don’t have the preset buttons found on Raumfeld's other speakers; they could be programmed to play specific internet radio stations, but their omission here means you have to rely on your smartphone for playback.

The right speaker contains the amplifier and connections, as well as an output to the left speaker. You'll find a wired Ethernet Connection, pair of phono RCA inputs and a USB port on the back of the enclosure, which can be used to play music directly off a USB flash drive or external hard disk.

The fact that the Raumfeld system lets you connect a music source through the phono inputs and then broadcast the audio to other Raumfeld speakers on the network is a fantastic addition. It means you could pipe an analogue audio source such as a vinyl turntable into every room with a connected speaker.