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The Mission Mini M-iSphere system is now available!

What good would a small desktop speaker is if it were to need a full sized amplifier to drive them? Hence the M-iSphere amplifier – using a compact and cool running Class D amplifier with 20 watts rms, the Mini M-iSphere system is now available as a package - $450 for a pair of the Mini M-iSphere speakers and amplifier.

The amplifier comes in the form of a slab of aluminum cylinder of 12cm diameter and only 2.5cm high. The compactness of the M-iSphere amplifier is attributed to the outboard AC power supply – like the one that comes with a computer notebook. Keeping the switching power supply outside of the case of electronics is a good idea – it cuts down potential interference.

 

Connections are simple – around the rear are one set of stereo RCA inputs and nice binding posts for speaker cables – a 1.5m mini jack to stereo RCA cable is supplied as are a generous 3m pair of speaker cables. There is also a USB jack – good for charging a portable audio player. However, the USB port is not meant for audio signal transmission. You need the supplied RCA to mini jack for audio signal transfer.

A short listen to the Mini M-iSphere gives a very good account for a sub $500 system, not as good as a proper hifi quality amplifier like an Audiolab 8000, mind you, but good enough for this system to blow away any sub $500 MP3/iPOD speaker system, and probably a few over that price point too! The system looks cool, and don’t forget, the M-iSphere speakers are available in, gasp, eight gorgeous and glossy colours!

The last entry we introduce the new Mission M-iSphere loudspeaker. It is such a revolutionary product that we found ourselves asking if we could have something a little more desktop friendly and perhaps a tad more discrete. The M-iSphere with a 5-inch drive unit needs a lot of enclosure volume to work properly, so we are not making any excuses for the large spherical 320mm diameter enclosure.

What if we have a smaller full range driver? Instead of the 5-inch drive unit, a smaller 75mm (2.5-inch) at exactly half the size would mean the enclosure could be significantly and especially important, visually smaller at only 140mm diameter. Of course there will be compromises – it won’t produce too much bass or bass extension of the larger unit and it won’t play as loud. That aside, the allure of a smaller and compact spherical enclosure makes for a very desirable desktop loudspeaker.

The Mission M-iSphere Mini comes in the cast resin enclosure that feels pretty solid in your hand, yes it is small enough to hold in one hand. Perch on the supplied tabletop stand, the Mini is certainly one very attractive loudspeaker!

So how does the M-iSphere Mini sound? Anything but Mini sounding!

We did a short audition of the M-iSphere Mini and were thoroughly impressed with the sound quality – tonal balance is spot on, vocals were smooth and open sounding, sound staging is pretty impressive, no doubt with the spherical enclosure there is hardly any defraction off the edges of the enclosure because there isn’t! Surprisingly at the bass end some extension can be had without the use of a subwoofer, I would say it rivals a good small bookshelf. For music listening, the M-iSphere Mini does an incredible job.

The M-iSphere Mini is sold per piece – just S$180 each. You can have a 2-channel M-iSphere mini system with the incredibly petite M-iSphere amplifier (which is smaller than the iSphere Mini enclosure!) for less than S$600. Five units of M-iSphere Mini and a subwoofer would make a great 5.1 system.

The M-iSphere is now available at our eSHOP. Call our Hotline 6333-0360 to order your M-iSphere Mini!

In physics, it is known that a sphere is a perfect pressure chamber - and your loudspeaker cabinet in all respects, is a pressure chamber. Its job is to contain the back pressure of the loudspeaker drive unit and preventing the back wave from cancelling the front waveform of the speaker. Though a sphere is the ideal shape to contain the pressure, in practice, fabricating a spherical enclousure is an expensive process.

Mission, the foremost British loudspeaker company is not new to challenges. Now the technology is available to mass produce high quality, it is time to put theory into practice! The result is the M-iSphere loudspeaker. The enclosure is made from a Shell Cast DV resin that ensures the enclosure is strong and gives an air tight seal. And look absolutely gorgeous to boot!

Mission engineers didn't stop there. They developed a new driver technology - the holy grail of loudspeaker - the full range drive unit. The remarkable new 5-inch drive unit has a bandwidth from 45 Hz to 15,000 Hz! M-iSphere is the first of Mission’s products to utilize its Linear Reproduction Technology (LRT) – compared to other speaker systems that include a ‘crossover’ to split the frequency, LRT allows a single driver to reproduce a completely linear response. Hence there is no need to have a separate tweeter and woofer - just one drive unit reproducing the entire frequency response. A full range drive unit also forgo the need for the power sapping passive crossover, meaning this drive unit would need less power than normal 2-way speakers. To ensure the sound remain consistent no matter where the listener is, the spherical enclosure and drive unit is designed together for a wide and even dispersion of the soundwave.

The system comes complete with a compact Class D amplifier, just 12 cm in diameter and less than 30mm in height, this little powerhouse is capable of maintaining a coherent and consistent phase and volume throughout the frequency spectrum, and pack a substantial bass punch without the need for an additional subwoofer. All you need is a source - a portable music player, a CD or DVD player or even your computer via the USB input and you have a great sound system that not only looks good but sounds great as well.

The beautiful M-iSphere is now available at our eSHOP at Sing$1100. For a very limited period, we are offering limited sets through our eSHOP for only Sing$600 whilst stocks last! Call our Hotline 6333-0360 to order your M-iSphere now! Free delivery within Singapore.

For hi fi, the law of diminishing returns - that is, as you pay more and more, the incremental improvement gets lesser and lesser. If we reverse the notion on its head, then it goes to say that the revese is also true, there has to be a threshold of acceptably as 'hifi'. It is easy to make something sound good by just throwing money at it, it takes a lot more effort to make something truly exceptional at any price.

Sometimes I think we ask for the impossible - like $500 for a great sounding 5.1 speaker system complete with active subwoofer or a $99 active subwoofer. Impossible you say? Perhaps. It doesn't matter if our wish don't always come true but what if it does, even if its once in a while?

Wharfedale, one of Britain's oldest loudspeaker company, is one of the most prolific volume loudspeaker producer. Producing in the sort of volumes gives economies of scale, meaning the more you make of something, the less each unit would cost without compromising quality at the same time.

This brings to mind the subject of this entry - Wharfedale's WH-2 Centre Channel. For a mere $99, you get a compact centre channel with dual 100mm midwoofer and tweeter, just like more expensive centre channels. Indications on the web is positive on this product and if there are compromises for the price, I would say the lack of real wood veneers will not compromise the speaker's sound or visual.

The Wharfedale WH-2 is available at our eSHOP. Call our Hotline 6333-0360 to order your Wharfedale WH-2 now!