EX66 Monitor Review - Reviews - Music Tech Magazine

M-Audio’s design team set some ambitious goals in designing the EX66. Huw Price listens in...

Price: £898.00
Manufacturer: M-Audio
Website: http://www.maudio.co.uk

EX66 Monitor Review
EX66
Manufacturer M-Audio
Price £449 each
Contact M-Audio 01923 204010
Web www.maudio.co.uk

The audacious brief behind the development of the EX66 was to build the ‘most accurate nearfield monitors on the market’, with cost and portability coming in as secondary considerations. Lots of market analysis was carried out, and M-Audio decided that the competition was concentrating too hard on reproducing accurate bass at the expense of midrange imaging.Special consideration was therefore paid to the construction of the drivers. The two 6-inch woofers employ M-Audio’s Linear Piston technology to minimise driver break-up and inertia effects. It’s claimed that they have no frequency response peaks or resonances in their frequency range. Since the drivers are made from a material that’s similar to the heat shielding on NASA’s Space Shuttle, they’re pretty tough, too. The 1-inch tweeter is made from titanium to achieve optimum strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance.

Best of both worlds
M-Audio has obviously gone out of its way to cover all the bases with the EX66. They have both XLR and TRS 1/4-inch input sockets to which you can feed both balanced and unbalanced signals (M-Audio recommends balanced connections for hum-free operation). They also have AES/EBU digital inputs, too. The converters accept 16- and 24-bit signals and will automatically lock to any sample rate from 32kHz to 216kHz. Simply connect the digital source to the AES/EBU or S/PDIF input of one speaker, then link to the other using the S/PDIF connections. Use the switches to select S/PDIF L or S/PDIF R for left and right reproduction. The equalisation facilities are also fairly comprehensive. Plus or minus 2dB of treble adjustment is available from 2.56kHz, which happens to be the frequency point at which the woofers cross over with the tweeters.

Speaker’s corner
Unfortunately, the background noise generated by the EX66 is higher than you would expect. There’s no hum, but they are hissy, and there’s a strange modulation in the low mids that sounds like a distant wind blowing. Using the analogue inputs, the frequency of the noise changes as you adjust the level of the preamp (in our case, a Mackie Big Knob). Although the volume-related modulation disappeared when we changed to the S/PDIF inputs, the other noise issues remained. This is a shame, because in every other respect we are extremely impressed with the sound quality of the EX66. The imaging is outstanding, with pinpoint left/right positioning and tremendous soundstage depth. Every instrument floats in its own space, even in the most complex mixes.

Overall, we preferred using the digital input. The analogue input didn’t quite produce the same effortless poise, while the upper mids were just slightly aggressive. The digital mode also enables the true voice of the tweeter to shine through. It’s a very smooth and refined performer, with a natural quality that can accurately reproduce the tone of hi-hats and cymbals.

At the other end of the frequency range, the bass goes incredibly deep, without sounding boomy. The EX66 handles double bass parts with ease and even the lowest electronic bass lines track properly. In our studio, the EX66s had to be placed closer to a rear wall than we would have liked, but the Quarter Wave setting kept everything in check without making the bass sound EQ’ed or filtered.
The EX66’s presentation is closer to what we’d expect from larger transmission line enclosures. Besides the noise issue and the slightly harder edge of the analogue inputs, the EX66 is hard to fault sonically.

WHY BUY
Great imaging
Non-fatiguing
Effective EQ
Digital and analogue inputs
Transparent presentation
Deep bass

WALK ON BY
Background noises
Power switch at rear

VERDICT
Despite the noise issues, the EX66 provides transparent sound quality, deep, controlled bass and outstanding imaging.
★★★★★★★ (7/10)

SEE ALSO
Studio Monitors
Choosing & Using Monitors (Feature)
Monitor Design (10MM)

Score: 7

This review first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 57
Filed under Hardware, M-Audio Monitor Reviews, Studio Monitors

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dubh david black - 04 July 2009, 08:31 PM

Very informative review. Tempted to snag a pair of these, but the hissy-noise issues mentioned by so many reviewers makes one a bit skeptical!

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M-Audio EX66 Monitor Review

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