Where a mini tower with a receiver, CD player and two small loudspeakers used to set the mood in the living room, today a battery-operated mobile speaker in the form of a giant coke can from JBL or Ultimate Ears amuses the residents, who fill it with music from their smartphone via Bluetooth .

Elsewhere, near a power socket, there is a black or white cylinder from Apple, Google or Amazon, which is only a part-time jukebox and its main job is a language assistant.

In any case, the times of the compact hi-fi system are over.

Or not?

There are still devices that are only responsible for music, that emit the sound frontally and not all around, with real buttons and the smartphone, but are operated without speech and earn a place on the shelf or table,

Marco Dettweiler

Editor in Business.

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Audio Pro's C10 MkII is such an example.

The chic box with a Nordic design and origin looks like an angular variant of the smart loudspeakers that have already made themselves comfortable in many homes.

Initially, it is also such a reference station for the smartphone.

The C10 receives signals via the home network.

He is familiar with the Apple and Google world.

It communicates with iPhone and iPad via Airplay 2, and uses Chromecast to contact Android smartphones.

If necessary, it accesses songs stored on a network hard drive via WLAN.

And if you don't want to let the C10 into your home network, simply use Bluetooth.

All of this is more than most smart speakers can do.

Precisely because the Swedes see their product as a modern hi-fi system, they have given their device an analogue input and an output for a subwoofer.

This allows the C10 to be pimped with a CD or turntable with a preamp, for example, or supported with a subwoofer for low frequencies.

That's too old-fashioned for us.

We stream.

The Audio Pro app wants to help by listing well-known providers such as Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer or Amazon.

Ultimately, you only end up in the respective app if you tap on one of them.

The easiest way remains to open Spotify or Apple Music directly and, depending on the operating system, select the C10 as the output medium via Airplay or Chromecast.

The app is only practical for assigning the six buttons on the small control panel of the device, on which you can also find classic buttons for pause, play, skip forward or volume.

The numbered buttons can be assigned playlists from Spotify, for example.

Otherwise, the app is pretty much dispensable, unless someone wants to adjust the bass and treble with the equalizer.

Chic, compact, modern mono system

But that is not necessary because the small system from Audio Pro sounds balanced.

The bass with its 5.25-inch membrane only turns up a bit if you push it into a corner.

But with the right distance from the wall, pleasantly powerful sounds can be heard from below, which the two tweeters don't have to hide behind.

Interestingly, with this two-way system, the C10 focuses more on the voice.

The result is a voluminous, differentiated sound that, especially at higher levels, shows that the cans and other 360-degree speakers have their limits when it comes to properly filling a living room with sound.

Unfortunately, Audio Pro can be well paid for this quality.

The C10 MkII costs 450 euros.

In return you get a chic, compact, modern mono system, which only reminds you of the times of the mini towers with two loudspeakers with its rich sound.