A defining product even above its price class
Written: Jan 23 '02 (Updated Jan 24 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Sparkling detailed soundstage, solid tight bass, good dynamic range without distortion even when played loud
Cons: Not quite the high- and low-end extension of the MM-2000s, stands are separate
The Bottom Line: A 5.1 system with excellent sound quality for music and DVD playback as well as superb 3D audio - these speakers should be on your short list.
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| Roj's Full Review: Level 9 Sound Designs MH-505 5 Speakers |
In October 2000, I purchased my first Monsoon product, the 2.1 MH-500 model, after a thorough and detailed auditioning process. I had been looking for a system that provided good sound quality for music at a reasonable price and the hybrid flat panel / cone driver 500s met this criterion in spades, easily surpassing competitors costing more than twice as much. To see why I preferred the hybrid solution to a purely flat panel solution, visit my Epinions review of that system:
http://www.epinions.com/cmd-review-2374-4D2D0BF-39D34093-prod1
You’ll also gain some insight into exactly how I define sound quality which will provide a frame of reference for this review.
At the end of last year, my tastes having expanded, I went looking for a 5.1 system to provide the same level of sound quality for music and DVD playback. Naturally I decided to look at another hybrid Monsoon offering, the MH-505s.
The $170US / $240CDN 505s feature the new planar driver that is inherent in the MM-702 and MM-502 models. They also have the new MM-702 sub which has been re-tooled for 5.1 outputs and bass management (I’ll explain this later) and a center channel which is essentially a single 2.5" cone driver from the satellites split out on its own. Control is centralized in a pod with volume, fader and bass controls as well as a mute button, headphone jack and LED which indicates system status by its color (headphone use - orange, normal use - green and standby - red). The pod has a single DIN connector which plugs into the sub and three separate connecting cables link the sub to the analog outputs of a six-speaker sound card, in my case the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz. Of note to this review is the fact that this soundcard is easily the best consumer grade card available today for music playback and is an optimal match for these speakers. The Santa Cruz features the best analog output of any soundcard in its class; the Creative Labs Audigy and Philips Acoustic Edge are its only real competitors and they don't quite measure up. It thoroughly debunks the oft prevailing myth that digital output from a soundcard automatically guarantees better sound quality.
I also acquired the FS-2000 stands ($99US / $120CDN) which were originally designed for the MM-2000s and have been reworked for the 505s with the addition of a set of plates to mount the rear satellites on.
The system is easily assembled but I have a couple of nits on the fit and finish:
The DIN connector could use a peg in the jack to denote its proper orientation when inserting it - that way the user wouldn’t have to worry about bending the pins by accidentally plugging it in incorrectly. The speaker plugins on the rear of the sub are also reversed from what they should logically be - those for the left pair of speakers are on the right and vice versa when the sub is facing forward normally. I had originally thought the speaker wires were decidedly cheaper than those on the MH-500s (which had nice thick DIN-mounted cables as opposed to the thinner wires with RCA jacks that come with the 505s) but when I went to set up the stands it became readily apparent why this was so. The wires fit into grooves that run the full height of the stands to keep them from hanging loosely. The connection to the analog outputs of the sound card are handled by three separate wires. This is something of a pain - I ended up tying them together with four of the twist-ties liberated when I unpacked the system. It would have been better to have two of those connectors in one double-stranded cable with a couple of small rubberized clips along its length for the attachment of the center channel cable. That would have made it tidier for the user while allowing the 4.1 soundcard compatibility Monsoon advertises.
On the operational side, I noticed the following:
The fader and bass controls need a mid attenuator. What is a mid attenuator you ask? It’s a little indentation in the pot controlling the knobs that “sticks” slightly at the mid position around the dial denoting a “neutral” setting. Also, a little white dot on each control to give some indication of where on the dial the control was set would have been nice too.
These nits aside, the overall quality of construction on the system is extremely high. The stands aren’t the typical cheap Creative Labs junk either. These things are about three feet high and are two-piece: base and stand. A set of plates to convert the stands for MH-505 use fit on top and are screwed in with four screws each. The base and stand itself are heavy, solid metal and anodized black. There is no plastic ANYWHERE on these stands. Finally there are four little rubber feet for each base that you apply and space yourself. On the electronics side, the old timed standby feature of the MH-500s is gone and that’s a good thing - after I reviewed that system I had e-mails from users who couldn’t figure out why their speakers were shutting off and also a few for whom that feature had gone south completely. When the system is muted it now goes into standby mode. The control pod is well designed and very easy to use.
So OK, enough of the setup trivia - let’s get to the meat of the matter, namely how this system sounds.
The first thing I have to stress is that the new planar driver needs to be broken in, much more so than its predecessor. When I first set them up, the sound was crisp and clear - TOO crisp and clear when compared to their predecessors the MH-500s. The mids and highs were harsh and the three elements of the sound (highs, mids and bass) seemed separate. This was most disconcerting, considering how the MH-500s sounded and quite frankly I wondered what was wrong. It then dawned on me that perhaps the system needed to be broken in - after all, flat panels are made of some pretty tightly stretched resonant material. With that in mind, I pointed Winamp + MAD at my Jazz directory across my network, set it on shuffle play and left the system playing at medium volume while I went off to work. The difference upon my return eight or so hours later was noticeable - the satellites were more “mellow” while the three aforementioned sound components integrated far more smoothly. After more play they are now back to the kind of sound I have come to expect from Monsoon products with some noticeable improvements which I’ll get to.
When I tested music playback, I used my familiar suite of tunes:
• Riviera Paradise (Stevie Ray Vaughan)
• Spanish Guitar (Toni Braxton)
• Into The Void (Nine Inch Nails)
• On The Beautiful Blue Danube (Strauss)
• Desert Rose (Sting featuring Cheb Mami - the techno dance remix)
• Never Can Say Goodbye (Bob Baldwin)
• Starship Trooper (Yes - from "The Keys To Ascension" double CD set)
• Europa (Santana)
• Avalon (Roxy Music)
• Heat (Eric Serra from the soundtrack of “The Fifth Element”)
• Hedwig’s Theme (John Williams from the soundtrack of “Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone”)
The differences in the new planar driver over the ones used in the MH-500s are quite noticeable and beneficial. The highs do extend a bit more and are clearer. Take note however that the high-end extension does not match up to that of the MM-2000s, although it does come significantly closer than the original MH-500s did. One does have to remember though that the MM-2000s have larger planar drivers and that additional surface area makes a difference with that type of speaker. It is still possible to produce crackling in this driver at extreme volume levels but it is more difficult than before.
The mids are what they always were - crisp, clean and well defined and the planar driver in combination with the cone midrange drivers produce the trademark Monsoon sparkling detailed soundstage. The new drivers do make the spatialization noticeably better than on the MH-500s (which was excellent to begin with) and that was most obvious on the Stevie Ray Vaughan track.
Bass is where the MH-500s had their biggest shortcoming and that was a direct result of the compromises made to keep the price down. The bass on the 505s is decidedly deeper and less prone to distortion at higher volume levels (the driver is after all more than an inch larger in diameter with a bigger amplifier powering it) while retaining the punch inherent in the MH-500s. The wooden bandpass sub is tuned rather high at 110Hz but my guess is that this was done to augment the mid-bass response, a design choice that appears to work rather well. While this new sub is of course no match for the excellent passive radiator design of the unit included with the MM-2000, it walks away from the Klipsch 2.1 and 4.1 subs for tightness, albeit not depth of bass. Overblown and excessive boominess a la Klipsch are not in Monsoon’s design vocabulary and thankfully so - their systems focus more on sound quality than mere quantity.
The sweet spot on this system is definitely larger than on the 500s - the new planar drivers coupled to four cone drivers ensure this. Will this speaker system fill a small room with sound? Quite easily. Will the trademark detailed Monsoon imaging be present all through that room? No - it will once again be limited to the sweet spot but that area is easily twice the size of what it was with the 2.1 model. One has to wonder what would happen if Monsoon took the satellites from the MM-2000s and added three inch cone drivers to them while coupling them with the same passive radiator sub and a center channel with twin 3” cones in it… but I digress.
That covers off the music aspect of the sound - but after all I bought this system to watch movies as well. I’m using PowerDVD XP set to Dolby Digital 5.1 analog six-speaker output. I tested this setup using an appropriate VOB file and found the Santa Cruz placed sound correctly to each speaker That soundcheck being complete, I popped in The Fifth Element and settled in to watch various scenes. I was not disappointed. The 505s are capable of awesome placement - the Diva Dance was incredible and the vocals blared from the center channel with commendable authority and no distortion even at painful listening levels. That immediately brought my son rushing into the room because he loves that particular sequence (he was in his room on the top floor of my two-storey house - I was in the basement). Next I switched to Steven Seagall’s “Exit Wound” to see if the speakers passed the “thud” test. What is the “thud” test you ask? In the movie there is a particular scene where a female police lieutenant crashes her truck and expires by having her head impact forcefully with the windshield of said truck. With the 505s you got a very realistic and sickening “thud” quite sufficient to turn one’s stomach. LFEs indeed… As with the MH-500s, placement is key with these speakers. I spent an hour setting mine up (it was the rear stands that took the most time) to get the maximum imaging effect out of them. Now I'm not saying that everyone needs to take that amount of time doing this (I've been referred to as "anal" in that regard) but do take the time to check out the online instructions for setting them up at the Monsoon website. You'll be well rewarded for your time and effort.
Now, I did say I was going to explain bass management and it’s pertinent here as it applies to 5.1 analog output and DVD playback:
This is an analog 5.1 system with bass management built in. This means that the crossover in the speaker system takes the third output from the soundcard (for the bass and center channel) and splits the signal appropriately so that the LFE (bass) signal goes to the sub and the frequencies normally ascribed to speech go to the center channel speaker. Certain models from Altec Lansing and Midiland lack this function and thus do not work properly with analog 6-speaker soundcards. The Monsoon MH-505s do not have this problem and are tailor-made for such a soundcard.
I didn’t test this system with games because quite simply I don’t have any. However, if DVD performance is any indication, gamers are going to love this system, especially those playing stuff like Max Payne with its utterly creepy surround effects.
Summing it all up:
This speaker system is for those who are interested in sound quality. This is not to say that it doesn't reach significant volume and bass levels - it most assuredly does - but raw "they rock, maaaan" volume is not the primary design criterion. The older Creative Labs DTT3500, the new Inspire 5.1 and the Yamaha TSS-1 simply disappear off the radar when compared to this system. Similarly, Altec Lansing has nothing that can compete at even $100 above this price point. The much over-hyped Klipsch 4.1s are badly outclassed when it comes to overall sound quality and while extreme bass junkies aren't likely to be impressed, the sub goes credibly deep and it is TIGHT. Techno has LIFE with this sub and Nine Inch Nails can HURT. The imaging is everything that I have come to expect from Monsoon and the overall sound is much more well rounded than the MM-2000 model. Once again Monsoon has produced a gem that is destined to become a defining product in its price class and even a level above.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Roj
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Location: Kanata, Ontario
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 7 members
About Me:
Music lover, appreciates quality audio (but NOT an audiophile), Babylon 5 fan, IT professional
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