Mirage M-3si loudspeaker
What's 1/16" narrower, over 1/2" shallower, and 3/16" higher than the Mirage">http://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/1190mirage">Mirage M-3 loudspeaker? The new Mirage M-3si, that's what. Though the published dimensions for the old and new speakers are the same, my eyes told me there was a difference between them when I had them side-by-side in my listening room in Santa Fe. Being the compulsive type, I got out my trusty tape measure. No, my eyes had not deceived me—the M-3si is skinnier and taller. As I waltzed them into position, I sensed they weighed about the same as their predecessors; close enough that setting them on Arcici Super Spikes is a two-man operation. Though either speaker makes a definite presence in a room, I still find their high-gloss, black finish (the only finish available) unassuming, attractive, and elegant.
Mirage M-7si loudspeaker
Audiophiles have long had a love-hate relationship with dipolar loudspeakers. These devices are nearly always a pain to position properly, they tend to dominate a room, and more often than not they're fussy about amplification. But when it all comes together, the best of them can make magic.
Mirage OM-6 loudspeaker
The concept of a loudspeaker with its own built-in amplification is an idea whose time should long since have come. Technically it makes a lot of sense, and in some parts of the world—not to mention professional circles—it's quite popular. But commercially, the idea has never really taken off in this country. And while the loudspeaker manufacturer should be in a better position to make the best amplifier choice, American audiophiles seem wedded to the idea of making their own amplifier/loudspeaker match.
Mirage OM-7 loudspeaker
Mirage is a good name for a speaker manufacturer; it suggests that their products produce realistic illusions. A 1934 dictionary I've got supplies a definition for "mirage" that might also be apt: "An optical atmospheric illusion by which the image of a distant object is seen as if inverted." I don't mean that the Mirage OM stands Harry Belafonte on his head, or make him sing "O-Day"—instead, certain tenets of cones-in-a-box loudspeaker design and usage are turned turvy-topsy by Mirage's Omnipolar concept.
Mission Pilastro loudspeaker
"Is that it?" I asked.
MoFi Electronics SourcePoint 888 loudspeaker
A recent high point in my career as a reviewer was writing about the MoFi Electronics SourcePoint 10 standmount loudspeaker for the February 2023 issue of Stereophile. Priced at $2999/pair, the two-way SourcePoint 10 featured an innovative 10" coaxial (HF/LF) drive unit and impressed me with its clean, superbly well-defined low frequencies, natural-sounding midrange, and the ability to play loudly without strain.
The SourcePoint 10 was the first MoFi speaker to be designed by Andrew Jones, whose earlier designs for KEF, Infinity, Pioneer, TAD, and ELAC had all taken up residence in Stereophile's Recommended Components listings over the years. The second of Andrew's designs for MoFi was the SourcePoint 8, which was favorably reviewed by Kalman Rubinson in September 2023. Priced at a competitive $1999/pair, the SourcePoint 8 also used a coaxial drive unit, but as the name suggests, the woofer diameter was 8" rather than 10". KR was also impressed by what he heard, writing that the SourcePoint 8 was a balanced, wide-range speaker that demonstrated how satisfying a small, relatively affordable loudspeaker can be.
Now we have Andrew Jones's third design for MoFi, the floorstanding SourcePoint 888, which costs $4999/pair.
Monitor Audio Gold 300 6G loudspeaker
An ancient connection: Monitor Audio began in 1972 when John Bartlett, founder of the innovative retail chain Audio T, introduced me to Mike Beeny, manager of an Audio T branch near Cambridge, and Mo Iqbal, a local electronics wizard. Mike suggested that Mo and I join him to start a loudspeaker company. Monitor was a fashionable hi-fi term, and I suggested we name it Monitor Audio Ltd. Each director put £300 into the company account. It was registered as a PLC at an address in Teversham, Cambridgeshire. We rented an upper floor office in a warehouse close to Mo's home, since Mo worked all hours. There was additional workspace in his huge double garage. Mike directed sales, Mo was responsible for production management and accounts, and I took the position of technical director for research and development. I also helped supervise production. Lorna Parker was our office secretary.
After launching a handful of increasingly viable designs, we reached a then-astonishing turnover of £1 million in our first year and enjoyed a very successful showing at the Paris Festival du Son. But by this point, I was close to an overwork-related breakdown and reluctantly resigned.
Monitor Audio Gold 300 loudspeaker
About a year after settling into my new house, I decided to buy a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 10 floorstanding loudspeakers, which I had reviewed in 2014 for our sister publication Sound & Vision. I wound up buying three of them, with the intention of cannibalizing the drivers and crossover from one to make my own three-way center-channel speaker. But that project was long delayed, and I never got around to doing anything with the third Silver 10: It now sits in a closet as a spare.
Monitor Audio Platinum 300 3G loudspeaker
Loudspeakers from British manufacturer Monitor Audio have consistently received favorable reviews in Stereophile over the past decades. From the R952MD I reviewed in January 1988 to the Silver 500 7G reviewed by Rob Schryer in February 2022, Monitor Audio speakers have offered excellent sound quality and high-quality engineering. So when I was offered the company's Platinum 300 3G for review, I readily agreed. Having lived with standmounts and minimonitors for the past year, I felt it would be good to spend some time with a pair of large, full-range, three-way floorstanders.
Monitor Audio Platinum PL200 loudspeaker
A few years ago, I had a phone call from a marketing organization. I was asked, as a member of the audiophile press, to participate in a survey dealing with the "images" of various brands of loudspeakers.