Loudspeakers

Monitor Audio is not alone in pursuing the goal of a 'point source' loudspeaker, but any solution that uses multiple, non-coincident drivers, without DSP support, can only emulate the principle. Nevertheless, the Hyphn gets closer than most... The speaker's front-facing 'M-Array' positions six 50mm RDT III midrange drivers around a bespoke implementation of MA's third-generation Micro Pleated Diaphragm (MPD) HF transducer, previously debuted on its Platinum Series 3G models. While this is not a coaxial/single-point array like KEF's famous Uni-Q driver, the symmetry of the layout [see inset picture] does ensure consistent horizontal and vertical dispersion.

In practice, this bears some comparison with the 'nest' of carbon-ply domes and central beryllium tweeter of Perlisten's DPC (Directivity Pattern Control) waveguide [HFN Apr '22]. However, the positioning of pairs of bass drivers as close as possible to the M-Array's acoustic centre is almost identical to the approach taken in KEF's Blade Meta floorstanders [HFN May '22]. In both cases a combination of four bass drivers are arranged in force-cancelling pairs, equidistant above and below the mid/treble array. In the Hyphn, these opposing bass drivers have their acoustic centres in the void between the cabinet pillars, fractionally behind that of the M-Array. Fortunately, below the 350Hz crossover, bass wavelengths are long and the output increasingly omnidirectional, so the effective acoustic centre of this quad of bass drivers is coincident enough with the plane of the M-Array for Monitor Audio to be within nodding distance of its 'point source'. PM