Полочная акустика — Monitor Audio Apex A10

The Monitor Audio Apex A10 belongs to the British maker's Apex range of compact two-way speakers, unveiled at CES 2010. The range consisted of the A10, the A40 wall-mounting speaker and the AW12 subwoofer. Monitor Audio designed the A10 so that it could work both as a home cinema satellite and as a speaker for music, desktop use or multi-room systems. Launch pricing for the A10 was GBP 275 per speaker, with matching stands at GBP 250 per pair.

Key specs that matter

Drivers are a 5.5 inch mid and bass unit and a 1 inch C-CAM gold dome tweeter, divided at 3 kHz. The C-CAM bass driver was engineered specifically for the Apex design and uses the RST dimpled cone geometry of Monitor Audio's GS and RX ranges, where an origami-inspired dimple pattern adds rigidity to the cone. Frequency response is 60 Hz to 35 kHz, sensitivity is 87 dB and nominal impedance is 8 ohm. Power handling is 100 W. Each speaker measures 140 mm wide, 250 mm high and 140 mm deep and weighs 3.95 kg.

Engineering and use context

Monitor Audio casts the cabinet in aluminium, giving a very stiff structure intended to keep vibration and distortion low. It is finished in metallic black or pearl white high gloss lacquer, with brushed alloy side trims. Bass loading is by a front-mounted HiVe II high velocity reflex port. The drivers are held by a single through-bolt fixing, and the grilles attach magnetically with no visible fixings. A dedicated bracket is supplied for wall, ceiling or tabletop mounting with a tilt adjustment for aiming it. The optional stands are internally wired and have built-in connecting forks, so no cable runs up the outside. Connection is single-wire only, without bi-wire provision, and Monitor Audio gives five years of cover on the speaker.

Pairing

Within the Apex system the A40 is used as the centre speaker, 610 mm tall and 6.85 kg, tiltable up to 22.5 degrees, holding two C-CAM RST mid and bass drivers and the same gold dome tweeter behind a pair of HiVe II ports. The AW12 sealed subwoofer carries a 12 inch C-CAM driver and a 500 W RMS class D amplifier, with two EQ modes and a variable upper limit between 40 and 120 Hz, with a lower limit of 27 Hz or 21 Hz depending on the EQ mode, and it weighs 22.56 kg. A full 5.1 Apex system cost over GBP 2,000.

Alternatives

The Monitor Audio Bronze 50 is another compact two-way bookshelf model from the brand, in its Bronze series.