Mordaunt Short 902 Review

Overall Rating

Fair amount of bass, styling, engineering content, midrange non-fatiguing.

Bass is ill defined and soft, midrange is recessed and treble to thin. This manifests itself as a lack of coherence; a sub will to some extend help, not just in bass extension but to bring the sound more 'together'

I have a humble system at the moment, mostly for financial reasons. However, it's not always been like that. Where my current set up include denon's mid-range amp and cd player with a pair of mordant-short ms10i's (!) on good stands with kimber cabling throughout (I like the neutrality) I have previously owned Audio Innovation valve amplification (mono blocks), trichord clocked Cd player and ruark speakers amongst other lower 'high-end' components incl. cyrus and audiolab. I tell you this so you get the message that I know a little bit about what things sound in context of different systems. Anyway, having read all the glowing articles in certain mags (!) I thought I try a pair of the Ms902i's as they were on special offer. - I didn't have a good time.

I know new speakers especially benefit from running in. This has nothing to do with whether they have metal, paper or plastic diaphrams. Its the motor components and rubber suspension that need 'flexing'. After an initial quick listen (promising, with everything in proportion if perhaps a tiny bit compressed) I did let them run continuously for 7 days phase reversed. Excited, I placed them on my partington stands (very heavy, nothing moves on them!) ... not good!

When I listen critically in order to perhaps audition/change a component I tend to mostly use one cd - KEB MO (just like you). It encapsulates my style of music and is superbly recorded. That and my love for live gigs both amplified and acoustic helped me to understand how instruments are supposed to sound.

Well, I don't want to be unkind to MS, especially in the context of what this speaker costs, but I have the niggling feeling that they (MS) have voiced this product for Home Cinema and not music!
Bass, while plentiful for such a tiny enclosure, is now (after running them in) one-note, soft and ill defined. Its also not very extended despite the 55hz claim (measurement?). The crucial midrange meanwhile is slightly recessed. This has the effect of voices of singers 'melting' into the background ie. a lot of the emotion of a song can be lost. The upshot is the the speaker doesn't scream at you. - Treble, in my experience always well executed in Ms designs (remember, I use a ten year old MS10i) considering they use metal domes, is unfortunately a big step back in my opinion. It's thin with a clear plateau lift which you can hear as sudden brightness. It just doesn't integrate with the mids hence I could never relax into the music. Now, I know full well that my denon's are regarded as bright. Perhaps, but they have an insight and togetherness I rarely encountered unless you spend more money. However, for the sake of giving the speakers a chance I swapped my old marantz pm66ki signature in (lovely amp especially in the mid-high frequencies but not so great in bass slam and impact).

Yes, some of the brightness disappeared but it was still a thin treble. The speakers project a quite open image and place instruments, performers reasonably though I would certainly not call them precise.

To sum this MS902i's up; They have an impressive amount of engineering content for such a low priced stand mount, look good on stands which have a deep footprint (the speakers a fairly deep but very narrow, so measure up when you buy stands) and have a nice vinyl finish compared to the competition. They sound reasonably full but thats at the expense of a tuneful bass and expressive midband. They are probably equal to the majority of competitors available at the price (for example Wharfedales 9.1 - good mids, crap and non-existing bass and a bit boring) and would make a good addition to a HT set up with sub as rear speakers or even fronts, if you're not to critical about music performance.

Here is the problem ... If you're looking for a pair of speakers primarily for music, do yourself a favour and either spend a bit more (my absolute favourite below £500 are rega's R3's and perhaps, if you can't stretch to them, a pair of the new Monitor Audios BR2, though not in the 'same league' as the R3 but available now for £180 or so) ... OR ... try a pair of MS10i or 20i pearls (DONT bother with the floor standers) on a decent stand and be amazed! Clarity, impact, fantastic tight, low bass and great focus. They are simply miles ahead of the new 902i's or, for that matter, most current budget boxes! Real music for peanuts my friends! (and yes, I love rock, pop, jazz, blues and most things you can think off, so for me, a system has to do it all to a greater or lesser extend, depending on how much money I spend on it). I hope this helped but at the end of the day its just an opinion. Go and listen for yourself.