Multimedia Speaker Shootout

Products Tested: 

• Four Point Surround speakers; US$99 from Cambridge SoundWorks PCWorks
• Micromedia M-9000 speakers; US$60 from Mircomedia [sic]
• Monsoon MH-500, MM-700 and MM-1000 series speakers; US$199, $149 and $99, respectively, from Sonigistix (www.monsoonpower.com) 

Test Methodology

We tested the speakers using the 24-bit digitally remastered release of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars by David Bowie. This rereleased disc is of impeccable audio quality and also contains CD-Extra multimedia content, making it an ideal test bed for repeated listenings and a wide variety of soundscapes. We also tested the speakers using 48KHz audio recorded live with a Panasonic DAT player. Our computer system's sound card was a Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live, of which the Platinum edition is our Editor's Choice for general purpose multimedia audio.

The Tests

We conducted "Blind listening tests" with our test subjects, playing the same selection of music and asking our test subjects to characterize the audio quality and rank the speakers from best to worst.

Our testers characterized the sound quality as follows:

Cambridge SoundWorks PCWorks (using two speakers plus subwoofer): "Bassy" (The bass can be adjusted on these units), "no distinct color to the sound," "crisp high end."

Mircomedia: "old fashioned" sound, "like a mid-range home stereo"; "well rounded." Monsoons (all shared similar sound characteristics): "Reedy," "strongly colored," "less high end than the others." The MM-1000's superior bass response was notable to our testers.

Interestingly, two of our testers, foolishly ignoring the setup instructions in the Monsoons' manuals, had a few moments of difficulty with the "puck" these units use as a combination volume control and mute button. RTM!

Not surprisingly, the Monsoon 1000 speakers were our favorites of the three Sonigistix models we tested. The MM-1000 series units, at US$199, are the most expensive of all the units tested here. However, the least expensive of the Monsoons (US$99) was our testers' second favorite of the series, coming in slightly ahead of the older mid-range MM-700 model (US$149) in both aesthetics and sound quality, despite their lower power rating.

But the big surprise was the response of our testers to the idiosyncratic tonal quality of the Monsoons, compared to the other units tested here. The Monsoons were by far the most "colorful" sounding speakers of those tested here, with an almost nasal sonic characteristic when compared head to head against other brands. (And remember, the Monsoons are still great sounding speakers, beating out several other, less auspicious, speaker brands in our last test!)

In short, our testers preferred the US$99 Cambridge SoundWorks PCWorks speakers best, praising their crisp and pure sound. When all four of the Four Point Surround speakers are used with a card such as the Sound Blaster Live or Diamond MX300 that supports 4-channel audio, these units sound great.

A close second was the US$60 Micromedia M-9000, which was a bit "bigger" sounding, with a slightly "plastic" quality, but very pleasing overall...

And Ziggy played guitar....