[Listening test] Indiana Line Nota 240 X, two-way compact bookshelf loudspeaker

Product: Indiana Line Nota 240 X
Manufacturer: Indiana Line - Italy
Price: ±€200
Reviewer: Lucio Cadeddu - TNT-Audio Italy
Published: January, 2025

Two years ago I reviewed the upper model of Indiana Line's Nota series, namely the 550X, a slender floorstanding loudspeaker that sounded very good for the asking price. The Nota 240 X are at the bottom of the series, being the smallest and least expensive model of Indiana Line's most entry-level. The list price is €230, but it is possible to find these small speakers online for less than €200 a pair. In this price range the competition is, obviously, very fierce.

A closer look

The Nota 240 X is a lightweight and compact (23.5 x 16 x 16cm) 2-way speaker that uses a 26mm fabric dome tweeter and a 107mm polypropylene mid-woofer. The impedance is between 4 and 8Ω and the recommended power input between 30 and 60 watts. On the other end, the claimed 89dB sensitivity, although optimistic, allows the use of less powerful amplifiers, at least in small rooms. The reflex port is on the rear, but there is a hook to hang the speakers on the wall where/when necessary. A useful foam rubber cap is provided in case you want to close the reflex port when the speaker is positioned very close to the rear wall. The declared frequency response is 54-22kHz (it is not clear within which dB range) while the two drivers cross at 3 kHz, with 12dB/octave second order cut. The technical design is Italian, while the manufacturing is Chinese. The cabinet appears solid and well finished, made of 1cm MDF and dampened with acrylic acoustic lining. The side panels with bevelled edges are a nice touch. Available colors are vinyl walnut (Nota XL) or black oak (Nota XN).

Initially intended as a speaker for surround channels, it has earned a more respectable status, for use in entry-level HiFi systems and small rooms (maximum recommended size 12 m², according to the company's suggestion).

Small “notes” and good tunes

My experience with Indiana Line speakers, since my first system as a teenager, has always been highly positive, thanks to their usually high quality/price ratio. My memory goes back to my teen years, when I owned a secondary “student room” system with a pair of diminutive 010SD speakers, the earliest version with the cone tweeter protected by a sheet of foam. These diminutive speakers cost a negligible amount of money (student-budget!) and sounded more than decent. The small Nota 240 Xs are, for countless reasons, very different from the old 010s, and it couldn't be otherwise, as 40 years have passed by. I have accumulated a long experience in the field of small entry-level speakers, having tested so many of them here for TNT-Audio. The latest in chronological order is the Argon Audio Forus 4 which in terms of woofer size, cabinet displacement, price and type (rear firing reflex) is truly very, very similar to the Nota 240 under test. The comparison between the two, I'll say straight away, is easy and straightforward: the small Indiana Line speaker beats the Danish competitor on practically all parameters.

The bass range is more controlled and linear, and not affected by various noises coming from the cabinet or the reflex port. This means that I was able to avoid using the sponge caps (supplied with the Nota 240 X) to “tame” the reflex port. With very low frequencies the puffing sound of the air is perceptible, but nothing like the farts (sorry, lack of a better word) that come out of the Argon Forus 4 reflex port. To strengthen the mid-low range of the Nota 240 it is good to exploit, where possible, the proximity of the rear wall (on which it can be hung) even at the cost of flattening the stereo image a little which, in any case, is not impressive even with the speakers placed far from the walls, as is expected in this price range.

Tonally, the Nota 240 X appears quite evenly balanced, obviously thin in the bass and mid-bass range, but without particular emphasis in some portion of the audio spectrum. The mid-high range can sometimes overtake the rest of the audio spectrum, mainly when the tiny woofer is asked to work overtime. Voices and acoustic instruments are reproduced with appreciable linearity and cleanliness, although there is - constantly - a certain veil which softens and masks everything a bit, and obscures the clear vision of what the instruments try to communicate. A certain lack of harmonic richness, then, takes away a bit of realism from the reproduction of acoustic instruments, a phenomenon already observed in the review of the Argon Forus 4, where these faults were, however, much more serious and evident.

When evaluating micro- and macro-dynamics, the performance appears appreciable and certainly electrified music is reproduced in a more convincing way than acoustic music, with which the compressions and shortcomings are obviously more evident. After connecting the Argon Forus 4 back, the switch to the Nota 240 is a real relief for the ears, as a bit of liveliness, cohesion and sense of rhythm come back to the listening room.

I would like to summarize that, among all the small entry-level speakers I've tested in recent years, the Nota 240 X is the most evenly balanced and convincing of all, as it's certainly capable of creating a “starter” system, or a desktop one for a small room (as the manual itself recommends). Sensitivity is incredibly high for such a small speaker, so even the amount of watts needed to make it sound loud doesn't have to be excessive. Obviously, one shouldn't exaggerate in the opposite direction either, because the small woofer reaches the bottom of its travel quite quickly, if you exceed the listening level. However, the Nota sound much louder than the Argon Forus 4, both with the same input power and in terms of maximum achievable SPL.

All of these positive remarks, however, apply when comparing regularly distributed commercial competitors. Yes, because if the Lonpoo LP42s go up on the stands the music changes, and in a dramatic way. The comparison with the terrific Chinese stand-mounters, unfortunately, is in fact entirely against the Italian speaker, and I am now resigning myself to consider the LP42s as a (pleasant) anomaly on the market, costing half the price of both the Nota 240 X and the Argon Forus 4, yet sounding significantly better than both in each and any audio parameter. The difference is simply stunning.

Complaints

Construction & Finish
The speaker is very well made despite the low cost, though I would have preferred that the dust covers were fixed magnetically, as is now common practice, to avoid aesthetically unpleasant holes on the front panel. Even the visible screws that secure the drivers are slowly disappearing from the front panels of modern speakers, hidden by more aesthetically pleasing rings. I believe that Indiana Line must also adopt this standard. As for finishes, I would have liked a matt white, as well, which is easy to fit into many modern environments.
Sound
The amount of sound that such a small speaker can generate is surprising, without being watt-hungry. It lacks a bit of transparency, dynamics, speed and low frequency impact, but you can easily live with it.

Conclusions

A well-made small speaker, supported by official distribution, and capable of a pleasant sound, excellent for a first student system or for a secondary desktop system. The fact that it manages to emerge above so much competition is to be considered an excellent result.

Sincere thanks to Marco Visonà of ASM Distribuzione for providing us with the test sample.

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