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Meyer MM-4XP Micro Speaker Review

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 70 38.3%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 78 42.6%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 28 15.3%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 7 3.8%

  • Total voters
    183

amirm

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This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of the Meyer Sound MM-4XP, active "micro" monitor (4 inches). It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $1,180 plus the cost of external power supply.
Meyer Sound MX-4XP Small Powered Speaker Commercial monitor high spl review.jpg

While quite dense and solidly built, this is one tiny speaker that you can easily pick up with one hand. Part of the reason is that the power supply is external (48 volt/1.5 amp in this case):

Meyer Sound MX-4XP Small Powered Speaker Commercial monitor high spl back panel review.jpg

Company sells rack mounted power supply to power multiple speakers. Internal capacitor storage allows short-term voltage drops so you can use long lines to drive it. It also has compressors for both average and peak playback levels. Here is a quick video showing it around:

Speaker is meant to be used with the grill so I left it in place for testing. If you are not familiar with my speaker measurements, please watch this tutorial:

Meyer Sound MM-4XP Speaker Measurements
Let's start with our family of anechoic frequency responses of the speaker:
Meyer Sound MX-4XP Small Powered Speaker Commercial anechoic frequency response measurements.png

High level picture is quite good in how flat the on-axis response is, if you ignore the half a dozen narrow resonances. Also obvious is the intended narrowing of the directivity to get more power out of this small speaker. Nice to see some of those resonances disappearing off axis:
Meyer Sound MX-4XP Small Powered Speaker Commercial early window reflections frequency respons...png

Predicted response shows a sharp drop off in high frequencies if one is to rely on our model in residential usage of typical speakers:

Meyer Sound MX-4XP Small Powered Speaker Commercial predicted in-room frequency response measu...png


Directivity plots show what we already know:
Meyer Sound MX-4XP Small Powered Speaker Commercial horizontal beam width measurements.png

Meyer Sound MX-4XP Small Powered Speaker Commercial horizontal directivity measurements.png


Meyer Sound MX-4XP Small Powered Speaker Commercial vertical directivity measurements.png


Distortion is kept in check for a speaker this small:
Meyer Sound MX-4XP Small Powered Speaker Commercial THD Distortion measurements.png
Meyer Sound MX-4XP Small Powered Speaker Commercial THD Distortion Percentage measurements.png

I could tell a tonality shift in bass sweep but nothing outside of that -- quite remarkable for a speaker this size.

Waterfall graph as usual highlights resonances:
Meyer Sound MX-4XP Small Powered Speaker Commercial csd waterfall.png

Finally, here is the step response, showing some latency:
Meyer Sound MX-4XP Small Powered Speaker Commercial step response measurements.png


Meyer Sound MM-4XP Listening Tests and EQ:
I put the MM-4XP in my near-field testing spot and turned on the music. I was shocked at the sound being incredibly under water. Then I remembered the directivity issue and propped up the speaker and pushed it back some (about 5 feet). This had a massive impact with high frequencies now coming forward (major benefit of measuring and then listening). I wanted to see the effect of the narrowband resonances so developed a handful of filters for them:
Meyer Sound MX-4XP Small Powered Speaker Commercial Equalization.png

The difference in each one was subtle but combined, there was more clarity and less high frequency distortion. You could definitely do without but if you have EQ, you need to apply it.

Playing music with sub-bass showed that, as measurements indicate, none of that spectrum is played. Cranking up the volume made the speaker act like a lot larger one in how it kept getting louder without getting distorted. I kept going but then it became clear that the limiter was kicking in the way the increase in volume was countered by a decrease internally. Still, at that player the single 4 inch speaker was quite loud.

I closed my eyes and paid attention to spatial qualities. Imaging is about a 4 foot halo that is forward of the speaker. So much better than a little point source.

Alas, as I went through my reference tracks, other than a few vocals where performance was quite good, nothing rose up to minimum level of fidelity. Not having bass really takes out the soul of music.

Conclusions
This design dates back to 2007. Company aim seemed to be tiny speaker that would be used in commercial spaces (restaurants, bars, shopping centers). By narrowing directivity, they are able to get high SPL, much like a focused flashlight. Owner wondered if they make for good Atmos speakers. I guess they could and being able to power them with one cable is nice. Other than that, I don't see a use for them in home listening given the cost.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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Attachments

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Reserved for @AdamG to kindly post the specs.

Manufacturer Specifications:

IMG_0992.jpeg

Link to additional details:
 
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I use this for Atmos ceiling speakers because they generate a lot of SPL for the size. Thanks for the measurements. In the right position, I really enjoyed Rodrigo y Gabriela and A Star is Born when testing them in stereo mode.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to pay full retail on these :)
 

This is the competing 4” mini cube that I know of. This one is passive, but two way and they are intended to run with an external DSP.

They also use these Meyer Sound mini speakers as special effects speakers on Broadway.

But as Amir points out, it’s commonly marketed as background music. Dubai mall has over 900 of these with 60 km of cabling!

 
Thanks !
Very interesting.

Those aren't meant to run alone.
As a part of a bigger system, the limitations make sense: you'll need separate low-end speakers anyway, and narrow directivity is an added value here.
So I rated them "fine".

Reading the specs, they should be able to run for hours delivering continuous average level of 95dB SPL (with peaks at near 112dB SPL) at 4m 1m.
That's not shy level !
(Frequency range given as 135Hz-20kHz at -4dB)
 
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They certainly look to be solidly made little suckers. Expensive, but I bet they'd last a long time, even up under the eaves around the BBQ. Add a sub and you'd be all set.
 
I have read thereview and thought they cost $200. Then I re-read and found out they cost $2400 per pair, and that is before you add PSU.

That is some aviation industry pricing level.
 
I have read thereview and thought they cost $200. Then I re-read and found out they cost $2400 per pair, and that is before you add PSU.

That is some aviation industry pricing level.
Throw them out the window then?
 
Not cheap by any means but if they fill a specific niche you need filled they seem competent in a narrow (ha) way.

Still, if you have even a bit more space I think there are better options.genelec 8020 is in range here.
 
Rather sound reinforcement industry level.
And, as anything for professional market, nobody is actually paying the list price.
As long as you are a professional customer: nearly impossible to get a significant discount on their products in Germany as a private customer. Learned it by trying to get an offer on the Amie....
 
I compared the ASR measurement with the data provided by Meyer Sound: NFS is oscillating a lot less below 400Hz but overall that's close.

newplot (4).png


You can also compare it to the L Acoustics X4i mentioned by @GXAlan. Note that the L Acoustic data is smoothed more aggressively.

newplot (5).png
 
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As long as you are a professional customer: nearly impossible to get a significant discount on their products in Germany as a private customer. Learned it by trying to get an offer on the Amie....
That's the very reason of the list price:
End users get the product for the list price, but the installer or whatever intermediate takes a significant margin on it (30% or more is common)
 
They are quite a niche product, I hope that they are judged with that in mind.

This is the competing 4” mini cube that I know of. This one is passive, but two way and they are intended to run with an external DSP.
Suggesting anything UK designed is a dangerous game around here nowadays but if I may:

This is another use case for a small, high SPL speaker such as this:

FYI Genelec has a somewhat similar speaker running on PoE (Power over Ethernet).
No doubt the Genelec will sound much better than this little Meyer but due to the size and SPL capability differences I wouldn't say they were comparable. Claimed: 111.5dB for the MM-4XP vs 96dB for the smallest, but still larger, 4410A.
 
Interesting review, thank you.

These seem to be designed for quite specific uses: you'd need to know that you needed these and be willing to pay. High SPL, needs a sub or equivalent to fill in the bass.
Good for what they are designed for.
 
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