Напольная акустика — Mordaunt-Short Mezzo 6

The Mezzo 6 is a floorstanding speaker in the Mezzo series of Mordaunt-Short, a British company active since 1967. The Mezzo range borrowed its patented ATT tweeter from the more expensive Performance series and paired it with curved wood composite cabinets. The series covered the Mezzo 1 and Mezzo 2 stand-mounts, the Mezzo 5 centre, the Mezzo 6 and the larger Mezzo 8 towers and the Mezzo 9 subwoofer. The Mezzo 6 was priced at GBP 799, USD 1,199 or EUR 1,199 per pair.

Key specs that matter

This is a ported two-and-a-half-way speaker. Its 1 inch ATT tweeter uses an aluminium dome and is combined with two 6.5 inch mid/bass drivers that use aluminium CPC cones. Rated response is 38 Hz to 22 kHz, sensitivity is 89 dB and nominal impedance is 4 to 8 ohm. The crossover is a second-order design with DVP, and 15 to 150 W is the suggested amplifier power. Each tower stands 1000 mm high, 220 mm wide and 280 mm deep and weighs 20 kg. Finishes listed are black and dark walnut, with light oak also offered at launch.

Engineering and use context

An injection-moulded housing carries the tweeter on top of the cabinet rather than in the baffle. ATT stands for Aspirated Tweeter Technology, and the rear of the unit has nine tube-like vents so the back wave of the dome is released instead of reflecting inside a sealed chamber. A rubber mount isolates the tweeter from the enclosure. Inside, a partition divides the volume so that one of the two drivers handles only the low end, which is what makes the design two-and-a-half-way. The driver baskets are sound deadened, braces tie the drivers to the enclosure, and internal wadding damps standing waves. The curved walls reduce standing waves further, and the front baffle is aluminium. A flared X-Squared termination shapes the port exit to smooth the air flow. The crossover uses a simple topology and is isolate-mounted. Magnetic grilles sit flush against the baffle, the drivers are magnetically shielded, and the bullet terminals are arranged for bi-wiring. Mordaunt-Short supplied spikes for carpet and separate feet for hard or wooden floors.

Pairing

The fairly high sensitivity allows modest amplifiers to drive the tower, but the 4 ohm lower figure favours designs that are stable into such loads. Two separate cable runs from one amplifier can feed the split terminals. In a surround system the Mezzo 6 covers the front channels together with the Mezzo 5 centre, Mezzo 1 or Mezzo 2 rears and the Mezzo 9 subwoofer.

Alternatives

The Mordaunt-Short Mezzo 8 steps up to a three-way tower with two woofers, a separately enclosed midrange and a rated low end of 35 Hz.