Floorstanding loudspeakers — Mordaunt-Short Performance 6

The Performance 6 is the floorstanding model in the Performance series of the British company Mordaunt-Short. The series grouped it with the Performance 2 standmount, the Performance 5 centre speaker and the Performance 9 subwoofer. Acoustician Graham Foy led the design, and the final pre-production version was tuned by Ken Ishiwata of Marantz. British buyers were asked GBP 3,500 at launch, while American buyers paid USD 6,500 per pair in Brilliant Silver or Granite Gray.

Key specs that matter

The Performance 6 is a port-loaded three-way tower carrying a quartet of drive units. Two 165 mm woofers and a 100 mm midrange use ribbed aluminium Continuous Profile Cones, and a 25 mm aluminium dome tweeter covers the top. Crossover points sit at 350 Hz and 3 kHz, with damped second-order filters. The claimed response is 34 Hz to 30,000 Hz, sensitivity is 89 dB at 2.83 V and 1 m, and impedance is given as 4 to 8 ohm. Mordaunt-Short suggests amplifiers between 15 W and 250 W. Each speaker measures 1150 mm high, 240 mm wide and 430 mm deep and weighs 33 kg, of which 10 kg is a cast iron base.

Engineering and use context

Mordaunt-Short builds the enclosure from a material it calls structure foam, a material chosen for stiffness combined with high internal damping. Different thicknesses and densities are used in different areas, and the firmest section runs down the rear spine as a reinforcing member. Every surface is curved, and the enclosure tapers from a deep, wider base to a slim, shallow top, a shape intended to break up internal standing waves. All four drive units are fitted from behind the baffle and sealed with rubber gaskets at the front, so the frames are isolated from the front panel. The drivers use diecast aluminium chassis, and the midrange motor is a compact stacked pair of rare earth magnets. The tweeter is a rubber-jacketed aluminium dome using Aspirated Tweeter Technology, in which a set of pipes behind the dome is tuned to several different frequencies. All drivers are magnetically shielded.

Pairing

Three pairs of solid binding posts let each of the three frequency sections take its own cable run, or its own amplifier channel. Its sensitivity lets the speaker run from modest amplifiers, while the low impedance floor points to an amplifier with a stated low-impedance rating. The Performance 5 and Performance 9 extend it to a surround system.

Alternatives

The Mordaunt-Short Mezzo 8 is a less costly three-way tower from the brand, using a 135 mm midrange and a curved wood composite cabinet.