Review : Monoprice 11948 Speakers with Eximus 30 inch Speaker Stands

Budget Esoterica Review Magazine

February 2022 Edition

Monoprice 11948 Speakers with Eximus 30 inch Speaker Stands

Here is a speaker and stand combination that offers very good value and has a stylish persona even behind its basic black cloak. At first glance the speaker stands look very basic , but on closer inspection you can see that they have been spiffed up with a faux carbon fiber base. If you are shopping for 30 inch high stands you are going to have trouble finding a pair as stable as the Eximus. Top plate measures 7 x 7 inches and the base plate is 10.5 x 10.5. Both the top plate and the round leg support are made from steel, whereas the base is made from MDF. One stand has a capacity of 66 pounds. Eximus has their own website and the stands are currently selling for $ 65 with free shipping. 

The Eximus speaker stands are the perfect match for the Monoprice 11948 speakers which i feel are one of the better speaker offerings that they have had over the years. This is essentially a satellite speaker , but can be used without a subwoofer for most music listening. The cabinets are small but have double ports in the rear with a 3 inch mid range driver and a 3/4 inch aluminum tweeter. The speakers are said to handle 100 watts of power. I think the Monoprice speakers are also stylish and look good both with or without the grills. They sell for $ 40 a piece from Amazon.com. 

I wanted to see just how much bass i could coax out of the Monoprice 3 inch driver , so i listened to track number 8, "Miles Apart" , from the Super Lounge Musical Journey CD3 recorded in 2001. Deep bass, of course, was missing in action, but otherwise i was very impressed by what this speaker can do in the bass department. Also, have you ever listened to a system or speakers that seemed to convey a "stable sound"? That is the impression i got here. That does not seem to happen all the time, so the question i pose to engineers and audiophiles is , where does this sense of stability come from? Another thing that pricked up my ears while listening to this song was a slight magical openness in the mid range that added a little life to the recording. Perhaps we have an inexpensive speaker on our hands that is capable of something special when used with the right gear. 

My new favorite jazz cd is The Passion Of Charlie Parker on the Impulse label. On track number 8, "Live My Love For You", i was introduced to an amazing singer named Kandace Springs. While listening to this song i could tell that the Monoprice speakers are a pure and uncolored speaker with a colorful sound. Not often do we get colorful tonal colors at these prices. The sound was very rhythmic also. The sax had a very nice sense of in the room presence. "Fifty Dollars", the next track by Jeffrey Wright had a slightly eerie magical sound with a fabulous sense of mid range purity. The high frequency reproduction was not quite as smooth or clean as my other speakers at 3 times the price, but considering what it does right, these speakers should not be discounted from serious consideration. 

Overall i am very impressed with the Monoprice / Eximus combination. They both look good and sound great. They don't have the cleanest or smoothest high frequency reproduction, but i think with exotic amplification and a subwoofer , you also  might be impressed with this fairly priced combination.