NEWS: Mordaunt-Short upgrades its Avant floorstanders

Not content with having just launched its Alumni home cinema speaker system (see here), Mordaunt-Short has announced upgraded versions of the largest speakers in its Avant 900 range. The 914i and 916i feature the latest version of the company's Continuous Profile Cone (CPC) mid/bass drivers.

The new speakers use the 16.5cm version of the CPC driver, which has an uninterrupted dish-shaped cone rather than the usual design with a dust-cap at the centre. Mordaunt-Short says this design gives rigidity and thus minimal distortion.

The cones are used with the company's variable thickness surrounds, which gives smoother movement of the driver. The 916i (left) uses two of these drivers, the smaller 914i has one.

The speakers also use a 25mm aluminium dome tweeter, also of an in-house design, and the crossover is physically isolated from the drive units to give a cleaner sound. The Avant 916i cabinet is internally partitioned, while the 914i has a chamber for ballast loading to aid damping and stability.

The speakers come in honey maple, black, or the calvados finish seen in the picture, and cost £300 a pair for the 914i, and £400/pr for the 916i.

Technorati Tags: Mordaunt-Short, Stereo speakers

Andrew has written about audio and video products for the past 20+ years, and been a consumer journalist for more than 30 years, starting his career on camera magazines. Andrew has contributed to titles including What Hi-Fi?, GramophoneJazzwise and Hi-Fi CriticHi-Fi News & Record Review and Hi-Fi Choice. I’ve also written for a number of non-specialist and overseas magazines.