Oscar Wilde was on to something when he suggested that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If he’s right, then the sight of the new Technics SC-CX700 wireless music streaming system will be making KEF, and its LS50 Wireless II music streaming system in particular, feel about as flattered as possible.

The world is full of wireless music streaming systems within stereo speakers in a kind of “all in two” arrangement, but KEF has arguably been the most successful of the established “hi-fi” brands where this concept is concerned. Since it first launched its LS50 Wireless in 2016, it’s routinely represented the most effective balance between performance, convenience, and value for money. We have loved them for generations, with the current LS50 Wireless II (8/10, WIRED Recommends) continuing to impress three years after launch.

Technics seems to have decided that if KEF can’t be beaten in the passive space—as it once tried with a passive pair of speakers called the SB-C700 that reviews editor Parker Hall personally still loves—it can most definitely be joined in the active one. And so with one particularly notable difference, the Technics SC-CX700 seems to have taken a fair bit of visual and functional inspiration from the KEF LS50 Wireless II. To be honest? For folks looking for a KEF alternative, Technics did pretty well once more.

A Hi-Fi Showdown

The main difference is “Dinamica.” This is a soft and velvety, textured material made mostly from recycled polyester. It wraps around the front and sides of the SC-CX700 cabinet, where it makes quite a distinct visual impression no matter if you select the terracotta brown, charcoal black, or silky gray finish. Whether or not it appeals to the interior decorator that lives inside us all is, I think it’s reasonable to say, a different matter.

Its Phase Precision Driver 4 coaxial driver arrangement, which positions a 0.75-inch ring tweeter in the throat of a 5.9-inch mid/bass driver makes a strong, yet weirdly familiar, visual impression. The coaxial unit sits above a forward-facing bass reflex port, which promises a degree of flexibility where positioning the speakers is concerned.

In every other respect, the SC-CX700 is a wireless music system like every other. The system’s total of 200 watts of Class D power is divided into 40 watts per tweeter and 60 watts per mid/bass driver. Each cabinet is 12.3 x 7.9 x 10.9 inches (H x W x D) and weighs around 20 pounds, making them hefty but easy enough to place on most speaker stands or cabinets without fear.

On the inside, Technics has deployed a number of, ahem, techniques to extract maximum performance. Amplification and speaker drivers are positioned in separate enclosures inside the cabinet to minimize vibration interference, in an arrangement Technics calls “acoustic solitude construction.” The reduction of audio signal transmission disturbance between speakers is the responsibility of something it calls the JENO engine, and a MBDC (model-based diaphragm control) chipset intends to minimize harmonic distortion in the coaxial driver arrangement based on simulations of its predicted movement. The company calls this overall arrangement the Technics Orchestration Concept. Yes, it’s all very wordy, but it sims to provide you with the best sound possible.

Flexible Setup

As is usually the way with systems like this, one speaker is doing the majority of the heavy lifting in terms of processing. In this instance, the primary speaker features all the physical inputs (HDMI ARC, digital optical, USB-C, Ethernet socket, moving magnet phono stage and 3.5-mm line-level analog input), and takes care of wireless connectivity (dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with SBC and AAC codec compatibility). I say primary speaker because you can choose which side the speaker goes on; it features a switch to designate it as either the left or the right channel, a button to initiate wireless pairing with the secondary speaker, an RJ45 socket to make a hard connection to the secondary, and an input for mains power. The secondary speaker, by way of contrast, just has the RJ45 and a socket for mains power.

The primary speaker features a few physical controls across its top surface, but greater control is available via an unglamorous remote control handset. There’s also the Technics Audio Center control app that’s free for iOS and Android. It takes the concept of “unglamorous” to previously unimagined places, but it’s a stable and useful enough interface. No, it’s not the swiftest in operation, and no, it’s no one’s idea of a visual treat—but if you want to integrate your favorite music streaming service (as long as it’s Amazon Music, Deezer, Qobuz, Spotify, or TIDAL), check on firmware updates, run the Space Tune room-correction routine, access bass and treble controls and so on, it’s got everything you need.

Depending on how your digital content comes aboard, resolution of up to 32 bit/384 kHz PCM and DSD 256 is supported. If you make a wireless connection between the speakers, everything is scaled to 24 bit/96 kHz, but with a wired connection and 24 bit/192 kHz is available. Ethernet or Wi-Fi connectivity means that internet radio is catered for, as are Apple AirPlay and Google Cast, and the SC-CX700 will be Roon Ready soon, via an upcoming over-the-air update.

Easy Listening

Once you’ve tuned the SC-CX700 to your space, arranged the home page of the control app to your satisfaction, and have started to listen in earnest, there’s plenty to admire and enjoy in the way this Technics system sounds. There’s nothing ostentatious or in any way in-your-face about the sound, but in its own way, the SC-CX700’s are a compelling listen.

That’s the case no matter whether you’re playing a heavyweight vinyl reissue of “Les Stances a Sophie,” by Art Ensemble of Chicago, streaming a 24-bit/96-kHz FLAC file of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “Final Rescue Attempt,” or listening to a compact disc of “All Mirrors,” by Angel Olsen via the digital optical input. The Technics is always a carefully controlled, pointedly balanced, and basically unflappable performer.

They’re so balanced and so controlled that it might be possible—at least on first acquaintance—to confuse it with a lack of energy. Eventually, I realized they’re actually more judicious than dispassionate.

Still, they’re reserved compared to their KEF counterparts. There’s no shock and awe in the bass, no attempt to grab you by the lapels and force you to concede that you’ve never heard anything so exciting in all your life in the highs. The Technics eschew outright punch in favor of more balanced, and ultimately more realistic, bass presence. It can hit with real determination if the material demands it, but it’s a scalpel much more than it’s a baseball bat. The low frequencies are swift, confidently shaped, and controlled with such rigor that you might briefly imagine they’re lacking in substance. They’re not, of course, but the SC-CX700 prioritize momentum and rhythmic expression over sheer weight.

At every turn, the speakers extract and contextualize every scrap of information in a recording, no matter how minor or transient it may be. Midrange expression is eloquent, and vocalists of all types have their character, emotional condition, and technical expertise (or lack thereof) explained in full. The top of the frequency range has sufficient substance to counterbalance the bite and shine it loads onto treble sounds, but, again, the SC-CX700 never loses the run of itself. Listen as loud as you like—and this system will most assuredly play loud—but you’ll never provoke it into hardness or two-dimensionality.

Carefully neutral tonality helps in this regard, as does the system’s refusal to play any favorites where frequency response is concerned. It has sufficient dynamic headroom to make the numerous changes in attack and intensity during Art Ensemble of Chicago’s “Thème de Yoyo” apparent, but it’s also deft enough to make the harmonic variations during the quieter passages just as plain. Stereo focus is coherent, and the coaxial driver arrangement doubtless contributes to the impressive sense of timing and unity the Technics demonstrates in every circumstance.

The SC-CX700 won’t be for everyone. Apart from the fact that the nature of its finish means it might aggravate latent textophobes, the sober and balanced sound quality isn’t necessarily going to impress listeners for whom “$2,999 audio system” equates to “sonic fireworks.” If a faithful and balanced account of your favorite music is what you’re after—perfect imitation, in its most positive sense—then this Technics system flatters.