Ø AUDIO ICON 12 LOUDSPEAKERS REVIEW
Ø Audio ICON 12 loudspeakers are from Norway and sport a 12″ driver and a large square horn in a large but squat enclosure. They cost around 20 000 euro and come in a variety of colours and wood finishes. Stuart Smith takes a listen for HiFi PiG.
I first came across Ø Audio and their ICON 12 loudspeakers at the High End Munich show in May 2025. Now, you’ll likely know that this event is something of a highlight in the audio calendar, and while I often hear a lot of very good systems throughout the show, something rarely stops me in my tracks, especially when the show is hectic and you’re already overwhelmed by the sheer volume of kit and people.
But that’s exactly what happened when I walked into the Ø Audio room and was met with the ICON 12s in person. They were being driven by a pair of Electrocompaniet AW800M monoblocks, which just so happen to be the same amps we use in our main reference system at home, so I knew exactly what to expect from the electronics. The speakers? Well, they didn’t disappoint. Let’s just say that when I got back to HiFi PiG Towers, getting a pair in for review was at the top of my to-do list – something I rarely do with any product.
Ø Audio is a Norwegian company that may not yet be a household name in HiFi circles, but they’re already developing a reputation for doing things properly, judging by the buzz about them in the beer garden at Munich, and the response I got on socials when I put a quick video up of them playing some tech-house. Ø Audio is a group of engineers and music lovers who seem to have little time for fluff or hype (more on that in a mo), preferring to focus on sound design principles that are as much rooted in listening as they are in measurement. That last part is key; they’re not simply chasing specs or boasting about numbers, but rather using modern tools to understand how a speaker behaves and how that translates to what you actually hear in a real room.
The main people behind the brand are two quite different folk; you have Sveinung, the engineer and sonic architect behind the ICON, and then Jonathan Magnus (the marketing guy), the Viking that people may have spotted storming rooms at Munich and beyond, though I don’t think he was sporting a Gjermundbu helmet on that occassion. Speaking to Jonathan, it’s clear his passion is not just to build a brand around the Ø Audio name, but to build a bit of a movement. He’s certainly not afraid of getting in front of the right people and knocking on the right doors! Indeed, I’ve known Ø Audio for a fair old time, but it seems that since Jonathan arrived on the scene, the brand has gone from a little-known entity to one that (as I mentioned) has loads of folk talking.
Their original ICON loudspeaker had already built something of a cult following, but Ø Audio knew there was room to go further, and the ICON 12 is the result of that evolution. It’s a physically imposing loudspeaker, but one that’s been designed with domestic spaces in mind. This is a speaker meant for real music in real homes; whether that means jazz at late-night levels or full-blown techno rave levels on a Sunday afternoon – which is how I opened up my home listening with them.
There’s a clear philosophy at play here: dynamic fidelity, low distortion, wide dispersion, and a refusal to let the loudspeaker impose its own character on the music. It’s also very obviously built to last, and as you’ll see shortly, the engineering inside the ICON 12 matches the visual impact it has when standing in your room.
So that’s the background to how this review came about. Ø Audio didn’t ask us to review the ICON 12, but after hearing them at Munich, we wanted to put them through their paces at home and see if the sound and impact I heard translated into something that held up day after day in our own listening space.
DESIGN AND FEATURES OF THE Ø AUDIO ICON 12
The Ø Audio ICON 12 is a two-way, floorstanding loudspeaker that pairs a serious bit of low-end muscle (28Hz) with a high-frequency section designed to offer control and finesse in equal measure. At the business end of the speaker is a 12″ ultra-linear, long-stroke woofer; a purpose-built design that aims to offer deep, well-controlled bass without bloat or sluggishness. It’s been engineered with Ø Audio’s Linear Motor Technology (LMT) and Dynamic Fixed Inductance Technology (DFIT), both of which are there to keep the driver operating cleanly and consistently, even when pushed hard – and I did push these pretty hard.
High frequencies are handled by a 3.4” compression driver that uses a thin-ply carbon fibre diaphragm. Rather than popping it into a traditional horn and calling it done, Ø Audio have developed what they call their Quad Vertex Soundfield Technology (Q.V.S.T.). This is essentially a constant-directivity waveguide system that’s been carefully shaped to work with the woofer and control the way sound radiates into the room. The result, Ø Audio say, is horn-loaded performance without the usual horn-loaded drawbacks; so none of the cuppy, shouty, or nasal character you might associate with older or poorly implemented horn designs…or that is their aim.
In terms of spec, the ICON 12 has a sensitivity of 92dB and a nominal impedance of 8 ohms, with a claimed frequency response of 28Hz to 20kHz. So on paper, these should be fairly easy to drive, and they ought to go low enough to keep most bass heads more than happy – provided that low end is tight and fast, which we’ll get to later.
Physically, they’re substantial but well-proportioned speakers. Each one stands 111cm tall, 37cm wide, and 51cm deep at the base, tapering to 34cm at the top. Chunky aluminium outriggers bring the total footprint to 52cm across and provide some extra stability. Weight is 55kg apiece, so you’ll want to get them in place once and leave them there unless you fancy regular workouts.
The cabinets themselves have an asymmetrical design with no parallel walls – a deliberate choice to reduce internal reflections and standing waves. Round the back, you’ll find a single pair of binding posts and dual bass reflex ports, positioned toward the side-rear of the speaker. You also get two foam port plugs per speaker, giving you some flexibility in tuning the bass response depending on your room and placement options. The finish on our review pair was a very handsome gloss walnut, though Ø Audio also offer a range of custom colour options on request.
They’re big, no getting around that, but they don’t dominate a room in quite the way some oversized floorstanders can. Let’s say they’ve got presence without being shouty about it. Packaging was suitably large and reassuring; double-boxed, foam-padded, and delivered on a pallet.
As is often the case, I like to try and get a feel for what I expect from a bit of kit before actually sitting down to listen. With a large woofer and a compression driver in a waveguide, I had it in the back of my mind that these might lean a little toward the PA end of the spectrum — lots of volume and impact, but maybe not the last word in finesse. I also worried, perhaps unfairly, that the bass might be a touch overcooked. Let’s just say those concerns didn’t last long. Within a few minutes of warming them up with some techno and house, it was clear the ICON 12s weren’t just big for the sake of being big; they’re fast, controlled, and as we’ll get to shortly, they know how to sing.
SOUND QUALITY
As per usual, I assumed that the ICON 12s were not run in, and even if they were previously run in, they’ve been sitting in boxes for a bit and so I banged house and techno through them for a few days to get them loosened up. During this time and without sitting and critically listening to them, I did manage to utter the words “These are my kind of speakers…” to Linette. I was able to crank the volume up to pretty loud levels without them getting flustered or me thinking they were being pushed too hard. This was a good starting point for me, but don’t read that and think that’s all I have to say about them because I’d never judge any product on initial thoughts.
OK, spoiler alert, I like these speakers a lot; they do a lot of what I like in a loudspeaker very well. Whether your preferences align with mine is a different matter, and, as always, I’d recommend you get your lugs around a set before committing to a purchase. What I’ll try to do in this review is give you, dear reader, a bit of a feel for what these speakers do well and what they don’t…all from my perspective and with my preferences in place.
As mentioned, I’d banged a whole lot of techno and house through these before I sat one properly to listen, but the truth is my early thoughts didn’t change very much. Anyway, first up was a CD rip of Hawkwind’s Warrior On the Edge of Time and I was blown away with what I heard. I’ve heard this record countless times over the years and in various states of my mind, being somewhat chemically “enhanced”. It’s a complex album with regards to what’s going on in the mix, and the ICON 12s don’t miss a beat…or a stroke of Simon House’s violin…or anything for that matter. The beater on the bass drum is easily audible on the opening track,s and there’s a snare hit at the start of Assault and Battery that I’ve genuinely not noticed before – this may be because I was listening so intently, or it may be down to the speakers revealing new layers of sound to me. Whatever, I found myself surrounded by a bubble of sound and completely drawn into the experience of listening to this wonderful album. Even Nik Turner’s flute on the opening track sounded right. The dynamics and the visceral quality of the record just hit me like a ton of bricks using the ICON 12s, though I was listening at pretty decent volumes. This is a good start, and what I’d expected to be a PA-like loudspeaker revealed itself to have the dynamic quality of an excellent PA system, combined with quite a refined mid and upper range presentation. I’m trying to recall when I experienced anything similar, and all I can come up with is the JBL Everest DD67000s. The ICON 12s don’t have the same scale as our Avantgarde DUOs, but they’re not far off in terms of dynamics and drawing you into the recording in a very real and compelling way. I barely breathed through the first two tracks of this record. On Motorhead, the distortion on Lemmy’s bass was clear to hear, and the slightly more laidback (it’s still pretty full on) mix was clear to hear. Again, Simon House’s violin came to the fore, and it stood out wonderfully in the mix with me being able to visualise how he moved in the studio.
So, if you are into rock music that has plenty going on within the mix, then these speakers may well float your boat; and I just couldn’t resist playing more of the same. Enter Enter Shikari and their very recently released Live at Wembley record. Of course, I skipped straight on to the fantastic Juggernauts and I’m there, in the audience, with goosebumps, and singing along with the audience. The power of Rou Reynolds’ vocal delivery is palpable, and you can hear right into the passion and feeling in there until that drum beat comes in and you are overtaken with the noise and the feeling of side-chained compression on the bass. This is a stunning way to listen to this record, and these speakers have got me hook, line, and sinker. On this kind of music, you don’t get whether they do subtlety and finesse (I’ll get onto that in a bit), but that assault of dynamic sound is addictive to listen to and feel. And you do feel the music. Folk who read my reviews a lot will get that I like bass, and I like to feel the bass; the ICON 12s do let you feel that bass, but listen closely and you will get to know that it’s not dominating the music, and overall there’s a really nice balance to these speakers. This album is superb, by the way!
Turnstile’s Seein Stars is a bit of a favourite at the moment at HiFi PiG Towers – it’s got a real 80s vibe to it. Again, the ICON 12s have the rhythm section underpinning the track and allowing everything else to be layered on top. Getting that drum and bass right is important to me as it lays the foundations of the music. And when that guitar solo comes in, it just soars above the speakers and out into the room. And that’s a big takeaway I got from my time with the ICON 12s; there’s a sense that you are within the music – it surrounds you and wraps you in a blanket of sound. When the track breaks down around 2 minutes 40 in, the groove and timing these speakers bring to the party kick in. Birds opens with an oscillated and deep synth note that is just so full of texture, but you also get the wonderful percussion that’s going on before the track goes a bit mental. And whilst the track does go totally chicken oriental, you get the layers and the subtleties in there too. The ICONs aren’t missing anything here.
Stereolab had a new record out called Instant Holograms On Metal Film earlier this year, and it’s a cracker. It opens with an arpeggiated synth line that flits between the speakers. It’s not very long at under a minute, but it lets you get a feel for the way the speakers allow the different timbres of sounds and instruments to shine through. With the rest of the record, there is a balance to the sound, and I note that the speakers are fast as you like with no overhang or bloat anywhere in the sound spectrum; everything starts and stops on a penny. This is important to me as speed and reactivity of the drivers allows for what feels like a more accurate portrayal of the music being played – it’s bait like I was banging on about with the rhythm section earlier. Vocals are projected out into the room again, but not in an unnatural or forced kind of way. Everything feels and sounds harmonious with nothing in the soundstage jumping out and demanding attention; if it’s in the mix, it does stand out, but the speakers aren’t pushing anything. That’s certainly not to suggest that these speakers are hiding anything, I don’t think they are at all; I’d go as far as to say that the ICON 12s are exceptionally revealing and allow you to see well into the mix, but without losing any of the excitement that can sometimes happen when you listen through studio monitors with their uber-flat response. To my mind, the ICON 12s manage to straddle that line betwixt the accuracy of a studio monitor and an exciting and engaging home loudspeaker brilliantly. However, they don’t hide stuff, and the distorted (purposefully) drum track on Immortal Hands jumped out at me for sounding out-of-kilter with the rest of the track’s production. For this tune, perhaps not a good thing, but for a loudspeaker in general, not hiding a mix’s identity (good or bad) is an excellent attribute.
As I’m writing up my notes, I get the feeling that I’m gushing about these speakers a bit, though I’d certainly not expected to be doing this when they arrived. As I mentioned, I’d kind of expected them to be a bit sluggish but brash; all fur coat and no knickers as my mum might have said. However, the reality of these speakers is that they have a poise and agility that is hard to ignore. But when the beat kicks, they too jump to action like an eager puppy…that’s carrying a baseball bat. On more than one occasion, I was drawn in by the subtleties of a tune, only to be batted around the head (in a rather pleasant way) when the beat kicked in.
And so to a bit of blues and Guitar Gabriel’s Expressin’ the Blues is subdued and laidback with the vocal well back in the mix. For me, this track is all about the guitar (I guess his name gives it away), and despite this not being the greatest recording ever made, it is honest, and you hear that with the ICON 12s. You can almost see the walking rhythm and the way his fingers are moving on the fretboard and up and down the strings. That subtlety in the playing comes across wonderfully with the ICONs, and it sounds very real, and because of the way it’s recorded, “in-the-room”, but like you are sitting at the far end of a large room with him at the other end. It’s a pretty wonderful sensation to behold and proof enough for me that these speakers aren’t a one-trick pony.
The scale and image these speakers throw was evident on the tracks I mentioned earlier from Hawkwind, but I wanted to listen to some classical music to get a sense of real instruments in real concert halls to get a sense of the ICONs that way. Regular readers will know I don’t listen to a lot of classical music, but I do listen to Hilarion Alfeyev: De Profundis – music that is very much made for choir. This album, through these speakers, gave me a real sensation of being in the audience about halfway down the hall and in the middle. I could see the choir arched at the back of the stage and the orchestra before them on the stage. Now, I don’t know if that’s how the stage was set out, but that’s what it looked like in my mind’s eye. There was space around the choir and instruments that gave the recording a sense of liveness and a good degree of the feel of the room, even at relatively low levels.
Now, as with most things in audio, my opinions on these speakers are just that – opinions. My opinions are based on many things, including having listened to countless speakers in countless setups over many years. However, personal preferences do come into play, and this should be taken into account when reading this review – or any review by anyone, for that matter. A case in point here is that I absolutely loved the bass performance on these speakers, whereas Linette prefers the isobaric bass on the Audiovector R6 speakers we have. She commented that she found the bass on the ICON 12s as being “a little looser” than on the Audiovectors, and that is hers and my taste coming into play. As always, you should get yourself a good dealer and get them to set them up (preferably in your own home if you are a serious potential customer) or at the very least in their showroom with similar kit to yours. From my perspective, I don’t think anyone would be at all disappointed with the performance across the board with the Ø Audio ICON 12s.
QUIBBLES
I struggled to find fault with these speakers. Perhaps, if I were being super-critical, I’d suggest that they aren’t the most beautiful of things to have sitting in your lounge, and they are pretty big, but that’s just the way they are. And, to be fair, Ø Audio have done a cracking job on the cabinets on this pair to make them more “home friendly”.
CONCLUSION
I’ve been thrilled with my time with these speakers. Whether I’ve been standing behind a pair of Technics 1200s and mixing records or sat down listening to tunes in a more relaxed setting, they have never missed a beat. They manage to pull off being able to do dynamics and beats that I’ve rarely experienced in the house, whilst also being able to pull out details in more subtle passages and tunes. Nothing, and I mean nothing, threw these speakers, and for my amplification, I reckon they are a perfect match.
There is a sense of scale to the stereo image that these speakers throw into the room, and I found myself feeling enveloped in the music and very much a part of it. People, myself included, bang on all the time about how a bit of kit should connect you to the music in an emotional sense, and these speakers do that brilliantly. I don’t know what does that or what makes what trigger the chemicals in your body to do their thing, but these do trigger something quite special, and I can’t recommend them highly enough.
The ICON 12s are around 20,000 Euros ($23,500 ish) at the moment, and whilst that is a hell of a lot of money, I’ve heard more expensive speakers perform much worse.
They do come with covers to hide that 12” driver and the massive square horn, should you wish to hide them, but I didn’t find the need to have them on at all – your opinion may be different.
At 92dB they should play nicely with relatively low-powered amps (including valves/tubes), but on the end of our beastly Electrocompaniet AW800 Ms, they sound magnificent. However, I genuinely think they benefitted from the control and power that the Electrocompaniet amps brought to the party, and I’m not sure I’d have been quite so happy powering them with, say, my English Acoustics 21C valve amp and its 14W of EL84 power. As Fleecey, who used to do the sound at After Dark club and later for Hawkwind, might have said, “They like some bollocks up ’em!”
I’m giving these the top award because I loved my time with them. They do so much right and very little wrong for me. They are fantastically well integrated from top to bottom, and the dynamics they bring to the party are hard to ignore. Get yourself in front of them and play Moby Dick (Led Zeppelin) or a Buddy Rich drum solo through them!
AT A GLANCE
Build Quality and Features:
The build and finish are exceptionally good, but there’s no getting away that these are big but squat speakers with a big bass driver and a big square horn
Sound Quality:
Hugely dynamic and fast
Massively detailed and subtle when the tunes call for it
Throw a huge sound stage that reaches out into the room and surrounds you in a bubble of music
Value for Money:
Always a difficult one, and you could go out and buy a nice classic car for what these speakers cost, but in the world of high-end audio, 20K euros is not silly money. I reckon with that in mind and given how many of my positive buttons they press, they offer pretty decent value for money.
We Loved:
Dynamics, detail, cohesiveness, power, subtlety
We Didn’t Love So Much:
Despite Ø Audio’s best efforts, they aren’t the most home-friendly or best-looking loudspeakers on the market
Elevator Pitch Review: Ø Audio’s ICON 12 are currently one down from the flagship of this Norwegian manufacturer. They use a 12” driver along with a horn-loaded compression driver and cost around 20K Euros. Sonically, they push pretty much all my buttons and sound excellent with dynamics to die for, but also a nuanced and subtle performance when the music calls for it. They aren’t the best-looking speaker in the world, but neither are they the worst-looking speaker out there. But if you can see beyond their looks, you will be rewarded with a rare and special insight into the music you love, be that dynamic rock or more laid-back tunes. I liked them a lot!
Price: 20,000 Euros. $23,500
Stuart Smith
SUPPLIED SPECIFICATIONS
Sensitivity: 92db
Frequency range: 28hz-20khz
Impedance: 8ohm
Horn: Quad Vertex Sound Field – Constant Directivity
Horndriver: 3,4” Carbon fiber diaphragm
Woofer: 12″ ultra-linear long stroke extended range woofer
Feet: Aluminium outriggers
Dimensions: 111x37x51cm (HxWxD) (not including feet)
Depth top: 34cm
Width including feet: 52cm
Weight: 55kg
