MACMonitors’ Studio One – RMAF 2015

I had a little bit of an “after hours” treatment to hear a new creation from the guys at Studio Electric. The new studio-ish monitor is a bit of a beast as far as sizing goes, but were also successful in filling the largish room with equally beastly sound.

Flying under a new brand flag called MACMonitors, the Studio One ($16k) won’t mount to a wall very easily, but will provide plenty of volume and shove for larger environments. Fairly intricate woodwork surrounds the tweeter assembly similar (but in a much larger form) to Studio Electric’s T5 floorstander ($6.5k/pair).

Top end extension felt quite lofty and provided plenty of air in the sample tracks that I heard. While the speaker samples at RMAF were not finished products, most of the aestics were already in place sans finalized finishes. The open space behind the tweeter horn is incorporated into the overall airflow of the driver below it.

The Studio One was developed with a large studio in mind. A divergence from the near field monitors that occupy most studios, the oversized cabinets are intended to fill a bigger room with volume levels that stage musicians are used to hearing during a live performance. The horn tweeter reflects this intended design and parlays some efficiency for sound quality at higher SPLs. For the audiophile crowd the collective feature set of this monitor this could be seen as a hybrid appeal of sorts between larger floor standers and horn enthusiasts.

The Studio One should be finalized and ready to rock within the next 6 months.