MC Audiotech Forty-10 Loudspeakers, VPI HW-40 Turntable, Luminous Audio Arion Phono Preamp, Pass Labs XP22 preamp, Wolf Audio Alpha 3 Music Server, PS Audio DirectStream DAC, Parasound A23 Amplifier, Symposium Foundation Rack

Two friends whose taste and hearing I respect—and who visited every room at this show—told me they thought the $35K/pair MC Audiotech Forty-10 loudspeakers made the best sound at CAF. No question, these almost five-feet tall decorator-friendly midcentury-modernᡃlooking beauties sounded even better they look, and they look very nice.

At first, I thought they sounded like electrostatics, or maybe a planar-magnetic. Even after listening at some length and talking to the designer, I did not yet understand that the Forty-10 did not use electrostatic drivers.

I kept quizzing MC Audiotech’s Mark Conti. He said they were made in North Wales, Pennsylvania. He said they were very “efficient” at 96dB/2.83v/1m. He said the high frequency “spaced array” went down to 100Hz, whereupon it was crossed over to two (powered) 18" “high-efficiency” woofers. He said the speaker’s impedance was a “resistive” 4-ohms. But Mr. Conti would not tell me what was behind the grill cloth. He said they were “proprietary transducers” they fabricated themselves. In my mind, I am thinking: some variation on air-motion-transformers. Or?

The Forty-10s sounded sweet, fresh, detailed but far from etched, easy-flowing, and musically engaging.

Also in the system: a VPI HW-40 turntable with Fatboy tonearm, a Luminous Audio Arion phono preamp, a Pass Labs XP22 preamp, a Wolf Audio Systems Alpha 3 music server, a PS Audio DSD DAC, a Parasound A23+ power amplifier, a Symposium Foundation rack and Ultra Platform, and Audience AU24 SX Series cables and powerline conditioning.

COMMENTS
Bogolu Haranath's picture

JVS reported about MC Audiotech Forty-10 speakers in his RMAF 2019 show report, for Stereophile :-) .......

tonykaz's picture

What are these gonna sound like without the Grills? , not that I'd care but Audiophiles are another matter, aren't they ?

Maybe I shouldn't even ask.

Tony in Venice

georgehifi's picture

Your taking the **** yeah, I showed these to my wife to see if she thought the same as I did, and she did, she nearly threw up all over me.

Cheers George

tonykaz's picture

What they're say'n is that when you buy these things you'll finally get wife Approval for converting your Garage into your own "Jetsons" themed Audio Cave.

who would've guessed: Stereo Television Sets ?

Of course, these things are probably "serious" Audiophile transducers. All anyone need do is close the blinds and turn-off the lights.

Will the bathrooms have Pink & Grey Ceramice tile ?

I love it, takes me back to my 1950s neighbor's ( Eathorn's ) lovely home decor.

Tony in Venice

unitygain's picture

Although this was a highly turntable driven audio fest, I have to say that many of the rooms with the best sound (for me: this room, the Tekton/MacGary room, the Sonnner/Rogers, and the Daedalus/LTA/Lampizator room) all had digital in common when I heard them.

As ugly as those MC Audiotech speakers are, they sure sounded FANTASTIC and the PS Audio driving Pass/Parasound (bi-amped) was also perhaps the best purely solid state presentation at CAF. Other systems balanced sound and design much better, e.g., Modwright/Fern & Roby, Spatial/Lampizator/LTA, Eikon, and the Rogers/Sonner rooms, particularly; most had tubes somewhere. But, I agree, this was sound-wise wayyy up there.

count.de.monet's picture

"proprietary" and "we won't tell you what is inside" reminds me of component made with opamps with the part number removed or painted over. nothing special here

mikeh22020's picture

I was at the show over 2 days and the designer was a little more open about the speakers how they used the two 18 inch subs, panel material etc but regardless and pardon me for saying so but the "op amp" comment is nothing more than taking a blind shot with little to no basis in fact for doing so. When you say "nothing special here" the speakers did in fact sound wonderful and the two guys who went with me on separate days agreed. Did you audition them? BTW ever ask Wendell at Magnepan about their crossovers and other specifics?

Deandome's picture

I'd really like to hear from the audiophile(s) that will pony up $35K for a brand-new speaker from a previously-unknown mfg. without knowing ANYTHING about the drivers that handle everything above 100 Hz.

OK, a company with a pedigree like Genesis can get away with playing that game with ONE of 5 (or more) drivers...but even that's going to raise an eyebrow or two. Hopefully it's just a marketing gimmick for their launch...but I don't think you'll see a serious review and/or many purchases of that speaker if they stick with "...it's a secret!"

Ortofan's picture

... an old Philco Predicta TV set.

willsw's picture

For what it's worth, Mark told me that he was still working on translating the designer's extensive notes explaining the proprietary drivers into something concise to put up on the website.

From my own conversation, I don't think the reluctance to reveal what's behind the grill is deliberate obfuscation, I think that Mark is still working on an elevator speech that can describe the technology with sufficient brevity and accuracy.

JHL's picture

...or he's going to lose the crucial free-edition-magazine-commenters' market. And when you've lost that carefully-reasoned cohort of guardians of the high end bona fides, well you've just risked everything. There shall be no deliberate obfuscation as you put it, sir, none at all.

leesure's picture

...I was in the room when Herb was listening. I watched Mark show him a photo of the array without the grill cloth and heard him discuss the material used. Really not sure why Herb suggested he was being secretive. It’s a non-traditional driver system and I think the commenter above me who suggested that Mark is trying to distill it down to a concise explanation is correct. I know he asked the inventor for a white paper...and it was like 20+ pages. :-). As to the aesthetics, I’ll take these over the big Wilson’s on looks every day. As to the sound...it was easily a top-five at the show.

funambulistic's picture

I agree about the aesthetics - I think they are awesome looking and a wonderful departure from the typical monkey coffin of countless manufacturers or the Darth Vader look of Wilson. I see them as conversation starters, not conversation killers as is the case of most speakers outside of audiophile circles... I certainly would jump at the chance to audition them!

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