Meyer MM-4XP Micro Speaker Review

[smcc]

I installed a bunch of these in a venue, side room, they kinda suck tbh. The dispersion is awful, you can hear it, very beamy. Distortion is audible also. With a powerful sub they get very loud though...I bumped the crossover to 150 ish, which is a bit higher than they recommend, after seeing amirs measurements think I might try 200. This a very low ceiling so there wasn't much options in this size that could do this kind of SPL at the time...wouldn't really recommend though...

 

[smcc]

He is something similar, though not quite as impressive: https://www.danleysoundlabs.com/products/the-nano/
you can go a little bigger, coaxial and louder though with this one: https://www.danleysoundlabs.com/products/the-cube/

I checked the GLL files for both of those and also Danley's 3D software...both of those look pretty meh TBH...nothing like the dispersion of Danley's bigger stuff...

 

[Mr. Widget]

I installed a bunch of these in a venue, side room, they kinda suck tbh. The dispersion is awful, you can hear it, very beamy. Distortion is audible also. With a powerful sub they get very loud though...I bumped the crossover to 150 ish, which is a bit higher than they recommend, after seeing amirs measurements think I might try 200. This a very low ceiling so there wasn't much options in this size that could do this kind of SPL at the time...wouldn't really recommend though...

How loud were you trying to play them where they audibly distorted? I have seen/heard them in use in the lobby of SF MOMA, a couple of local concert halls, several local restaurants and even at Dolby's headquarters. As they were deployed I have never heard them sound bad... actually they have sounded surprisingly good.

I certainly agree about the beaming... they must be used where a super tight pattern is part of the overall design of your system.

In my system, I really don't push them hard probably never hitting peak SPLs above 100dB or so and they work fine with my 120Hz or 140Hz (don't remember) crossover.

 

[smcc]

How loud were you trying to play them where they audibly distorted? I have seen/heard them in use in the lobby of SF MOMA, a couple of local concert halls, several local restaurants and even at Dolby's headquarters. As they were deployed I have never heard them sound bad... actually they have sounded surprisingly good.

They play them loud OK, hence why I chose them. I just think for the money, including the PSU, they're really not worth it. Even when I first fired them up new I was disappointed. That said, I'm not sure even today they have a competitor for the size/SPL...and they look nice...The XP 48v system is pretty cool too.

I certainly agree about the beaming... they must be used where a super tight pattern is part of the overall design of your system.

Honestly I don't think the pattern is particularly useful, spray everything up to 1k everywhere, then gradually beam to like three people. Also they're marketed as a wide coverage speaker @80 degrees...which they kinda aren't...

In my system, I really don't push them hard probably never hitting peak SPLs above 100dB or so and they work fine with my 120Hz or 140Hz (don't remember) crossover.

I say they work great where you have them though...

 

[smcc]

Also worth mentioning, a few guys on the Meyer groups have mentioned powering a bunch of these off Meanwell 48v PSUs...if you happen to chance upon them and don't want to fork out for the PSUs.

 

[dasdoing]

I installed a bunch of these in a venue, side room, they kinda suck tbh. The dispersion is awful, you can hear it, very beamy. Distortion is audible also. With a powerful sub they get very loud though...I bumped the crossover to 150 ish, which is a bit higher than they recommend, after seeing amirs measurements think I might try 200. This a very low ceiling so there wasn't much options in this size that could do this kind of SPL at the time...wouldn't really recommend though...

I don't understand why these companies don't take a small compression driver/horn combo and put it in a small box with some DSP. that way you could control the dispersion.
But it probably doesn't make sense in pro audio. These small cubes have a very special use case. You don't need normal front/sidefills to be that compact.

 

[smcc]

I don't understand why these companies don't take a small compression driver/horn combo and put it in a small box with some DSP. that way you could control the dispersion.
But it probably doesn't make sense in pro audio. These small cubes have a very special use case. You don't need normal front/sidefills to be that compact.

Check out the Martin FP6...they need a lot of EQ, but pretty nice off-axis consistency:

Graphs and Measurements for Martin Audio Flexpoint FP6

www.spinorama.org

 

[Miley_B]

I don't understand why these companies don't take a small compression driver/horn combo and put it in a small box with some DSP

Just off the top of my head, Martin Audio, L'acoustics and D&B audiotechnik all have super compact 4" coaxial options (although I think the D&B might be the only one with a dedicated horn), these speakers do not have the amplifier built into the cabinet like the Meyer MM-4XP but do have specific DSP settings within each manufacturers amplifier and are not intended to be used with third party amplification. Rightly or wrongly, generally the live sound industry prefers to have the amplifiers racked together rather than mounted in the cabinet.
Basic isobar diagrams are available in the user manuals if it's of interest.

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the hypercardioid MM-4XPD, it must be even more niche than the one tested here!

https://docs.meyersound.com/products/pdf/mm-4xpd_ds_c3.pdf