stereo imaging, tuneful bass, quick pacy sound, good for vocals

can sound harsh with bright recordings, at very high volumes and with the wrong equipment matching.

a great little speaker. Although i've moved on to better things, I still keep them, and will most likely never sell them. Even after a long time, when i fire up these speakers, (marantz cd67se, nad 310, wireworld cables) They still surprise me with their musical bass, and detailed midrange. They can sound harsh with particularly bright recordings, but in general, they will play almost anything. You have to be mindful, that at this price.. you can hardly fault them. I've had more enjoyable times with them then some pricier or newer speakers at the same price range.

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kef coda 7

Clear and revealing treble

Can sound harsh sometimes, need time to run-in. Careful matching on Amp essential.

This is a well-designed speaker. It is kids proof (grilled treble and hard mid-bass done) and the deisng is being widely used by several major brands in their newest models (e.g. Epos). The aluminium made treble done has the ability to produce above-standard frequency, but it can sound hard sometimes. The midrange is fine, but bass can be more refined. If positioned well this can be a very ideal speaker for small rooms, or the replacement for mini-system speakers.

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Wharfedale Diamond 8.1, Opel speakers.

Great value, small enough for a dorm room.

Not easily mountable on walls.

This was the first set of speakers I bought, when I was 16. I still own them 5 years later, although they're in a separate room now. They didn't quite compare to the new Linns...:) For the price of these speakers, it was definitely worth it. They sounded incredible, much better than the electronic superstore products. Bass was lacking, although that is more than expected in a bookshelf of this size. The cone did crack after a slight fall, but an epoxy repair job did the trick and they sound just like new.

Bass, detail....

Mid

I don't know why the hell M. Murkeejee is talking about. What an idiot. If he doesn't know what is audio, please just stand there and shut up. Don't try to give all the stupid review. Maybe his ears have problem. I think he should go to clean his ears before walk in to the show room. What the hell 1 star, this is the first time I heard reviewer gave 1 star for MS10i. Got someting is going wrong with him I think.

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Rogers LS1, Tannoy M2, AE1, KEF Coda7.

Wonderful sound for the price.

In a small room and a budget system, none.

I have these in a bedroom system consisting of a Harmon Kardon receiver and a portable CD player. On very good stands, in corners, they produce amazingly taut and satisfying bass, and are generally wonderful. I played these for a friend of mine, and she was so impressed she got rid of her finicky, and more than twice as expensive, Spica's (anyone who's owned them knows they are easy to drive past the breaking point) and bought not one but two pairs. They are the best sub-300 dollar speakers I've ever heard, and the funny thing is I spent as much time listening to other speakers before buying these as I did before buying my main system's $2000 Celestion SL600si's. I listened to other Celestions; B&W's; Infinity's; KEF's; NHT's; and Bose's; others, and these were the clear winners.
Admittedly it's been several years now but every so often I go back to stereo stores just to hear what's new, maybe to help a friend select stuff, and I haven't heard anything I liked better in the price range.

Similar Products Used:

Celestion 3; small B&W's; Celestion SL600si; Proac Studio 1; KEF C40

taut bass, punchy, dynamic, detailed, clear, lively

bass extension, a bit forward in the midrange

Firstly, ignore the longwinded guy who gave them 1 star. He is a complete idiot.
These are great first time speakers - i still love them after 2 1/2 years and would never throw them out.

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Tannoy M1

I bought a pair of MS10i Pearls two weeks ago, and I have to say, I'm still amazed at the big soundstage the sweetness of the midrange of these little speaks.
Coupled with some good, solid stands, and kept down with Blu-Tack, I put them inside of the recommended 7-25 cm from the back wall, and there actually is plenty of bass down there! (I'm using currently a Rotel RX950 receiver and a Resolution Audio Reference 20 DAC, cabled with various Kimberwire) They will protest, as any 5" woofered speaker will, if pushed too far: pumping some Ken Ishi beats through them at high-moderate levels will breakup the little MS's cones, but back off the volume and look out.

I'm willing to try my dealer's last closeout MS SW-1 passive subwoofer with this setup... he claims it is an even more amazing combo.

t

In a review of $2,000/+ *Acoustic Energy* AE1 speakers it was found that its l midrange reproduction was flawed.
If such stringent criteria were to be applied to the MS10i, which should be the case, given it's audiophile pretensions and rave reviews, they would indeed be dismissed, as Johanne Lee said as "more-than-short".

More than short in its imaging, in its veiled yet grating mids and treble, in its overall lack of proper balance top to bottom. The buyer should get a speaker better than, as John Appleseed described, a 'boombox" speaker. Such a speaker the MS10i is most certainly not.

A competent 2-way monitor in this price bracket might not be as impressive in 5 or 10 minute listening sessions as the MS or Bose AM-5.

Paradigm Titans which retail in the $100-200 range for example strike a such fine tonal balance that they might seem "dull" or "flat" when compared to the MS10i.

But it is only in the long term will such naturalness of tone be appreciated. Time which even the most casual of listeners will spend after buying them. The Sterophile reviewer who praises these speakers need not live with them afterall.
You do!

And, no, Johanne Lee. They are most certainly not the equal of Spica TC-50s and Rogers 3/5 a's. These classics are touched by such midrange magic and even tonal balance that to compare them to the Mordaunt Shorts would be laughable. The proper comparison of the MS is to low-fi mini-compos which the MS does not better.

My recommendations: Paradigm Titans or Atoms, NHT SuperOnes, Tannoy Mercury. More than a class above the MSs.

More Than Short!Weeelll... looks like we have another Acoustic Research M1 overachiever in the MS10i Pearl.
Or do we?

My amigo just purchased the Pearls at close out sale price of S$280!
Brand spankin. *new*, wired them to his (bought at close out sale priced...hehe..lucky we got economic crisis, eh? ;) *Alchemist Maxim* int. amp.

Now, Ah Seng,ah... I don't know if you're right about the treble balance of the "more than short" speakers.Well they ARE more than a little short, what...
I heard for ten entire minutes at a walloping *45dB* volume level, sitting waaaay off to one side, on the floor, the little buggers placed about a fOOt from the ground, half a fOOt from the side wall, and maybe a fOOt or _less_ from the back wall, and hey...let me tell ya...wow...I mean...really...

You might know that the Alchemist Maxim int amp has been written about in U.K. hifi mags as *everything* from an entry level super-amp with superb transparency (who needs a 130,000 buck* Audio Note Kegon*, eh?), real balls to the wall slam (oops,_ Krell_ is in *alot* of trouble...)...to a pretty lil amp that has so much mid and treble *grunge* that makes most mini-compos sound like esoteric high end equipment... so mating it with the evidently "bright" MS10i seems like a system an
octogenarian who spent too many days in his youth sticking his ears into aircraft engines just "for fun" might put together, but I am here today to tell you, whoever you are, out there in your living room, or your office(get back to work! you're not supposed to be reading hi-fi reviews on the internet..hehe), that it ain't necessarily so.

What I heard was a budget speaker with style and dare I say it? Warmth. Sweetness. Sweet highs, cotton candy highs,airy, wispy, squigly...no useable info below 200hz or so, however...maybe it was the ole turntable?
Thud-thud-thud all the way from middle C on down...and that was the piano. Okay, okay. Maybe not THATgreat. But there was so much potential there...

I need to hear these at my place soon, soes thats I cans tell youse how much you can save if you got these instead of Apogees..heh. and hook em up to bleeding edge boy-toys like kilobuck toob amplifiers, the amps look like kitchen sink, but got bulb...and maybe, just maaaybe, we got ourselves a classic GIANT KILLERr here, like the legendary 3/5As, and the Spica TC50 or even the AR M1s.

Or maybe they just suck...who knows? No stars for the looks though. Ugly like the AR m1s. And the 3/5as. And the Spicas...

These speakers need equipment that are not overly bright to match - the mids and highs can be a pain otherwise. As such, they make wonderful budget speakers for use with sources that are a little dull in the first place. Soundstaging on the MS10i is quite terrific for a small pair of speakers. But the thing is that they are not good speakers if you like accuracy. They do add a lot of zing to the music though, so common pop and fast music suits it best. If you like accuracy and a good beat at about the same price or less, try a pair of KEF Coda 7 instead.
The firing port is positioned behind the speaker, so a wall or a relective surface is absolutely necessary if you want decent bass from these speakers. So these speakers are fussy about positioning. Someone I know complained that the bass was terrible from this unit if used otherwise.

Use them for what they are good for and they should serve you well.