New MOFI speaker (Andrew Jones)
Here is some info on the new MOFI/Jones speaker:
I am not sure if it is coincidental that SP10 shares close similarity with Tannoy Eaton in terms of specs. The faceted baffle, driver design and the resultant distinctive but pleasant sound traits are definitely good deviations. I think SP10 is a great debut product since he joined MoFi and sweet balance among the three design considerations he often mentions, i.e., bass, size and efficiency.
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Looking at that chart it looks as if the MS10 is deliberately aimed squarely at the Eaton. It cannot possibly be coincidental because Andrew Jones has been around far too long to not be aware of the Tannoys. He even mentions them in interviews. Both the Eaton and the Fyne now have an additional rival. Hopefully someone will post a comparative review between all 3 before long. |
I can understand Jay's resentment over MoFi's vinyl controversy but to suggest Andrew Jones is working with them to salvage their credibility is quite a stretch and a bit slanderous. Unless AJ is lying, he was contracted to design the speaker well before the MoFI debacle. And, his spin on how the speakers are being sold can be said about most any audio product out there. It's a conspiracy! I'll just wait and be patient until I hear it for myself and not rely on what comes across as the mumblings of a real sourpuss, who devoted barely a couple of minutes on the sound of the speaker compared to his take on the company. All the best, |
+1 @nonoise |
as @roxy54 said... it may well not be special... but it is new, from a well known, well liked, respected designer, thus worthy of evaluation and spreading the word around, so to speak but we are all wise to note the distinction between 'new' and 'special'.... time needs to pass for something to be deemed ’special’ |
You can have the best drivers in the world......but if the jacks, wires and xover parts are not the best possible then you will never hear the transparency of what the drivers can do (of course, MDF even 2 inches thick on the front is not really a seriously dead material.....but is fine for this price range). Kef uses ordinary Chinese xover parts, jacks and wire in the LS50 Meta. In the Blade series they use WBT jacks, better wire, hardwired xover (no circuit traces) and serious "audiophile" xover parts. They know what serious parts do. So, what are the jacks, wire and xover parts in the MOFI speaker? For the money, I am sure they are fine.....but what if they made a $1500 a pair more version with all out jacks, wire and xover parts.....now that would be "special". If you removed the xover from the box and completely rebuilt it with super parts and hard wired it to the voice coil wires of the woofer and to the tweeter you would be mind blown. This xover would be mounted on a damped platform behind the speaker. Who will be the first to do this? Nah....you guys just buy and sell stuff. You don't hot rod. It's fine, the speaker is great for the money, I am sure....as are a lot of other speakers in this price range. But someone has to say the truth.......you will not get state of the art sound from a stock $3600 box speaker...never.......However, you can make a speaker for less than $2500 that will be much better in every way.....this is also true. I am sure if I had this speaker here I would really enjoy it. And after a few hours I would mod the heck out of it and then cry and jump up and down with joy. |
This isn't the first, not will it be the last time that a product, independent of itself, fell prey to the collective id of the masses. It's not even been properly reviewed and tested and already there are camps deriding it and others praising it while the saner amongst us sit fast and patiently await its arrival. Such is the sad story of our times. We are of a Paleolithic mindset, set in a medieval culture and victim to god like technology that allows everyone to chime in at once. (like handing a loaded gun to a chimp) Fools think Elmo to be a genius when he said Vox Populi, Vox Dei, as if the voice of the people can speak as god if enough say so. But the original goes.... Nec audiendi qui solent dicere, Vox populi, vox Dei, quum tumultuositas vulgi semper insaniae proxima sit. Which translates to...And those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness. Such is the resultant hype and put downs of a product that no one has listened to yet. All the best, |
Jay seems like a nice guy and earnest. And I do like the gear pron aspect of his channel. On the other hand, I find him over-serious, always delivering stuff like it’s almost like he was up all night contemplating how he’s going to break the important audio information to the audience. I personally wouldn’t take audio advice from the guy as I think he’s quite far down the rabbit hole. But on the other hand I have little doubt he’s had some great gear and his system probably sounds amazing. |
You haven't seen his bad side @prof . |
Jay is a human being and thus of course has flaws, but IMHO at least he does not seem disingenuous. His systems, while not to everyone's tastes, certainly contain state of the art components. He has more direct experience with uber high end gear in his own system than anyone else I know of, so when he shares an opinion of Boulder gear, for example, I have no reason to doubt what he says. With that being said, I thought he made an error in judgement denigrating the SP 10s in that YouTube video without having had them in his system, and told him so in that video's comments section, and judging by his responses to other critical comments, he's getting ready to admit the mistake. |
+2 @nonoise |
Many here probably know I have Emerald Physics 3.4s; Open Baffle, 12" concentric with 1" polyester tweeter, outboard XOs. I was shocked when I received them as the XO/speaker jumper wire was garbage, AND, not long enough to get them off the bases, which vibrate like crazy. I immediately upgraded the jumper wire, and also would have upgraded the wires in between the speaker binding posts and the drivers, but the small channel they fit into on the back side of the baffle is not DIY friendly, although I could bypass them externally, the binding posts likely present a problem. I have seen many of the EP OB speakers for sale, alas, their supplied photos always show the XOs on the bases, and the garbage jumper wire. I send them all emails about what I did, but never got a thank you, so Im guessing they never bothered to do the simplest upgrades. BTW, the 3.4s and their similar models are terrific buys on the used market |
"This jay character lost all credibility with me when he posted a y-t vid saying pass labs amps were mid-fi.".................. He lost street credibility with me when he became a rep and started selling his wares on his videos..add the fact every videos now starts off with "become a member of his site," I think the top guys are paying 50 a month... |
I am not here to support or diss Andrew. But here is my story: Last month I invited 3 colleagues home, who love audio. One has a bluegrass band (he plays the banjo), the other records and does DJ while the last one is a very young guy (compared to me). These guys were mesmerized by my system because they had never heard a high fidelity system. In fact the band and the youngest guy claimed that they were hearing things almost to the rear. I did not question that. The 1 hour session went on to about 2.5 hours. At the end of it, they told me that while the system was fantastic, they simply could not afford it. Fair enough and I told them it was built over a period of 17 years. As we came out of the listening room into the family area of the basement, they saw the Pioneer SP-BS22-LR which is connected to a Sony 5.1 channel receiver, which we use to watch movies or the kids play games on TV. Now this system impressed the band guy so much that he went home and started searching for these. Unfortunately they are not made anymore and the rare ones are fetching $500. He asked me for recommendation, based on a budget. There was no way that anyone of us could go reviewing a speaker. But I recommended him the Andrew Jones designed ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2. These were on sale for Thanksgiving and he bought the Walnut ones from Music Direct. They arrived last Monday at his place and he used his vintage 1980s Marantz receiver (Japanese made) with some cheap speaker wire that he already had. Even with this combination he was BLOWN AWAY with what he heard. This is his most expensive hi-fi purchase. The worst part is - he is currently using the "headphone out" from the projector as input to the Marantz. So today I carried my Auris bluMe bluetooth receiver, that he can connect using RCAs. Will wait to hear back from him. Point is - Andrew Jones designs are pretty good. This forum is filled with folks having mega $$$ speakers (including me). We are trying to judge cheaper designs and compare them to the $$$ ones. To the folks on this forum a $1700 speaker might be a hype. But to the non-audiophiles even a $399 speaker is a hype. Why? Because their previous system is a all-in-one Walmart/Target system. We can do more justice to this hobby by directing the younger generation to start with cheaper loudspeakers. Eventually they will move into the high end category. |
Also, if there are people who pay $50 per month to get reviews of audio equipment that is heard by someone else, then it's a shame that they are ready to spend $50k on speakers/amps/sources and cannot spend $500 on a plane ticket to listen to such components "in-person". IF they are so busy, then how are they going to find time to enjoy this hobby? Just wondering. |
@milpai the vibe here is pretty weird at times, I am here to learn but I am in my disillusioned phase right now. When I see that people have a list of components that cost more than I spent on cars, combined in my entire adult life and the same people rave about junk music (to my taste) I feel confused. The way I see it: if you love music, you won’t be obsessed with gear, because music is perfectly and fully enjoyable with decent $200 desktop speakers, playing from youtube. You will be obsessed with gear for a lot of other reasons. I find myself being obsessed with the quality of the sound (more or less in a bubble) but my joy of listening isn’t all that different. With a metaphor, imagine that you love playing soccer but your main focus is not playing but finding the best shoes. Great shoes will be significantly better than flip-flops but most people play in $60 sneakers, happily... |
That's very true. True story, my own. Several years ago, I sold a lady neighbor my speakers I had at that time for a secondary system, Andrew Jones' ELAC Uni-Fi bookshelves (one tier up the Debut). For $300 cash. When the son learned, he got pissed off. $300 for speakers??!!! Even to this day, every time I see her son, I get a ".... I can't believe you made my mom pay $300 for speakers" look and scoff ... Go figure. I thought I was making her a favor. And I also installed them for her with my stands (for free to her), some speakers cables I had in my drawer. |
"No good deed...." @thyname Some won't ever understand. I'm sure she enjoys them. (I have the Debut 5.2 set-up for a TV room and enjoy it there.) I've met Andrew at a few shows and liked his personality like others. I think his prior designs show his skill as well. I'm curious to hear these new ones now. |
During my apartment dwelling days, had one lady (whom I never had the chance of meeting) that would send over her husband. Respectful fella and always asked politely when stopping by, "could you please turn it down a few." Shortly before my move from said apartment I’d decided to splurge with a new set of floor standers / sub. Guess who received my old set of floor standers / sub, free of charge? I’ve always wondered what the look on her face may have been when husband brought those speakers home, the ones she despised! Ha |
Not sure why you should be disillusioned by what others are saying. IT's your choice - you should do what you feel like.
I spend quite some time with family watching movies or listening to the wife and kid's songs. We do that on the Pioneer bookshelf speakers that are a lot less $s than what you mention. And it is fun - I agree. But to get the "full on" experience, I go to my main system. With this system I can listen to new (to me, not others) music from artists and genres I have not heard before. It is an amazing experience. In fact Spotify wrapped 2022 tells me that this year I listened to 59 different genres and 1928 different artists, and this is NOT counting the first 3 months of the year that I was with Tidal.And also my collection of silver discs.
I don't know about soccer. So I can probably relate to running shoes. Flip-flops are bad for running. But with a well designed shoe from Books compared to a cheaper one, you can go on for miles without straining your muscles and hurting the knees. Specialization helps and I have experienced it. So if you are into driving, are you saying that a Mitsubishi Mirage will provide you the same pleasure as a BMW M3 or Porsche GT3? That would be hard to believe. |
@thyname , Man, that sucks. But to the common person, "it" (that is how they refer to audio systems) should make "loud music". That's all they care for. Such folks need to be educated. My colleagues told me that they had heard "about high end" audio, but never imagined what it could do. Unless folks like us put some effort into educating the "not-in-the-know" folks, they will never know to differentiate sound/noise from music. |
And my story does not support this. If they have not heard anything better, then yes, they would not know. This is the second time. Last time was in 2019, when a friend came over for a listen and was amazed what high end sounds like. We ended up getting a Revel F35/36 at the local dealer and a Hegel integrated (with onboard DAC) and Audio Envy cables. And this was right before the pandemic! I have posted about this story too, here on Audiogon. Yes. it is rare, but it does happen. |
When I see that people have a list of components that cost more than I spent on cars, combined in my entire adult life and the same people rave about junk music (to my taste) I feel confused.
Yes this has been puzzling me for years too. Folks with mega expensive systems who seem to prefer listening to emotionless garbage. Always well recorded emotionless garbage, mind you. |
Wow, some snowflakes in here. it has taken me 35 years to get where I’m at' stereo wise, such a,massive difference from YouTube with computer speakers, to a nice pair of Snell powered by a B&K amp, fed by a sony ES, or an Acurus acd-11 with even simple rca’s. The difference is mind blowing, and when you get a nice pair of speakers, and you walk into your den, while the computer speakers are playing YouTube, then walk back into,your family,room, and feel the music surround you, then you will know why we audition, tweak, poke, prod, cables, components, etc. it’s a hobby, like anything, I have hair down past middle of my back. Always look rather,scruffy, as construction jobs don’t require high n tight cuts etc. im not a junky, don’t gamble, not too violent, don’t drink,excessively, maybe a weekend warrior at times, put down 30 pack in a day n a half at times, never have I hit a woman or raised a hand to any woman. point is we like music, love to shop, audition audio, I’ll call the wife at lunch time, on thursdays or fridays, tell her please take the covers off of Flotsam & Jetsam (names of my amps) switch em on, she turns on the disc player and preamp, to be nice and warm when I get home on Friday, to sit back and relax to Kreator, Or stratovarius, Hirax, or maybe humble pie, or max Webster, Lillian axe, whatever. final point: most of us are good people, men need a vice, ours is audio, music, few drams, friends, wine, whatever. That is the highlight of my day, home from work, clean up, slippers, swishy pants, pop in disc, or iPod , , press play and relax to some Motörhead, UFO, forbidden, dark Angel. puts me in down mode, and I feel better, don’t get onry, I’m relaxed. you all get it. let the chickens run around pecking all they can, us eagles will soar high and look down upon the weak
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(dude, you are really scary with that never hit a woman stuff, nobody asked) "such a,massive difference from YouTube with computer speakers" there is a massive difference. To you. I talked about the joy of listening - which I am perfectly capable of from cheap sources and speakers. Of course I enjoy the details, the soundstage, lows and highs from a well thought-out system. Of course if I had won the lottery, I would upgrade. It sounds like many of you here are convinced that any component under $4500 is not high end and the listening experience from cheaper systems cannot be compared to yours. It’s so subjective it seems impossible to argue, but I am pretty sure I disagree :)
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I appreciate the contemporary slightly retro look compared to the Tannoy's bur still think they missed the mark on the styling. I understand the front baffle shape but where it merges with the edges of the enclosure looks abrupt and clumsily integrated. a smooth, blended continuous shape would have looked so much better or at least flush with the enclosure walls. also better selection of finishes and grille colors would have really put it over the top. |
I received my Source Point 10's yesterday. They are in the walnut finish and they are huge. I definitely need the Motif stands. They look strange and a little unsteady on my skinny pedestals. I plan to stain the wood a darker Cappuccino color to blend better with my contemporary room which has the darker furniture color. I own a pair of $10,000 Alta Alec's, so once the Source Point 10's are fully burnt in, things will get very interesting. The Alta's are Phenomenal. Right out of the box I thought to myself, Houston, the audio industry has a problem. The Motifs are amazing. They are punchy and the sound stage is huge. They sound the livest, I ever heard, and that includes speakers from any audio show I attended. I remember last summer my wife and I were riding our bikes in Central Park in New York City. We saw a a 4 piece band playing near a lake. We pulled over and sat on a bench to listen. My Wife commented on how great they sounded. I turned to her and responded, "I can spend millions on equipment and never get that sound". I am 65 and have been an audiophile since I was 15. When I was younger, I saved my money to buy Fisher, Pioneer, and Marantz receivers. As I became older I got caught up in the equipment frenzy. I made a lot of bad purchases. The Mofi Source Point 10's are the real deal. Again, they are the closest I have heard to actual live music, and they are not yet broken in. To me the Audio industry has gotten out of control with over hyped a grossly expensive equipment. They have a big problem here with these $3700 speakers. The Motifs are not in the best cabinetry and finish as $100,000 plus speakers, but to me they produce sound that is as good as it gets. |
Corrected Post I received my Source Point 10's yesterday. They are in the walnut finish and they are huge. I definitely need the Mofi stands. They look strange and a little unsteady on my skinny pedestals. I plan to stain the wood a darker Cappuccino color to blend better with my contemporary room which has the darker furniture color. I own a pair of $10,000 Alta Alec's, so once the Source Point 10's are fully burnt in, things will get very interesting. The Alta's are Phenomenal. Right out of the box I thought to myself, Houston, the audio industry has a problem. The Mofi's are amazing. They are punchy and the sound stage is huge. They sound the livest, I ever heard, and that includes speakers from any audio show I attended. I remember last summer my wife and I were riding our bikes in Central Park in New York City. We saw a a 4 piece band playing near a lake. We pulled over and sat on a bench to listen. My Wife commented on how great they sounded. I turned to her and responded, "I can spend millions on equipment and never get that sound". I am 65 and have been an audiophile since I was 15. When I was younger, I saved my money to buy Fisher, Pioneer, and Marantz receivers. As I became older I got caught up in the equipment frenzy. I made a lot of bad purchases. The Mofi Source Point 10's are the real deal. Again, they are the closest I have heard to actual live music, and they are not yet broken in. To me the Audio industry has gotten out of control with over hyped a grossly expensive equipment. They have a big problem here with these $3700 speakers. The Mofi's are not in the best cabinetry and finish as $100,000 plus speakers, but to me they produce sound that is as good as it gets. |
@gb9746 that's pretty cool. regarding the stands, that's exactly what I predicted (I know nothing about the sound so I criticize the design :) ) Their size puts them between categories: too big as a bookshelf, not tall enough to sit on the floor. True, the Linton stands might work, but it deserves cooler design. |
I believe the stands Mofi is going to use with the Sourcepoint 10 speakers are in this video: They look sturdy enough. And, thanks, @gb9746 for your honest first impressions. I thought I'd wait a bit but after reading you and your wife's take on them, I'm now leaning towards not waiting. 😄
All the best, |
sorry, but these are the real deal....Tannoy invented the dual concentric driver in 1947....they are Lovely speakers....