Floorstanding loudspeakers — Marten Design MINGUS SEPTET

The Mingus Septet is a four-way floor-standing loudspeaker from Marten of Molndal, Sweden, named after the seven drivers it carries. Marten developed it for listeners who want the power and performance of the larger Mingus Orchestra in a more compact cabinet. A Statement Edition is also offered, which among other upgrades replaces the standard internal wiring with Jorma Statement cables.

Key specs that matter

Each band has its own driver. A 1 inch pure diamond tweeter of custom design works from 6000 Hz to 60,000 Hz, a custom 3 inch beryllium high midrange covers 800 Hz to 6000 Hz, and a 7 inch ceramic unit handles the lower midrange from 200 Hz to 800 Hz. Two 8 inch aluminium sandwich woofers take 45 Hz to 200 Hz, and below that two 10 inch passive drivers of the same aluminium sandwich type extend output down to 23 Hz. Marten gives the overall range as 23 Hz to 60,000 Hz within 2 dB, a power rating of 300 W and a sensitivity of 88 dB at 2.83 V. Nominal impedance is 4 ohm, falling to a minimum of 2.7 ohm. The cabinet measures 33.5 x 126 x 46 cm and weighs 95 kg.

Engineering and use context

The crossover is first order throughout. Its parts list includes air-core coils wound from copper foil, silver and copper capacitors in oil and paper, silver and gold capacitors and custom-made resistors. The enclosure is built from specially selected medium-density fibreboard chosen for rigidity, and its tapered shape is intended to reduce reflections. Inside, damping mats, wooden tops and bottoms and a 4 mm aluminium plate control resonance. Marten Isolators with IsoAcoustics technology decouple the enclosure from the floor. Veneer choices are Matte Oak, Matte Walnut and Matte Zebrano, while the high-gloss range covers Piano Red, Piano Gold, Piano Plum, Piano Grey and Piano Black, applied in seven layers that are each hand-polished between drying stages.

Pairing

Internal wiring comes from Jorma, handmade in Sweden with copper conductors and extra shielding, and the external connection uses bi-wire WBT Nextgen terminals, so the speaker can take either one cable pair per channel or two. Because the impedance dips well below the nominal figure, the amplifier has to remain stable into low loads.

Alternatives

In the same family Marten offers the Mingus Quintet 2, a three-way floor-standing model, using a diamond tweeter, a 5 inch ceramic midrange and three aluminium sandwich woofers.