Wow! Balanced, punchy, clear.
Written: Sep 29 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Better than the MM-700/MM-1000 and less money. Balanced frequency response. Clear, transparent highs. Punch bottom. Some of the best computer speakers I've heard.
Cons: A tiny bit directional, but not too much so.
|
|
|
| monsoonblork's Full Review: Level 9 Sound Designs MH-500 2 Speakers |
I bought a pair of Monsoon MH-500s because of their sound. They are balanced (with an even frequency response), punchy, and clear.
Before buying the MH-500s, I listened to many other computer speaker systems ranging in price from $100 to $500. Without question, the MH-500's were the best of the lot. They are not a big "boomy" gaming speaker or a "sweet" music speaker - in fact, at first, they sounded rather plain to me. It was not until I started auditioning other speakers that the MH-500s crept to the top of the pack.
The best way I can describe these speakers is that they have a trueness about them. They have extremely clear, transparent high-end, but the highs are not over-pronounced. The midrange is open, punchy, and smooth, but does not exhibit any spikes that favor certain instruments over others. And the bottom, while not extremely deep (what can you expect from a 4.5 inch sub), is tight and well balanced with the rest of the system. The most impressive thing about the MH-500s is how well the entire frequency range is represented across the three-way system. Each driver seems to effortlessly blend together with no audible time alignment problems. Listening to music on the MH-500s is pure joy. Any playing Quake III on them 'aint half bad either!
The MM-500s use a cone sub-woofer to handle the bottom-end and two satellites (each with a cone midrange and planar tweeter) to handle the midrange and top. This is how Monsoon (in their own words) reduced the price to only $100 - by eliminating the expensive, single, planar driver used in their top-of-the-line MM-700 and MM-1000 systems. (However, I discovered, eliminating the Monsoon top-of-the-line planar driver is not a bad thing.)
The dealer who sold me the MH-500s kept pushing me to buy Monsoon's MM-700s. Now I have to admit, the MM-700s look darn cool (with just flat, planar satellites). So, on the dealer's advice, and without listening to them, I traded in my MH-500s to buy a pair of MM-700s. I thought "wow, if the MH-500s sound this good, the MM-700s must be unbelievable". Wrong. Very, very, wrong. I have read review after review that praises the MM-700 and MM-1000 speakers. Most of the reviews state that these are some of the best speakers you can buy. Well sorry scholarly reviewers, I don't agree with you. Or should I say "my ears don't agree with you".
Upon listening to the MM-700s, I found them brash, unbalanced, and extremely boomy. The MM-700 sub-woofer has no punch and is very poorly defined in the lower bottom-end. However, it is the planar satellites (the sex appeal, if you will), that kill these speakers. They are awful, containing two problems that make listening to music on them an extremely painful experience. Problem number one: the MM-700 satellites have a huge spike in the upper midrange. This makes instruments sound sharp and metallic. Problem number two: the MM-700 satellites are extremely directional, reminding me of horn driven speakers. They literally shoot sound at you. This, in-and-of itself, causes two more problems: (1) I got listener's fatigue (a headache) after listening to the MM-700s for only twenty minutes and, (2) the MM-700s are extremely directional - move so much as an inch and you've lost their sweet spot. Listening to the MM-700s is therefore (at best) a frustrating, one person experience - you cannot share them with other listeners.
(As a side note: I listened to classical, folk, jazz, and pop on the MM-700s. I also played a few games on them - Quake III, Rayman 2. The MM-700s displayed the same upper midrange "spike" on all audio sources.)
By using a hybrid design that incorporates sub-woofer, cone midranges, planar tweeters, and tri-amplification, the MH-500s cure all of the MM-700 problems. In particular, the cone midrange removes much of the directionality and the three drivers units smoothly represent the entire frequency spectrum with no audible spikes.
One comment I have read in reviews is that the MH-500 do not get loud enough. My only experience in this regard is that the MH-500 seem to get loud enough for any task I have performed. I've listened to music on them in the back yard by opening the windows of our home office and turning them up. I've played games on them at volumes that caused our neighbors to complain. Yes, if you turn the volume up too loud, you can hear the MH-500 sub exceeding its excursion or the tweeters to making unhappy noises. But this is true of any small speaker system. If you abuse the speakers you will hear your sounds of abuse.
The end of the story... I returned the MM-700s and got the MH-500s back. Whether Monsoon intended this or not, the MH-500s are simply the best speakers that they make (regardless of the reduced price tag). And, from my shopping (and listening) experience, the MH-500s are some of the most natural-sounding computer speakers that money can presently buy. If you are considering buying a set of computer speakers, you should definitely consider the Monsoon MH-500s. As for Monsoon's MM-700 and MM-1000 speakers - I couldn't recommend them at any price. An ill-balanced, brash, overly directional speaker is just that (no matter how sexy it looks).
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
monsoonblork
|
|
Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 3 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.