Monsoon Player 9 Audio System

You gotta love the blurb on packaging: ‘A Truly Immersive Sound Adventure’. We were nervous just opening the box.

You gotta love the blurb on packaging: ‘A Truly Immersive Sound Adventure’. We were nervous just opening the box. Wesa loves adventures, wesa do.
 
The Monsoon Planer 9 audio system is a three-piece speaker set, which features a new style of sound production. Called ‘dipole-radiating thin profile satellites’ which replace traditional magnet-driven speaker cones with tech-licious sounding ‘Level 9 PFT™100 Series Planar Ribbon Transducers’, better mid- to high- tones can be theoretically achieved. Another benefit of a speaker like this, apart from the sleek, flat design, is that the sound radiates equally front and back and provides notably clear, wide and accurate stereo separation.

Testing across a range of music types, including classical, hard rock, some doof-doof music and a DVD or two we were somewhat impressed by these speakers. While the mid-range tones at higher volumes sounded a little harsh, the higher-end of the sound range was clear and sharp, with barely an audible trace of distortion at extreme loudness. We were quite surprised with the volume these speakers were able to reach, so much so that we were looking apologetically at our neighbours. The dual coil, six and a half-inch subwoofer, with a flared port, provided a rich and responsive bass without being intrusive, except at those excessive volumes. Still, not quite the ‘Sound Adventure’ we were expecting, though.

This speaker set also provides a wired remote. Wireless is preferable, naturally, but as this remote allows for the connection of headphones, we looked past this small failing. The remote provides a volume control, a subwoofer control for bass levels and a mute button. Apart from that bass control, there are no other equalisation settings available. Any such adjustments would need to be taken care of at the sound source.

These speakers are quite capable, in terms of performance, albeit for a slightly high price tag. However, we would like to see a 5.1 version, which includes digital inputs, and the ability to wall-mount the satellites. Otherwise, these are still a respectable 2.1 solution -- when played at volumes not likely to cause long term hearing impairment. There are better sounding speaker systems to be found within this price range, but the innovative satellite transducers make these speakers quite special, and a technology you are likely to see more of. We do recommend these speakers to those looking to upgrade their aging stereo or 2.1 PC speakers. Although not cheap, they are a decent solution for personal sound enjoyment.