Mesanovic CDM65 Studio Monitor Review

[beagleman]

Kind of cool and great in some ways.......
Kind of Expensive for sure.
Somewhat limited output and deep bass distortion wise, not sure what I think overall...maybe not for "me"

Erin got some unusual compression at high output levels, so not sure what I would get in "Real life"

My lowly Diamond 12.1 actually do better at high levels, and they are only good to mildly loud in real life.....

 

[staticV3]

Erin got some unusual compression at high output levels, so not sure what I would get in "Real life"

 

[bachatero]

I don't know why there's been such a fuss over my opinion that this is a scam. There is simply no universe where this speaker is competitive.

Consider this: the exact markup over a KH150 in the US is $2650 - $1750 = $900. But if you imported the KH150, you could pay only $1250 instead. That's a $2650 - $1250 = $1400 savings, more than you'd pay for a single KH150!

Just imagine if you bought a pair what a $1800 or $2800 savings could do. You could buy 48 shares of the JEPQ index fund and get a 9.5% dividend or be paid $24 a month to NOT buy these cardoid things. The top end iPad Pro with a 13 inch screen, 2TB of storage, nano texture screen, and a cellular connection, paying for literal billion$ of R&D expenses and hideous Apple markeups, isn't exactly the most popular device ever. But it would still be $50 cheaper than buying one of these. It would be at least $800 cheaper to get two Kali subs and arrange them in a cardioid pattern and custom tailor them to your room's acoustics while still getting better actual cardoid bass performance than to get a pair of these. You could get two Kali subs, a cheaper iPad, and a couple shares of JEPQ and STILL break even. Even the stock market isn't this irrational.

 

[Blockader]

I don't know why there's been such a fuss over my opinion that this is a scam. There is simply no universe where this speaker is competitive.

Consider this: the exact markup over a KH150 in the US is $2650 - $1750 = $900. But if you imported the KH150, you could pay only $1250 instead. That's a $2650 - $1250 = $1400 savings, more than you'd pay for a single KH150!

Just imagine if you bought a pair what a $1800 or $2800 savings could do. You could buy 48 shares of the JEPQ index fund and get a 9.5% dividend or be paid $24 a month to NOT buy these cardoid things. The top end iPad Pro with a 13 inch screen, 2TB of storage, nano texture screen, and a cellular connection, paying for literal billion$ of R&D expenses and hideous Apple markeups, isn't exactly the most popular device ever. But it would still be $50 cheaper than buying one of these. It would be at least $800 cheaper to get two Kali subs and arrange them in a cardioid pattern and custom tailor them to your room's acoustics while still getting better actual cardoid bass performance than to get a pair of these. You could get two Kali subs, a cheaper iPad, and a couple shares of JEPQ and STILL break even. Even the stock market isn't this irrational.

Mesanovic CDM65 Studio Monitor Review

It's disappointing to see such ignorance in audio science forums. People just check how pretty measurements are without understanding what they mean, and how they relate to real life situations. How measured data applies to real life situations is an important aspect of audio science. Two...

audiosciencereview.com

I think I answered your questions here. And as for establishing a cardioid pattern with monopole omni subs, it is not as easy as it sounds. Have you ever tried to establish a cardioid response with multiple subs before? In room conditions of course.

 

[bachatero]

And as for establishing a cardioid pattern with monopole omni subs, it is not as easy as it sounds. Have you ever tried to establish a cardioid response with multiple subs before? In room conditions of course.

I've never actually needed to do this, but I do have an EV ETX-18P PA subwoofer which supports cardioid response, and it's as easy as enabling it in the menu. There are no extra settings, it just works.

 

[Blockader]

I've never actually needed to do this, but I do have an EV ETX-18P PA subwoofer which supports cardioid response, and it's as easy as enabling it in the menu. There are no extra settings, it just works.

So, you don't have any experience in that. Color me surprised.

As I mentioned, achieving a cardioid effect with subwoofers is not as straightforward. The distance between the subwoofers needs to be very precise for the cardioid pattern to work and this placement often doesn't provide the best room response. Adding a fixed delay between the subs can result in a messy in-room response. Cardioid dispersion pattern is incredibly easier to establish in room conditions if the solution fits to the same enclosure. In short, the speakers should be built for that.

 

[staticV3]

I've never actually needed to do this, but I do have an EV ETX-18P PA subwoofer which supports cardioid response, and it's as easy as enabling it in the menu. There are no extra settings, it just works.

Two or more subs are required to make use of that cardioid setting:


With just one, it serves no purpose and certainly won't give you cardioid response.

 

[mj30250]

I don't know why there's been such a fuss over my opinion that this is a scam. There is simply no universe where this speaker is competitive.

Consider this: the exact markup over a KH150 in the US is $2650 - $1750 = $900. But if you imported the KH150, you could pay only $1250 instead. That's a $2650 - $1250 = $1400 savings, more than you'd pay for a single KH150!

Just imagine if you bought a pair what a $1800 or $2800 savings could do. You could buy 48 shares of the JEPQ index fund and get a 9.5% dividend or be paid $24 a month to NOT buy these cardoid things. The top end iPad Pro with a 13 inch screen, 2TB of storage, nano texture screen, and a cellular connection, paying for literal billion$ of R&D expenses and hideous Apple markeups, isn't exactly the most popular device ever. But it would still be $50 cheaper than buying one of these. It would be at least $800 cheaper to get two Kali subs and arrange them in a cardioid pattern and custom tailor them to your room's acoustics while still getting better actual cardoid bass performance than to get a pair of these. You could get two Kali subs, a cheaper iPad, and a couple shares of JEPQ and STILL break even. Even the stock market isn't this irrational.

This is objectively one of the best measuring speakers on the planet available at an MSRP of less than $6000 per pair (and perhaps higher). And it comes with its own amplification. And it can be placed on a desk. But something something iPads and index funds? Seriously?

If you insist on comparing these to something in the Neumann catalog, try the similarly 3-way KH 310, which retails for nearly $5000 /pr in the USA. And if price and diminishing returns are so important to you, why bring up the rather costly KH 150 instead of the KH 120 II, or KH 120A, or KH 80 + inexpensive sub? See where this is going?

If you don't feel that these are a high-value offering, that's fine. They certainly have some limitations, especially when comparing them to larger, higher-SPL offerings. Labelling them a "scam", however, is lunacy.

 

[Gatordaddy]

I don't know why there's been such a fuss over my opinion that this is a scam. There is simply no universe where this speaker is competitive.

You don't think you're being just a little hyperbolic?

 

[a4eaudio]

Reading the 2022 thread about the CDM65, I found that the side woofers are Dayton DCS165 (also mentioned by @Ktacos in an earlier post), a part currently on sale at PartsExpress for… $49.98.

To me, this points to a Company, Mesanovic, focused on solving real (audio) problems rather than ‘just’ assembling esoteric, expensive, components.
A big + in my book !!!

Not criticizing the company...I think these look like a good choice for many people...but this just points to a company trying to make reasonable profits...and that is perfectly fine. Just like the Barefoot Footprint01 that uses budget drivers available at Parts Express. Well executed speakers with quality drivers is all it takes.

 

[Aperiodic]

A sub with a highpass would solve the bass distortion but that may alter the value proposition, More good than bad but a lot of competition at the price point

 

[a4eaudio]

I don't know why there's been such a fuss over my opinion that this is a scam. There is simply no universe where this speaker is competitive.

This is simply not true. These speakers are very inexpensive and the market leader in Spiderverse 257.

 

[DanielT]

They are ugly not because of form factor, rather:
1. The color: Black speaker is notorious difficult to fit with interior design of any living room. If you see the D&D 8C, nearly the same enclosure format, but the baffle is white and the side wall is wood-color, so it can easily fit with white wall/ furniture and wood furniture.
2. The ouside finish of speaker: The finish is matte so it is not fit well with modern furniture, since modern furniture near it, TV stand or even speaker stand, has typically glossy finish. Matte finish is not so bad, but if you combine it with black color then well, for me, it is ugly and cheap looking.

But is CDM65 only available in one color shade? If that is the case and if there is a sufficiently large demand for other colors and degrees of matte or glossy, then Mesanovic can fix that. It shouldn't be difficult.
In fact, that in itself should be a nice task for Mesanovic. If it leads to more sales then.

 

[ding dong]

Amirm, I'm surprised no one sent you a RTM10 for review yet. Hell of a speaker, enjoying mine a lot. I'm in France so cannot send it to you.

EQ is must with those in my small room since dips and peaks are huge with the remarkable bass they produce.

 

[Marc v E]

But is CDM65 only available in one color shade? If that is the case and if there is a sufficiently large demand for other colors and degrees of matte or glossy, then Mesanovic can fix that. It shouldn't be difficult.
In fact, that in itself should be a nice task for Mesanovic. If it leads to more sales then.

If they choose to have different colours, it might be an idea to offer speaker cloths that wrap around the speaker. That will probably be much cheaper to make and easier to offer a multiple of choices.

Similar has been done by Linn exact speakers:

 

[kyuu]

I don't know why there's been such a fuss over my opinion that this is a scam. There is simply no universe where this speaker is competitive.

Consider this: the exact markup over a KH150 in the US is $2650 - $1750 = $900. But if you imported the KH150, you could pay only $1250 instead. That's a $2650 - $1250 = $1400 savings, more than you'd pay for a single KH150!

Just imagine if you bought a pair what a $1800 or $2800 savings could do. You could buy 48 shares of the JEPQ index fund and get a 9.5% dividend or be paid $24 a month to NOT buy these cardoid things. The top end iPad Pro with a 13 inch screen, 2TB of storage, nano texture screen, and a cellular connection, paying for literal billion$ of R&D expenses and hideous Apple markeups, isn't exactly the most popular device ever. But it would still be $50 cheaper than buying one of these. It would be at least $800 cheaper to get two Kali subs and arrange them in a cardioid pattern and custom tailor them to your room's acoustics while still getting better actual cardoid bass performance than to get a pair of these. You could get two Kali subs, a cheaper iPad, and a couple shares of JEPQ and STILL break even. Even the stock market isn't this irrational.

This is some of the weirdest, most baffling and irrelevant ranting I've seen on a review thread yet. Well done.

 

[DearSX]

These are a lot like the Buchardt A10, looks like the same AMP and WISA setup. Similar preference score and bass extension, besides being a 2 way vs 3 way. Any reason to take this over the A10?

 

[staticV3]

These are a lot like the Buchardt A10, looks like the same AMP and WISA setup. Similar preference score and bass extension, besides being a 2 way vs 3 way. Any reason to take this over the A10?

You can compare these two directly here:

Buchardt Anniversay 10 Powered Speaker Review

Buchardt Anniversay 10 Speaker

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

Mesanovic CDM65 3-way Studio Monitor Review

Mesanovic CDM65 Review

www.erinsaudiocorner.com

And overlay their measurements here:

Easily compare loudspeakers measurements

www.spinorama.org

The only noteworthy differences I could find are that the Mesa has lower multitone distortion and can do cardioid.

OTOH, (at least at the time of testing) the A10 provided better step response.

 

[thewas]

The only noteworthy differences I could find was that the Mesa has lower multitone distortion and can do cardioid.

Which are both significant advantages, here also the spinorama comparison in cardioid mode:

 

[Inertiaman]

Looks like these to me.

Quad amplifier PRXII WiSA Endorsed with 4x150W DSP Core

The quad-amplifier PRXII is perfect for speaker designers wanting to make active loudspeakers. The 4-channel design with integrated quad-core DSP ensures it can work with any applications. Learn more!

www.platinsolutions.com

This amp is exactly what I've been looking for. Some online anecdotes suggest its about $300, but also suggest that Platin won't sell to DIYers. Or at least they wouldn't 3 or 4 years ago. At that time, Platin said the SW architecture required their SW team to participate in any DSP settings. But reading the datasheet seems to indicate that anyone fluent with Sigma Studio should be able to manage just fine.

Anyone managed to get their hands on these for DIY work?