This is a review and detailed measurements of the Musician Audio Knight I (V2) speaker. It was sent to me by Aoshida Audio and costs US $1,900 including shipping and "taxes." (for a pair)
The cabinet construction and look & feel is a step above any speaker I have tested. We are talking Birdseye maple finish with many coats of varnish rivaling and matching high end furniture! Not only that, it feels quite substantial and solid. It is a huge number of steps above any large production speaker of its kind.
While I have not heard of the brand before, it seems it is a very popular brand in China. They produce both electronics and speaker. Here are the specs:
The woofer is from Seas and soft dome tweeter has some 20 layers of fabric (from memory).
Musician Knight 1 V2 Speaker Measurements
Our anechoic frequency response unfortunately shows non-flat on axis response and directivity error:
It seems there is no baffle compensation. And due to lack of a waveguide, there is directivity mismatch between the woofer and tweeter. We see the impact of that in early window reflections:
Resulting in a variable predicted in-room response:
Results will likely be very room dependent. Absorption of early reflections may do it some good although on axis response is still colored.
Near-field driver response shows a number of typical resonances and tweeter's uneven response:
We can see those resonances in waterfall display as well:
Directivity errors are quite a bit more visible in our specific plots:
Wider response, an "advantage" of lack of tweeter directivity control, will provide somewhat more spacious sound. But again, at the expense of more colorations.
Distortion is under control at 86 dBSPL but gets out of hand at 96 dBSPL:
We could accept the bass distortion but wish the tweeter was not there.
Zooming in bass:
If you are going to play very loud, best to cross it over pretty high with a subwoofer. On the other hand, if playing at low levels, it can go as deep as 40 Hz.
Impedance almost matches the spec:
Finally, step response looks rather clean:
I am still recovering from being sick. My ears are plugged so don't want to try to listen. I am sure you can imagine the colorations from the measurements.
Conclusions
Knight 1 (V2) brings impeccable aesthetics and construction to the table, justifying its cost. It is high-end furniture grade that should get positive reception from others in the households. Alas, it does not deliver technically. There are a lot of colorations. I hope the company works on a Version 3 to reduce these errors, and with it, provide a unique combination of good looks and performance.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The cabinet construction and look & feel is a step above any speaker I have tested. We are talking Birdseye maple finish with many coats of varnish rivaling and matching high end furniture! Not only that, it feels quite substantial and solid. It is a huge number of steps above any large production speaker of its kind.
While I have not heard of the brand before, it seems it is a very popular brand in China. They produce both electronics and speaker. Here are the specs:
The woofer is from Seas and soft dome tweeter has some 20 layers of fabric (from memory).
Musician Knight 1 V2 Speaker Measurements
Our anechoic frequency response unfortunately shows non-flat on axis response and directivity error:
It seems there is no baffle compensation. And due to lack of a waveguide, there is directivity mismatch between the woofer and tweeter. We see the impact of that in early window reflections:
Resulting in a variable predicted in-room response:
Results will likely be very room dependent. Absorption of early reflections may do it some good although on axis response is still colored.
Near-field driver response shows a number of typical resonances and tweeter's uneven response:
We can see those resonances in waterfall display as well:
Directivity errors are quite a bit more visible in our specific plots:
Wider response, an "advantage" of lack of tweeter directivity control, will provide somewhat more spacious sound. But again, at the expense of more colorations.
Distortion is under control at 86 dBSPL but gets out of hand at 96 dBSPL:
We could accept the bass distortion but wish the tweeter was not there.
Zooming in bass:
If you are going to play very loud, best to cross it over pretty high with a subwoofer. On the other hand, if playing at low levels, it can go as deep as 40 Hz.
Impedance almost matches the spec:
Finally, step response looks rather clean:
I am still recovering from being sick. My ears are plugged so don't want to try to listen. I am sure you can imagine the colorations from the measurements.
Conclusions
Knight 1 (V2) brings impeccable aesthetics and construction to the table, justifying its cost. It is high-end furniture grade that should get positive reception from others in the households. Alas, it does not deliver technically. There are a lot of colorations. I hope the company works on a Version 3 to reduce these errors, and with it, provide a unique combination of good looks and performance.
----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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