Sonigistix Monsoon MM 2000 Review - PAGE 1

With the popularity and success of their other speakers – the only truly high quality Flat Panel multimedia speakers on the market, it was only a matter of time before Monsoon released a surround sound flat panel speaker system. Consumer interest was quick when the company announced the MM2000, a surround system featuring 4 flat satellites utilizing Monsoon's Planar Focus Technology.

Thin is In

In the technology world, thin is definitely chic. Monsoon’s Flat panel speakers, through the use of their Planar Focus Technology (PFT), are the only flat speakers that offer the quality that you would expect from a high-end system. These flat beauties produce music based on a similar premise to cone woofers, except that in the place of a cone, a thin polymer membrane vibrates to create the necessary sound waves. Stretched out between powerful magnets, the membrane acts as a diaphragm when electrical currents create a magnetic field that causes the polymer to vibrate and create sound. In addition to looking cool, these flat panels are designed to reproduce sounds at a detail level that surpasses traditional cone speakers. Monsoon speakers are also well known to be highly directional, a boon for 3d positional applications like 3d gaming.

Style Baby!

All the styling of previous models is once again found in this latest model – you can’t but help admiring the beauty of pure flat speakers, and the subwoofer, with its 3 drivers, appears impressive indeed.

At first glance the satellites borrow the same design elements of previous Monsoon models, but on closer inspection one can see that the construction of the neodymium magnets and the backing of the panels appears to have been modified. The satellites are also supported by newly designed plastic stands, instead of the metal stands that came with the MM700. These new stands are confusing because they have a moveable rear leg, but do not appear to allow users to angle the panels beyond a very limited range.

The subwoofer is huge and houses three 6.5” cones – one which acts as the front firing active subwoofer cone, and two of which are side firing passive radiators. We are increasingly seeing the need for heat dissipation on the high powered amps housed in expensive multimedia systems, and sure enough a large heatsink is mounted on the back of the woofer enclosure. Following with all previous Monsoon models, the power supply is housed in the subwoofer – so there’s no huge brick-like power plugs to mess with.

Gone is the famous “puck” controller that came with every other Monsoon speaker. Although cool, the puck lacks functionality; so instead, Monsoon now includes a larger control unit that combines volume control with mute, fader, and bass functionality. And, in a move that is a welcome deviation from most other surround systems, a headphones jack is included on the module. The huge volume knob is a pleasure to use, as are the smaller fader and bass knobs. The huge mute button is easily pressed, and an LED conveniently indicates power/mute status.