Mordaunt-Short MS50i Floor standing speakers

Mordaunt-Short MS50i is a two-way speaker system of bass reflex type. Each loudspeaker has three heads: an inch tweeter, the aluminum dome of which is anodized by gold, and two 200-mm heads with conical diffusers (MSC-technology). The last-mentioned jointly organize the middle and lower part of the range. The possibility of separate connection of the bands is provided. Contact terminals are gilt. There are two bass reflex ports on the back panel, each of which is tuned to its frequency. Traditionally for MS "soft" separation of sub bands is realized by the first-order filter. Judging by the parameters of module input resistance characteristic, the system is not critical to the choice of amplifier and is well controllable: the mean value is 11,3 Ohm, the nominal is 8 Ohm, r.m.s. deviation is +/- 4,5 Ohm, the maximum is (1,5 kHz) 21 Ohm. The recommended power range is 15-200 W (valid peaks are up to 400 W). The sensitivity according to our data is low (85 dB at 2,83 W per 1 m); according to manufacturer's data - 90 dB. The field uniformity in the horizontal plane is average. The walls of body are tough enough, but steadfast composite faceplate is especially good, easily recognizable design of which has already become one of the symbols of good English acoustics. The sizes of MS50i are 250x865x328 mm. The finish is black ash or black rosewood grain film.

The listening has left quite favorable impression about the system. The main sub bands are well-balanced. Almost aurally invisible increase of the middle sensitivity in the upper part of the range (4-12 kHz) in comparison with the average value of the sensitivity in the interval of 100 Hz-20 kHz accounts only 2 dB and can't spoil anything. The sound of high frequencies differs by graphic clarity of texture, which, in combination with high overtone saturation, imposes the stamp of confidence on the sound image, showing a high level of the development. It is appropriate here to draw attention to the successful pairing of the middle and upper sub bands, being realized with a help of the first-order filter. The use of more "cool" filter will possibly increase uniformity of the field at the frequencies in the transition area but this would hardly be noticeable on the perception through traditional way of listening (speaker systems are aimed to a listener and equidistant from him). The system has good vocals. We couldn't notice any impact of local (ab. 1/3 of octave) losses of sensitivity (up to 5 dB) in the middle area of the audited musical programs. We liked the corrective and tight bass. The deficit of LF can be affected only organ music... The system has excellent dynamics, by the way in accordance with its rank. The stereo panorama seems to be a bit squeezed but is well-structured and three-dimensional. The hall acoustics is clearly read. To sum up, I can conclude that MS50i creates quite corrective and even bright sound image of almost any form. Audiophile can bravely neglect all noticed and unnoticed disadvantages; only price confuses...