Mordaunt Short Aviano 1 Black - Pair

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Price: $395.00 $199.99   

Product Feature

• Rear porting for improved bass characteristics.
• Curved front baffle improves rigidity and dispersion characteristics.
• Internal high density wadding for critical damping of standing waves.
• Easily removable front grille.
• Dimensions (H x W x D): 275 x 179 x 267mm (11" x 7.2" x 10.7")

Product Description

Aviano 1 is a real powerhouse in miniature consuming minimal living space while delivering entertainment by the bucket-load. Its compact 5� " driver communicates with incredible authority and integrates flawlessly with Mordaunt-Short's highly detailed aluminium dome tweeter. Aviano is an amazing hi-fi and home theatre speaker series combining unprecedented levels of performance, refinement and value. 100% designed and engineered in the UK, Aviano scores instantly with a purposeful, muscular yet refined look and comes alive in any living space. Soft organic contours of the front profile combine with exquisitely finished cabinets in carefully chosen hues.

Mordaunt Short Aviano 1 Black - Pair Review

The good:

1) Very good build, finish & color options for the price.
2) Rated @ 100w max into 8ohms (50w continuous). It's efficient & easy to drive with most AMPs / AVRs.
3) Tweeter & mid-woofer made of aluminium, it is a material unseen at this price point. It looks fabulous without the speaker grill.
4) Superb & smooth mid-range for the price. Treble is pretty disciplined & sweet.
5) Very good binding posts. Bi-wirable & bi-ampable, something only the British can understand. Lol.
6) Excellent price to performance ratio.

The bad:

1) Bass port is located at the back of the speaker. Placement may not be as easy as front ported counterparts.
2) Bass a lil' undisciplined (loose) when compared with the earlier generation Mordaunt Short (MS) 902i bookshelf speakers.
3) Sounds very harsh right out of the box. Burn in / running in takes forever. U need to run them in for at least 100hrs before they reach full potential & are ready for critical listening.

I prefer bookshelf speakers over floor standing speakers for the following reasons:

1) Easier to drive with any AMP / AVR.
2) Flexible placement options. It can be mounted on a stand, wall, ceiling or bookshelf.
3) In smaller apartments great results can be achieved when wall mounted with a good wall mount such as B-Tech BT77 B-TECH Ultragrip Pro BT77 - Speaker bracket - black - wall-mountable (pack of 2 ). It saves floor space too. See pix.
4) Bigger is not always better. I have seen cheaper bookshelf speakers sounding more involving than their more expensive & larger floor standing cousins from the same brand / family.

Background:

In 2008, I wanted a pair of bookshelf speakers to use with an Onkyo TX-SR604 A/V Receiver (AVR) in Zone 2 (bedroom) Onkyo TX-SR604 7.1 Channel A/V Receiver (Black). I only had a budget of USD300. After months of search, research & demos it was very evident that North American (N. America here means Canada & USA only) speakers have very good highs (treble) & lows (bass) but the mid-range (vocals) almost always took a backseat. British speakers on the other hand are generally warmer sounding because of a more fleshed out & forward mid-range. The N. American speakers are more suited for classical and rock music. The British speakers are better at dialogue delivery & any music that had lots of vocals. If cost was no object, then I'd luv to have 2 pairs of speakers in my stereo setup, consisting of a pair of N. American & a pair of British speakers, only to make the best of both worlds.

Performance:

After listening to bookshelf speakers from Klipsch, Mirage, Paradigm, B&W, Wharfedale, Mordaunt Short etc to name a few, I rounded up on the following:

1) Mordaunt Short Avant 902i. It has a 5.25 inches mid-woofer with a rear bass port.
2) Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 Compact Speakers - Pair - Black. It has a 5.0 inches mid-woofer with front bass ports.

Both the above speakers belonged to the same price point - USD250/pair. The Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 & the Mordaunt Short Avant 902i have very good midrange that budget British speakers are famous for. The differences were more to do with the treble & bass delivery of each speaker. The Wharfedale has a very disciplined (sweet) treble at the cost of a lil' boomy bass. MS on the other hand has a very disciplined bass at the cost of a lil' undisciplined (bright) treble. The MS mid-range is a lil' more transparent & controlled than the Wharfedale. The Wharfedale has a more forgiving & warm sound which has a tendency to sound a lil' dull & boring at low volumes, whereas the MS has a more 3 dimensional, legible, involving, intimate & lively sound no matter what music I threw at it.

Design:

In my demos, I observed that mid-woofers with a diameter of no more or less than 5.0 - 5.7 inches deliver the best mid-range. Mid-woofers above 5.7 inches in diameter are actually woofers & they are, by default, designed to deliver better bass but at the cost of a lil' laidback mid-range presentation. This is an important point to remember when deciding on a pair of bookshelf speakers if mid-range is what U are after. The MS 902i is rated to go as low as 55 Hz & that's pretty good bass for most 2 channel music in medium to small size rooms. Adding a Subwoofer to the equation w'd help those with a craving for deep bass or when watching a movie.

Aluminium drivers, if poorly implemented, can sound a lil' harsh & it's not a material of choice for a majority of speaker manufacturers. The MS 902i is a fine example of how superb aluminium drivers can actually sound if implemented well. What really impressed me about MS bookshelf speakers is its ability to handle 'not so perfect' recordings. Even with really old 60's music, the MS 902i had a way of making it sound 3 dimensional, legible, involving, intimate & lively. The MS' intimate mid-range presentation will initially make it seem like it is voiced for home theatre (movies), but it's equally capable with music. It's truly an admirable & capable performance from a pair of speakers that cost me just USD250/pair. Most speakers at this price point are either voiced for movies or music. It can't get better than this at this price point & the MS 902i is currently selling in the UK for just GBP100/pair (equivalent of USD150/pair).

It's important that U run in any MS speakers for at least 100hrs before they reach full potential & are ready for critical listening. The MS's user manual suggests 36hrs of run in, but in my experience it takes 3 times longer than that, to open them up completely. Patience is the key here.

MS Avant 902i Vs MS Aviano 1:

The Avant series is now replaced by the new generation Aviano series. Latest is not always the greatest. I realized this when I had the chance to set up a budget 2 channel system for my folks. B'cos the MS Avant series was no longer in production, I chose the Aviano series & it was to be paired with a Cambridge Audio (CA) Azur 550A amp Cambridge Audio Azur 550A Integrated Amplifier, Silver. The Avant 902i & the Aviano 1 had the same specs on paper. The Aviano 1 was a lil' more compact with a more curvy & stylish facade than the Avant 902i speakers.

The CA Azur 550A amp has 2 pairs of speaker terminals at the back. This helped me evaluate both speakers in real time by switching the speakers using the supplied CA remote control. I was surprised to see that both speakers actually had very different presentation skills. Unlike the Avant 902i, the Aviano 1 has a very disciplined (sweet) treble at the cost of a lil' loose bass. The mid-range in both speakers were strong & forward but they both sounded a lil' different from each other. I still preferred the sound of my trusty old MS Avant 902i bookshelf speakers. With the disciplined bass of the Avant 902i also comes a lil' more involving / captivating midrange & the undisciplined treble c'd be tamed / settled with proper / careful system matching. I have achieved great results by using a Musical Fidelity V-DAC with the Mordaunt Short Avant 902i bookshelf speakers. Together they have achieved a mid-range performance benchmark not easily achieved at this price point & is only possible with budget British brands. The Aviano 1 has its own strengths. It had more bass, a sweet top end & a clear midrange that sounded very neutral in its presentation of both movies & music.

An important point to note here is the way the jumpers are used / implemented in the MS Avant 902i & MS Aviano 1. The MS Avant 902i user manual recommends that the speaker cables from the amp be connected to the low frequency binding posts & then the jumpers connect the signal flow to the high frequency binding posts. The MS Aviano 1 user manual recommends that the speaker cables from the amp be connected to the high frequency binding posts & then the jumpers connect the signal flow to the low frequency binding posts. The way these jumpers are implemented in both speakers have a huge impact in their presentation.

Out of curiosity, I changed the jumper arrangement in both the speakers to know how they sound like. When I connected the speaker cables to the high frequency binding posts in the MS Avant 902i, the speakers sounded terribly bright & when I connected the speaker cables to the low frequency binding posts of the MS Aviano 1, the speakers sounded boomy & unexciting. It's essential to follow the user manual to make the best of any set of speakers & to understand the end result a designer may have had in mind.

Both the Mordaunt Short speakers benefited a good deal from jumper upgrades. The cheap stock jumpers are possibly made of low quality brass plated in nickel. A 14awg bare wire did the trick for me. There was an instant improvement in details & warmth. I eventually tailor made pure (99.999%) silver jumpers for my MS Avant 902i. Totally an essential upgrade I must admit.

Conclusion:

The Mordaunt Short Aviano 1 is the successor to the already superb Avant 902i bookshelf speakers. Both speakers sound different. The Avant 902i was a master at bringing out smooth mid-range in songs heavy on vocals & the Aviano is the 'jack of all trades' that can handle just about anything U can throw at it in typical Mordaunt Short tradition.

Mordaunt Short, a British speaker manufacturing specialist for over 40years, surely knows how to make good quality budget bookshelf speakers at an affordable price. At USD400/pair, the Aviano 1 barely has any competition at this price point when it comes to an intimate delivery across the spectrum for both movies & music.

If I were to buy a pair of bookshelf speakers today, I'd also consider & demo the following speakers under USD1000/pair:

1) KEF Q100 priced @ USD500/pair. It has a 5.25in aluminium mid-woofer & 1in aluminium tweeter in a coaxial design with a front bass port.
2) Mordaunt Short Mezzo 1 priced @ USD600/pair. It has a 5.25in aluminium mid-woofer, 1in aluminium tweeter & a rear bass port.
3) Paradigm Studio 10 priced @ USD800/pair. It has a 5.5in aluminium mid-woofer, 1in aluminium tweeter & a front bass port.
4) Dynaudio DM 2/6 priced @ USD800/pair. It has a 5.5in Magnesium Silicate Polymer mid-woofer, 1in Silk Dome Tweeter & a rear bass port.

Just my $0.02.

Brgds.

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