Neat’s first venture into loudspeaker design was the Petite standmount model which evolved over an 18-month period, beginning in 1989. While involved in Hi-Fi retailing, Neat’s founder, Bob Surgeoner felt that many existing small monitor-type speakers suffered compromises which made long term listening unsatisfactory.
The Petite (as it became known) was the happy result of an empirical development process, better known as trial and error, listening to music and letting the music dictate the development of the speaker. The Petite was showcased at the 1990 Heathrow Hi-Fi News show in London. It received a huge amount of industry and public support and the Petite was officially launched in 1991, rapidly becoming a firm favourite among enthusiasts and the HiFi trade and press.
The Petite continues in production today, though the design has been revised periodically and is now in its fourth iteration, the Petite SX.
A foorstanding version of the Petite, the Elite, was introduced in 1999 and was upgraded to its current SX status in 2009.
For High Quality downloadable images of the Classic range, please click here