Stand Loudspeaker Reviews

Manufacturer's Comment

Thank you, Stereophile, for this excellent review of my loudspeakers. If there is one thing consistent with all the folks who have tested them, it's that the MF-201s need different placement from a "usual" setup. What is interesting is that different folks achieved good results in completely different ways. Some liked them high. Some liked them low. Some liked them dead-on ear level. Some like a lot of toe-in, some not. Experimentation in the final listening room is required.

Regarding the reviewer's comments on the slightly soft presentation in the upper end: This is intentional. I tuned the response of the MF-201s to follow an approximation of the "BBC curve," the response slowly dropping off as it approaches the extreme treble end. This is specifically to address listening fatigue. I wanted a speaker that you could listen to all day long. It's fairly simple to go the other way and produce "hyped" speakers that sound exciting in the show room. The problem is that after you get them home, you find that you don't want to listen to them all that much anymore. I didn't want that. I wanted a speaker that you could listen to day after day and smile.

I was fascinated by Mr. Atkinson's measurements, but one thing stuck out for me: The resonance at 352Hz. The measurements done at the NRC did not pick it out, but I managed to reproduce it with my own measurement setup. There is an old engineering maxim that states, "once you can measure something, you can control it." I already have plans on how to address this resonance. These loudspeakers are about to get even better! There are other very interesting observations in Mr. Atkinson's work, but for this one observation alone I am in Mr. Atkinson's debt.—Trevor May, Chief Designer Mayfly Audio Systems