Bookshelf Speakers — Mordaunt-Short Mezzo 1

The Mezzo 1 is the smaller of the two stand-mount speakers in the Mezzo series from Mordaunt-Short, the British maker founded in 1967 and owned by Audio Partnership since 1999. The Mezzo range went on sale in 2007 and also included the Mezzo 2 stand-mount, the Mezzo 5 centre, the Mezzo 6 floorstander and an active subwoofer. At launch the Mezzo 1 cost GBP 330 per pair, and it was offered in light oak and dark walnut finishes.

Key specs that matter

Mordaunt-Short built it as a ported two-way speaker, and the reflex opening is on the back panel. A 1 inch ATT aluminium dome tweeter sits above a 5.25 inch mid/bass driver with an aluminium CPC cone, about 133 mm across. Mordaunt-Short specifies 88 dB sensitivity, an impedance of 4 to 8 ohm and a frequency response of 55 Hz to 22 kHz, and suggests amplifier power between 15 and 100 W. The cabinet is 300 mm high, 204 mm wide and 255 mm deep, and one speaker weighs 6.2 kg.

Engineering and use context

The cabinet does not follow a plain box shape. Its sides are curved and the cross-section resembles a cut-off teardrop, which reduces parallel internal surfaces and spreads out standing waves inside the enclosure. The mid/bass cone has an inverted profile, and the tweeter uses a rear energy dissipation assembly that absorbs output from the back of the dome. Mordaunt-Short fitted a second-order filter with DVP, the same crossover type used across the Mezzo stand-mounts, floorstander and centre speaker. Dual sets of binding posts at the rear permit bi-wiring, letting each driver section receive its own cable run. Both drive units are magnetically shielded, a feature that suited home cinema systems built around tube televisions. With the port firing backwards, the speaker needs a few centimetres of free space behind it, and its low end was designed to take some support from a nearby wall.

Pairing

The impedance can fall toward 4 ohm, so an integrated amplifier or AV receiver that is stable into such loads is the safer choice, and around 40 W per channel or more gives useful headroom within the suggested range. Placement on a stand close to, but not touching, the rear wall suits the port layout. For a surround system the Mezzo 1 is intended to work with the Mezzo 5 centre speaker and the Mezzo subwoofer.

Alternatives

Within the same range the Mordaunt-Short Mezzo 2 offers more cabinet volume, using a 6.5 inch CPC driver in a 352 mm tall cabinet weighing 8 kg.