SOLEN

Founded in 1988, Solen is a company based in Grenoble that has long specialised in amplifiers, notably the Tigre hybrid integrated amplifiers, which are sold more widely abroad under the Ensemble brand than in France under their original name. Entering a new era a decade ago, the Alpine manufacturer recently began manufacturing loudspeakers, with two models already available in its catalogue, both based on HEL bass diffusion technology. Rather than the smaller metal HELya, we chose to start by exploring the more imposing the Solen HELios, a large 48 cm tall bookshelf speaker, whose Scan-Speak drivers are complemented by attractive cherry wood side panels and a dual-filter system.