Monsoon MM-700 Flat Panel Speakers

There's no doubt about it, the flat panel craze is on. The gradual move to flat panel LCD monitors has begun. By design, CRT monitors are bulky, power hungry devices. LCD displays promise to kill the CRT tube and provide displays that take up almost no room on a desk and draw much less power.

This move was easily predictable - afterall, it only makes sense. But who would have thought a few years ago that there would be a push towards flat panel speakers, too?

Actually, the technology has been around for quite a while - since the 70's in fact. However, that technology was far too expensive for the vast majority of the public and standard cone speakers dominated the market.

But times are changing. A few months ago, AnandTech took a look at two of the first flat panel multimedia speaker systems - the Benwin BW2000 system and the highly praised Monsoon MM-1000 system. We found the Benwin BW2000's to be interesting, but an overall weak and underpowered system. The Monsoon MM-1000, on the other hand, was much more powerful and featured excellent sound. Unfortunately, the MM-1000's were held back by some odd quirks in the systems design and a relatively steep price. Monsoon is back with their more affordable MM-700 set. The specs are similar to the old MM-1000's, so let's dig deep and find out what has changed...

Specifications (courtesy of Monsoon):

• Satellites: 4 X 8 inch dipole radiating planar magnetic
• Satellite enclosure: None
• Amplifier power: 44 Watts
• Total system power: 2 x 11 Watts, Satellites, 22 Watts, Subwoofer
• Crossover: Active, 3rd order at 250Hz Woofer drive unit: 5.25-inch cone, Xmax = +4mm (per DUMAX measurement)
• Woofer cabinet: 6.9 liters, tuned to 65 Hz; 10"H x 9"W x 9"D
• Controls on woofer: Bass volume, power
• Controls on puck: Volume and mute
  
• System frequency response: 50 Hz to 20 kHz in workstation environment
• System time response: Less than .25 ms dispersion to -20 dB Maximum SPL at .5 meters: 99dB RMS using EIA 426B noise