Evolution Acoustics

The long awaited Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne loudspeakers will start shipping May 1st. We have a long back order so please be patient as we will try to ship as many as we can, as soon as we can.

I missed this tiny jewel of a speaker when it made its debut at the 2011 T.H.E.Show, but it’s now in production. As I sat down to listen to it at this year’s show, I asked what it cost.

“25.”

Okay, $25,000/pair is not unheard of for high-performance minimonitors; the Sonus Faber, Magico, and Franco Serblin stand-mount speakers are even more expensive.

“No, 25 hundred per pair. With the stands.

Now that is extremely affordable for a speaker that gave one of the best sounds I heard in Las Vegas, even if it is manufactured “overseas.” Driven by a darTZeel NHB-108 stereo amplifier and a darTZeel preamp, with the source the new Emotion media server software from Merging Technologies (of pro-audio Pyramix fame) running on a Windows laptop and feeding DSD data via USB to a Playback Designs MPS-3, these little speakers produced a huge soundstage yet with extraordinary dynamics. The bass drum thwacks at the start of the Tilson-Thomas/San Francisco performance of Mahler’s Symphony 3 were simply awesome!

System power was being sourced from two Audience aR6-TS Adept Response power conditioners. The MMMicroOne’s drivers are all custom. The tweeter uses a Kapton diaphragm and is similar to an AMT type while the twin long-throw 4″ woofers use a sandwich cone formed from a magnesium core with ceramic on both sides, Excursion is claimed to be 6mm, linear, 20mm total, with extension to 35Hz.

http://www.stereophile.com/content/evolutions-micro-one

Evolution Acoustics blew me away with their MMMicro One loudspeakers. This is another speaker using the D’Appolito configuration with two 4” ceramic drivers and a 2” Pleated Diaphragm Air Velocity tweeter. It’s a gorgeous looking and sounding little speaker and retails for only $2,500/pair including their own stands. This may prove to be one of the best bargains in audio. The sound of this room did benefit greatly from excellent electronics from darTZeel (NHB-18 NS preamp and NHB-108 Model B amp) and the excellent Playback Designs MPS-3 CD player. Still, $2,500 for a speaker I thought would have cost many times the price, makes it well worth seeking out. I hope to get a pair to review sometime this year.

“I missed these at THE Show Newport because I made the mistake of assuming they were too expensive and out of my target price range. Boy, was I wrong. The little MMMicroOne speaker is only $2500/pair including the stands. They are also further proof that my lifelong hesitation about small stand mounted speakers doesn’t really have much merit. Driven here by very expensive DarTZeel electronics and a Playback Designs front end, this system ranked among the finest sounds at THE Show. Except for the very lowest bass, there was nothing to let you know you were listening to a small, affordable two-way system.”

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue59/cessl2.htm