- nice highs

- decently coloured sound in the midband, resulting in an unnatural, 'boxy' sound (although it has nothing to do with the box itself) - not too convincing bass performance

I didn't like this speaker very much. It does have a clean, detailed sound but some midrange forwardness becomes readily apparent with acoustic material - not to mention the pink noise listening test. The latter reveals a fairly juggled midrange - which inevitably arises from the construction: aluminum midranges with a minimalist crossover in addition! This must show up not only on frequency response graphs but also in time-domain behaviour, thus degrading impulse response as well. Probably due in part to this colouring effect, some degree of nonlinear distortion becomes apparent even at medium listening levels with classical music (which is the toughest job for a speaker, though, in terms of distortion). The lows also didn't impress me. I had expected more bass from the cute, fat surround, 10" drivers. Later looking at the tiny vents on the back also suprised me. Overall, I think the MS-908 is an unnecessarily complicated design on one side (special speakers in tricky alignment) while oversimplified on the other (crossover) - which equally implies serious tradeoffs on both sides. I figure the designer had mainly intended to give birth to a speaker that looks spectacular and sounds nice to the untrained customer - rather than natural. However, this is the main stream in today's audio market...

Nice highs, very clear and totally convincing voice presentation, I just couldn't resist the feeling that Leonard Cohen was singing in my room, and... weeeell, what can I tell you... the bass maybe drops off at about 25Hz (it's still there but plays quieter than @50Hz) but hey, even with lowest-end cabling it sounds powerful and glass- & room-shaking, and that's what's woofer is for, at least this is how I like it.

Uh...? NONE AT ALL! Except that I am still... well... afraid to remove the tweeter grill, it seems to hold so tightly. So what the user's guide suggests to take it away! I'm just... afraid. :-)

I was looking for floorstanders for about $700 and first I thought about Tannoy Revolution serie or Mission 700s. Then I discovered a review in our local Stereo & Video mag and was surprised to find out that Tannoy Revolution speakers did not do very well. Among all those B&Ws, DALIs, Infinitys, JMLabs and who-knows-what-else, the MS908 speakers were given the highest score (97%, 10 stars) and chosen reference to compare the rest with. The mission was simple: I needed to hear them. Since there is only ONE authorized MS dealer in this country, I had to wait more than three weeks for the delivery to arrive and when it did, guess who took the last pair! :-) I brought them home and didn't pay much attention to speaker spikes. BIG, HUGE MISTAKE! I will tell you that the difference between not using and using the spikes was DARKEST NIGHT and BRIGHTEST DAY, indeed. The highs are fantastic (black metal grill still in place, not much longer though), the midrange is absolutely unbelievable for $690 (Bruce Springsteen - Streets of Philadelphia, Sonata Arctica - Shy, Leonard Cohen - anything) and yes, the 10" long throw devil does his job very well @31.5Hz. :-) I sincerely believe that in the year 2002, you CANNOT get better sound for $700. I do not regret my decision at all and these speakers are winners compared to highly acclaimed Canton LE-109 I had for home testing. High/mid range is similar, but MS definitely wins in terms of BASSSSS. If you consider floorstanders for about $1000, you better NOT overlook MS908. You might well regret your ignorance. --- My setup: NAD C370 integrated NAD C541i CD player Mordaunt-Short Declaration 908 Oehlbach SilverLine 1020* (good, but to be replaced) Generic interconnects (uh... to be gotten rid of soon :-))

Similar Products Used:

Canton LE-109

I find the MS-908 to be a great allround speaker with great bass and middle.

They´re a bit deep for the allround small-apartment livingroom. Since they should be placed 10-20 cm. from the wall they will end up at least 60 cm

Price in Euro!! I´ve had my MS-908 for almost a month, probably played for about 100 hours already. As a casual listener I started off looking at Kef Q-1. I just love the form (light wood) and design of it. It brought it home from my local dealer (thnx Audio Reference) and compared it to a couple of AAD C-600. Already with the AAD I had a larger speaker than I originally planned to buy. I wanted the Q-1 on stands for the slim look. Somehow I was recommended the MS-906 and compared it to Kef Q-5 in the store.. The Q-5 I thought, had a much "faster" bass, but somehow I got a hangup with the middle-frequences. It sounded a bit.. "narrow".. But the 906 really opened up. And while having a floorstander I went up to the 908-model to get the really deep bass it provides. I like it a lot!! I chose the cherry-colour and keep the grille on. Looks very classy! Thinking of removing the metal-grille on the treble to get the extra high-frequences, and mounting the spikes (placed on coins to save my wooden-floor).. Might write a new review about that..

Similar Products Used:

Kef Q-1 Kef Q-5 AAD C-600

detail, bass, price

hmmmm still thinking oh yeah size you may have to get a more understanding girlfriend who doesn't mind that they take up the whole room ;-)

this is just for the person who posted a request below. there are 2 ways to remove the grill on the tweeter 1. simple but gruesome way take a corkscrew and just push it into the tweater grill till it's stuck enough to pull off 2. pull the back off the speakers then pull the second back inside the speakers off and then remove the tweater and do as you will oh well i suppose i should write a review i recommend anyone to buy these speakers they deliver detail that is unsuppased and bass at levels making a subwoofer unnecessary. these speakers can handle whatever you throw at them without being the weakest link in most systems. i am currently using these speakers with an arcam a85 amplifier and an arcam cd72 cd both very good components and the speakers are able to communicate everything being delivered to them with finese and articulation to the point that i can hear that i need to upgrade my connects to allow the components deliver their full potential. always use these speakers with quality components or they will merely speak of how crap your system is! price is in english pounds for the price a no brainer

This is not a review but simply a request for assistance. Has anyone had any luck removing the metal tweeter grill and if yes then how was this accomplished. Thanks in advance, Rocco

-Dynamic range, clearity of sound (from all different dimensions and ranges) -looks -pricing in comparising to quality

-thin, easy to damage fineer/coating...

Execellent, perfect !! What a price - qaulity offer are these speakers. And they even look great... I use the 908''s and 904''s together with a 905 center speaker.I use them via my Marantz SR-6200 and DV-6200. The system and the speakers are a match for each other!!

Similar Products Used:

magnat

Good Stereo imige and wide dinamic range. Super for Movie - the best in surraund sound.

not so clear bass but deep and paunchy, thise speakers only need large room and strong amp.

Mordaunt-Short 908 Big and beautiful flourstenders this “Mourdaunt-Shorts 908” are. Cabinet is solidly build. Technically they are very good and modern. For 665 Euro paid for pair of these speakers, they are good so you can put them in the top5 list- but I bay them. These are a speakers with great dynamic range. Stereo image is perfect. They are happy with all kinds of music. Treble is solid metal 25mm dome offering clear sound. Midrange is produce with good 2x aluminium Cone Technology (CPC).Together these 3 drivers give a little bit sound like pack in some box, with a little dose of distance – like music is going few meter behind the speakers. But these very good driver produce one of the clearest sound that you can bay for your money. Bass is very deep and is going up from 40Hz.Thise speakers produce the kind of deep and extended bass performance. Sometimes you get impression that its 255mm long throw woofer is losing control in lover frequency. However you will like it. These woofers are very punchy, so be careful open the windows if you intend to play them very laud, otherwise there will be no glass on the frames of your windows. These speakers are doing a marvelous job of holdings sounding together even when they play very laud (200RMS) and when things be complicated with many different types of instruments. I connect these par of speakers with Rotel 972 amplifier and after that with Pioneer E-07 THX receiver with rear Jamo D6Sur, D8Cen and D5SUB. Off course I was yousing bi wire , changing 3pairs of speaker cables I get sparkling performance. They aren’t for everyone. If you intended to use them for classic music look elsewhere, because you will found better speakers for hi detail sound (like B&W CDM1 NT ). But if you like all kind of music and especially if you like them in surround sound with paunchy and aggressive bass an audition is definitely recommended. And be careful always use them in room larger than 4x4 m.

Similar Products Used:

B&W CDM1 NT, B&W cm2 and 4, Tannoy P4, B&W 603 s3, Tannoy R3

Tight deep fast accurate bass: Transparent Treble, smooth detailed mid''s

They should really give us a tool to remove the tweeter grills.

I have had the Mordaunt-Short 908''s for a couple of months now and I have loved them. I auditioned B&W, Proac, Monitor Audio, Totem, PSB, Energy, Monster . and I kept coming back to these speakers because they were easily the best overall speakers. Imaging, sound-stage, bass, mids and treble, these speakers have it all. I listen to classical, jazz, pop, and electronic and these speakers excel at everything. Considering that the 908''s came in at about $1000 dollars less then most of the other speakers, it will free up money to go out at get top end recordings. INMHO these speakers will only excel with equal quality components and cables. Unlike most I am not a fan of the Bi-Wire camp and I actually returned my second set of cables after a few weeks. I felt that the Bi-Wire setup made everything sound the same which I discovered later was probably caused by a phase shift between the bass and treble. M.I.T has done a lot of research on this. Has anyone tried removing the tweeter grill?

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Totem, Proac, Mission, Acoustic Energy, Monster and Monitor Audio

clarity in all sound ranges, BASS in stupid amounts when needed and controled amounts when your feeling sensible good for parties or listening

long break in time

i have now been using these speakers for 3-4 months. i would say that in this time these speakers have continued to improve in sound all the time ie lower bass as the woofer is stretching in and the clarity of the highs and mids has improved also. at first i was very impressed with these speakers but yet they seemed to lack a certain something ( this could have something to do with the pile of crap i am using to drive them ) playstation 2 as cd player & kenwood surround amp but anyway my first move to make things better was to use the spike ( this is a must with these speakers ) the highs instantly become clearer. the second and the i think the most important thing to do is to place them on top of paving slabs. and one other thing i did that only occured to me after listening to the spikes vibrating off the paving slab was wrapping selotape around the spikes after you have them adjusted properly this stops any vibrations when you turn the music up to load or when you have the bass very high. these speakers need a big amplifier to push them anything less than 85-100 watts don''t even think about it. at the moment i am eagerly waiting when i can afford my arcam cd72 and arcam a85 or maybe a32 to listen to these properly. at the moment the quality of the speakers is merely helping me to hear how terrible my music system is but money only allows small increments in pleasure. oh yeah make sure you biwire these speakers

Deep bass, coherency between drivers, tunefulness, looks.

Needs beefy amp to get them really working, poor spike hole alignement.

Bought a Cambride CD6 and C/P500 combo as insurance replacement, tried the 773e''s and they sounded nice in the shop, but my attic bedroom is a real tough room and they had zero deep bass (I like drum and bass to be felt) even though everything else about those speakers was sweet. Also, they were a little intrusive sometimes. So i went auditioning other stuff at other shops assuming Richer''s would be OK taking the Mission''s back - big mistake. The only other speakers i loved were the Rega Jura''s, really exciting sound, and i got offered them for 400ukpounds. No deal with Richer''s though, and ended up shelling out for the big MS-908''s. I was a little wary ay having so many drivers to a job other companies fill with 2 drivers, and they looked the same cones as on the budget bookshelfs, but MS obviously put some non-cosmetic work into the drivers for the big speakers because they work great. I''m really impressed. They could definitely do with some serious bi-amping and a dose of beefy speaker cable. I''m considering another P500 and some Naim speaker cable for the bass, with a view to later Naim amp upgrade. The speakers fill any room, they''re not harsh or tiring to listen to, they go well deep as and when. Imaging of stuff like string quartets is not great, but i think i''ve a lot of work to do with placement. I cannot wait to hear them doing a 5.1 sound track! Only a couple of minor gripes. They''re narrow, but deep front to back, and very heavy - 18kg or 41lbs *each*. The holes drilled for spikes on the bottom are straight into the wood, not mounted metal threads. the holes are not deep enough for the screws provided and aren''t located correctly so the spikes don''t fit too well. I''m not too keen on drilling into speakers, and you definitely need the support because of the speakers being so narrow. It may just be a got a set with bad holes, i''ll chase up Richer''s when I can. Other than that, very easy speakers to live with, and i cannot wait to get home again and hear them! (I''m in USA at the moment)

Similar Products Used:

Mission 773e, m73, m74 and 702e, MS-906, Royd Abbot, Rega Jura, KEF Q35.