The price
Those speakers are over $60,000 USD pair... What's so special about them?
I can't help but think that if you dropped a bunch of recording engineers into a thread like this, they would be like deer in headlights...
From the sales literature for the SE MF2
-Precision mechanics cannot be replicated by electronics
-High-quality passive filtering outmatches the performance of active analog control
-The optimization of group delay time is achieved without active digital control
-Power amplifiers can only be compared by means of passive transducers
-Innovations in amplifier and controller construction can be incorporated into monitoring systems where passive transducers are used
...gotcha - audio woo
I don't doubt that they are well made speakers, but certainly not $60,000 worth. You can get a nice car for that. The difference in engineering is incomparable.
Would be curious to know what CD he's using though. Apparently 400hz - 26khz.
Those speakers are over $60,000 USD pair... What's so special about them?
I can't help but think that if you dropped a bunch of recording engineers into a thread like this, they would be like deer in headlights...
From the sales literature for the SE MF2
-Precision mechanics cannot be replicated by electronics
-High-quality passive filtering outmatches the performance of active analog control
-The optimization of group delay time is achieved without active digital control
-Power amplifiers can only be compared by means of passive transducers
-Innovations in amplifier and controller construction can be incorporated into monitoring systems where passive transducers are used
...gotcha - audio woo
I don't doubt that they are well made speakers, but certainly not $60,000 worth. You can get a nice car for that. The difference in engineering is incomparable.
Would be curious to know what CD he's using though. Apparently 400hz - 26khz.
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There is a lot of truth in your analysis.
Believe me, there is not a single modern car (and certainly no supercar) in which the attention to continuation in engineering of the MF-2 is even approached at component level.
This oldie could possibly be an exception, but - if one were put up for sale at all - it would cost a multiple of € 60,000.
By the way, it sounds pretty good too 😉
Believe me, there is not a single modern car (and certainly no supercar) in which the attention to continuation in engineering of the MF-2 is even approached at component level.
This oldie could possibly be an exception, but - if one were put up for sale at all - it would cost a multiple of € 60,000.
By the way, it sounds pretty good too 😉
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I have to say it doesn't impress me. What would impress me would be an objective data that would be perfect, for $60,000 USD I wouldn't expect anything else. I can only suspect it's far from that. Can't imagine how it could be otherwise.
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As far as I know, the Strauss MF-2 uses a Sony SUP-T11 compression driver. That alone would make the speaker expensive. Whether 60k are justified is another question.
I would also be curious to see measurements of a MF-2. That horn does seem an odd choice for a no compromise speaker. Hard to imagine how this can perform excellent, but it's also somewhat presumptious to assume that the good people at Sony Mastering Studios and many engineers around the world with decades of experience are all just ignorant audiofools. That's certainly a possibility, but perhaps they deserve at least the benefit of the doubt.
For me the MF-2 is really interesting (I've never heard them) because it seems it's possible to build an excellent speaker with what's usually regarded as a pretty bad horn. It would be enlightening to get to the bottom of why that speaker works when it really shouldn't according to modern wisdom.
I would also be curious to see measurements of a MF-2. That horn does seem an odd choice for a no compromise speaker. Hard to imagine how this can perform excellent, but it's also somewhat presumptious to assume that the good people at Sony Mastering Studios and many engineers around the world with decades of experience are all just ignorant audiofools. That's certainly a possibility, but perhaps they deserve at least the benefit of the doubt.
For me the MF-2 is really interesting (I've never heard them) because it seems it's possible to build an excellent speaker with what's usually regarded as a pretty bad horn. It would be enlightening to get to the bottom of why that speaker works when it really shouldn't according to modern wisdom.
The longer I'm into this, the more I'm convinced that it doesn't really matter how these things actually sound. It's the story that counts.
I have clones of the 2380A horns and they are not that bad. I would say not great, not terrible. But with ATH, much better can be designed, there is no question about that.
Obviously, the Strauss MF-2(.1) is much more than just the horn.
I'm not sure the Sony SUP-T11 is still used in the latest version.
Either way, a 400Hz XO with the 2380A is madness imo.
The 93 dB sensitivity suggests quite a few crossover tricks.
The MF-2 is shrouded in mystery, but given the background and nature of the designer (lets his products speak for themselves),
as well as the rave reviews from the users (mainly professionals), I am inclined to accept the superiority of the system.
I'm not sure the Sony SUP-T11 is still used in the latest version.
Either way, a 400Hz XO with the 2380A is madness imo.
The 93 dB sensitivity suggests quite a few crossover tricks.
The MF-2 is shrouded in mystery, but given the background and nature of the designer (lets his products speak for themselves),
as well as the rave reviews from the users (mainly professionals), I am inclined to accept the superiority of the system.
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In this case I tend to believe it's the other way around > It's the quality of the product that makes the story.
We are not talking about the next run of mill studio monitor or high-end speaker that's hyped online and in magazines, but a specialty product developed for a professional / scientific target group, which has been in production for more than 20 years.
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You shouldn't, because the majority of my posts - unless explicitly stated otherwise - are not based on my personal views, but on (mostly scientific) data and the opinion of experts.
The person behind my forum name is primarily concerned with connecting dots.
So when I referred to harmonic distortion as a measure / indicator of (sound)quality a few pages ago, that comment was not based on my own experiences / views either, but on those of scientists and engineers in the field.
I already quoted Alexander Voishvillo in this context. Here's another AES paper in which distortion is also used as a quality indicator:
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I have always said that inductance modulation is likely to be the most audible form of typical loudspeaker nonlinearities. But I should point out that all this has been well known since before 2005 when Mario (who is a personal friend) did this paper. It was a good synopsis of the state of the art at that time, but not new even then.
My point is that these things have been under control for a long time, such that they simply are not a factor in any competent design.
My point is that these things have been under control for a long time, such that they simply are not a factor in any competent design.
Obviously, every loudpeaker with a horn is much more than just the horn. And speaking of this one, it's really only a passive two-way with a ported mid-bass and a large-format CD in an old COTS horn. What kind of sorcery do you expect on top of that?
Remember Yamaha NS10 🙂
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In the catalogue they state 750 Hz. So which value is correct? Different versions?
Not trying to sound like an apologist; the NS10 did/does have its merits:
https://dt7v1i9vyp3mf.cloudfront.net/assetlibrary/n/ns10m.pdf?Mox1MHrRfMC0jrcxfvOtE1aJ4mEwV4P.
https://www.hificritic.com/uploads/...-yamaha_ns10_phenomenon_phil_ward-feature.pdf
Yeah, I've read those and don't buy the explanation. But if the argument is that even a crappy speakers can be useful for mixing sometimes, I can accept that.
Seek and ye shall find
http://www.strauss-electroacoustics.com/produkte-en/mastering-monitors/se-mf-2.1
That's why I'm asking. So there was SE-MF-2 first with 750 Hz XO and now it is SE-MF-2.1 with 400 Hz? What happened?