MoFi SourcePoint 888 Review and Measurements by Erin

[Puddingbuks]

Imagine these 888 in an 888A version, active and closed.



Wow.

Dreaming further: two eights in the back for cardioid.

 

[5150]

Just love how half the posts in a thread about the 888 are about Revel speakers

 

[Ciobi69]

Awesome . They are like budget kef blade 2

 

[Penelinfi]

Ports offer significant bass advantages. Seal the port on any well designed floor standing speaker and you will hear an immediate reduction in bass. Most towers and subs come with port plugs but after listening to a sealed box the plug always comes out on my speakers.

That's why the A10 uses DSP to give you a full bass response as much as capable from a small woofer anyway

 

[Penelinfi]

Just love how half the posts in a thread about the 888 are about Revel speakers

Mobile Topic I guess

 

[Timcognito]

Just love how half the posts in a thread about the 888 are about Revel speakers

Once someone invests in something or covets it, it is difficult to believe that something similar is better. That's true for all major purchases. The data on sound speaks for itself. As far as looks that is subjective and in the eyes of the beholder. I would say one could live with many good testing tower speakers. Now that I have DSP my Theil speakers sound good enough to focus on finding new music but I am tempted by the SP 888's.

 

[MattHooper]

Just love how half the posts in a thread about the 888 are about Revel speakers

Welcome to ASR.

 

[sigbergaudio]

Yes, you are correct. Front port versus Rear port can make a difference.
Front-ported speakers typically allow for more flexible placement. They can be positioned closer to walls without significantly affecting sound quality. Rear-ported speakers typically require space between the rear of the speaker and the wall behind them for optimal placement to maximize bass.

(...)

In addition, Rear-ported speakers are more likely to interact with room boundaries, potentially leading to a boost or dip in certain frequencies depending on placement. This could be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on the specific room and setup.

I think this is somewhat of a myth. A port is usually tuned so low that the output is pretty much omni - and the response doesn't change much if you're close or somewhat further from the wall beyond what happens with any other speaker configuration.

 

[Penelinfi]

I think this is somewhat of a myth. A port is usually tuned so low that the output is pretty much omni - and the response doesn't change much if you're close or somewhat further from the wall beyond what happens with any other speaker configuration.

Rear ports being physically closer to the rear wall is probably why people have the notion that they "need more breathing space" because on average they get more reinforcement due to that

 

[charlielaub]

I listened to these speakers for awhile at Munich HighEnd and in my opinion they sound really, really good. There was one strange characteristic that stood out to me, and this might be due to the physical size of the speaker and position of the coax WRT one's head when seated: the soundstage always seemed to be coming from "down below" as if one was in a balcony and the performance was actually taking place on the level below. It didn't seem to depend on the source material. It was a bit strange.

The only basis I could think of for this sound signature is that one is always off axis from the coax itself. This is probably very much intended by AJ since coax drivers and horns can sound a bit honky when listening directly on their axis, and this goes away at about 15 degrees off axis. By positioning the coax driver below the listening height the listener is always off axis no matter what lateral position he/she takes. The off-axis positioning probably slightly accentuates the 500-1.5k Hz range and recesses the level above 1.5k Hz a bit due to how the speaker response changes as you move off axis from the coax (Erin measured it with the on-axis position being on the coax axis).

I wonder if this signature would go away if the speaker could be elevated by 20cm/8" to put the coax more at "ear level" when seated?

Did anyone else get this impression when listening to the speaker?

 

[Sokel]

I listened to these speakers for awhile at Munich HighEnd and in my opinion they sound really, really good. There was one strange characteristic that stood out to me, and this might be due to the physical size of the speaker and position of the coax WRT one's head when seated: the soundstage always seemed to be coming from "down below" as if one was in a balcony and the performance was actually taking place on the level below. It didn't seem to depend on the source material. It was a bit strange.

The only basis I could think of for this sound signature is that one is always off axis from the coax itself. This is probably very much intended by AJ since coax drivers and horns can sound a bit honky when listening directly on their axis, and this goes away at about 15 degrees off axis. By positioning the coax driver below the listening height the listener is always off axis no matter what lateral position he/she takes. The off-axis positioning probably slightly accentuates the 500-1.5k Hz range and recesses the level above 1.5k Hz a bit due to how the speaker response changes as you move off axis from the coax (Erin measured it with the on-axis position being on the coax axis).

I wonder if this signature would go away if the speaker could be elevated by 20cm/8" to put the coax more at "ear level" when seated?

Did anyone else get this impression when listening to the speaker?

I wouldn't rely on the Munich's impressions,the room was a constant happy hour.
What was evident though is their dynamic character,despite the punishing conditions there.

 

[Beave]

I listened to these speakers for awhile at Munich HighEnd and in my opinion they sound really, really good. There was one strange characteristic that stood out to me, and this might be due to the physical size of the speaker and position of the coax WRT one's head when seated: the soundstage always seemed to be coming from "down below" as if one was in a balcony and the performance was actually taking place on the level below. It didn't seem to depend on the source material. It was a bit strange.

The only basis I could think of for this sound signature is that one is always off axis from the coax itself. This is probably very much intended by AJ since coax drivers and horns can sound a bit honky when listening directly on their axis, and this goes away at about 15 degrees off axis. By positioning the coax driver below the listening height the listener is always off axis no matter what lateral position he/she takes. The off-axis positioning probably slightly accentuates the 500-1.5k Hz range and recesses the level above 1.5k Hz a bit due to how the speaker response changes as you move off axis from the coax (Erin measured it with the on-axis position being on the coax axis).

I wonder if this signature would go away if the speaker could be elevated by 20cm/8" to put the coax more at "ear level" when seated?

Did anyone else get this impression when listening to the speaker?

Isn't the center of the coax around 36" off the ground, which is pretty close to average ear height when seated?

 

[DSJR]

Sad thing here in the UK is that even if they were imported, the price would all but double as happened with the MoFi turntables, which were a bit of a joke at the UK selling price I felt.

Revel ain't available here either I believe, so this thread is academic only here.

 

[charlielaub]

I wouldn't rely on the Munich's impressions,the room was a constant happy hour.
What was evident though is their dynamic character,despite the punishing conditions there.

The room was relatively calm and quiet when I was there... Not really sure when you experienced "happy hour".

 

[charlielaub]

Isn't the center of the coax around 36" off the ground, which is pretty close to average ear height when seated?

I'm sitting in a chair at my computer. The listening chairs were similarly upright, and I measure the height to my ear at about 46 inches above the floor. The speaker dims report the height as 42 inches, and using some guesstimation based on the pic of the speaker I think the coax center is more like 34" above the floor. So 12 inches / 30cm below the ear height. Unless you are slumped into a soft couch or chair, you are above the coax axis.

The speaker definitely has many positives and I am only guessing about why I might have perceived the sound stage to be "down/below". It was definitely something I noticed, but it wasn't offensive. I thought I would mention it since measurements would not capture that sort of thing.

 

[Sokel]

The room was relatively calm and quiet when I was there... Not really sure when you experienced "happy hour".

Sunday,about noon.
I wouldn't call it calm.

I wouldn't rely on it to buy them or not of course.

 

[sigbergaudio]

An animated gif of the ASR Revel F328Be (rear port) and F228Be (front port) measurements locking the point of each 100Hz Woofer measurement in the animation shows port energy differences between the two designs. The F228Be front (orange) port design displays extra energy in the 50Hz to 200Hz range. Both enclosures have the same drivers while the F328Be has three 8" woofers and F228Be has two 8". The extra thump of the F228Be front port is audible. Port location can offer a measurable difference.

View attachment 380184

Not sure we can get any generic information about rear vs front ports from this. These two speakers have different port designs and tuning. The F328 has two ports and the F228 has only one, not the same enclosure volume etc. I assume this is also from the NFS, so it doesn't tell us anything about how the two different designs react to being close to a wall(?), which is what I commented on.

Finally I assume the port measurements are done by a microphone pointing towards the port, so the graph/measurement of the ports of either speaker is oblivious to the fact of where the port is.

 

[Snafu]

Had a chance to listen these today like a 10 mins, music was some older blues didn't know by whom.

Listening triangle was quite small and i wasn't 2½m away from speakers, very nice sound/stereo image where speakers positions were "lost", bass drums "UMPH" was definitely there and sound was clear. Sound felt loud but wasn't, i guess sound had "presence" not very natural or "round" (haven't heard this recording before). Speakers were straight out of the box.

Amp was Accuphase E-280, i think streamer was NAD.

Quite massive, they don't look this big in pictures. And a bit ugly in white imo.

Will listen again at some point.

 

[Robert-Hifi]

I'm sitting in a chair at my computer. The listening chairs were similarly upright, and I measure the height to my ear at about 46 inches above the floor. The speaker dims report the height as 42 inches, and using some guesstimation based on the pic of the speaker I think the coax center is more like 34" above the floor. So 12 inches / 30cm below the ear height. Unless you are slumped into a soft couch or chair, you are above the coax axis.

The speaker definitely has many positives and I am only guessing about why I might have perceived the sound stage to be "down/below". It was definitely something I noticed, but it wasn't offensive. I thought I would mention it since measurements would not capture that sort of thing.

Maybe tilt back the speaker a little bit using the spikes?
The Arendal 1723 Tower THX has a waveguided tweeter that sits pretty low (although it's not a coaxial design), but the enclosure itself is tilted back by 2,5 degrees.
The coaxial driver on the KEF R Series also sits very low, but I don't know if it's also noticeable on those models.

 

[PowerSerge]

The front vs rear port thing is an audio myth

Front-ported vs rear ported monitors close to a wall? Is there really a difference?

Hello, I’ve been scouring the internet for answers to this question and finding mixed answers. I’m aware that lots of people tend to regurgitate what they read online, rather than speak from true experience or education. I’m finding one camp of people saying rear-ported monitors should not be...

www.audiosciencereview.com