I missed this tiny jewel of a speaker when it made its debut at the 2011 T.H.E.Show, but it's now in production. As I sat down to listen to it at this year's show, I asked what it cost.
"25."
Okay, $25,000/pair is not unheard of for high-performance minimonitors; the Sonus Faber, Magico, and Franco Serblin stand-mount speakers are even more expensive.
"No, 25 hundred per pair. With the stands.
Now that is extremely affordable for a speaker that gave one of the best sounds I heard in Las Vegas, even if it is manufactured "overseas." Driven by a darTZeel NHB-108 stereo amplifier and a darTZeel preamp, with the source the new Emotion media server software from Merging Technologies (of pro-audio Pyramix fame) running on a Windows laptop and feeding DSD data via USB to a Playback Designs MPS-3, these little speakers produced a huge soundstage yet with extraordinary dynamics. The bass drum thwacks at the start of the Tilson-Thomas/San Francisco performance of Mahler's Symphony 3 were simply awesome!
System power was being sourced from two Audience aR6-TS Adept Response power conditioners. The MMMicroOne's drivers are all custom. The tweeter uses a Kapton diaphragm and is similar to an AMT type while the twin long-throw 4" woofers use a sandwich cone formed from a magnesium core with ceramic on both sides, Excursion is claimed to be 6mm, linear, 20mm total, with extension to 35Hz.
