SVI Magazine

We head into the shadows to find out more about Monitor Audio’s exciting range of slim on-wall speakers which have aesthetic appeal and sound quality at their heart and cutting edge technology at their core…

Shadow series is a high tech, super slim on-wall speaker system, specifically designed to complement ultra slim T.V screens as part of a flat profile high performance home theatre system. Whilst exhibiting refreshingly slender proportions, the Shadow provides not just a stylish solution, but also a no-compromise performance solution. Shadow is a completely new concept, featuring a number of unique and innovative design features resulting in a wafer thin total depth of only 40mm.
The tiny Shadow 25 has been designed primarily for satellite or rear channel duties in a compact Home theatre set-up. The S25 features a single 4-inch Flat RDR bass mid-range driver, 25mm C-CAM dome tweeter in a sealed enclosure. It comes packaged with its own metal desk-top stand when the possibility of wall mounting is not a practical choice.
The Shadow 50 is a larger speaker featuring dual 4-inch RDT drivers and a 25mm C-CAM tweeter. Bass loading is provided by two flat ABR drivers (auxiliary bass radiator) to provide powerful punchy bass with zero port or turbulence noise. The S50 is designed to suit TV screens up to 50-inches.
Shadow 60 uses a similar driver complement to the S50, but the taller cabinet is intended to suit screen sizes of 50-inches plus. Like the S50, the dual D’appolito driver arrangement, high power handling and good sensitivity means high SPL and low distortion is guaranteed. In this case though the additional cabinet volume and differently tuned ABR’s provides superior low frequency performance.
Shadow centre uses the same drive unit complement as the S50 and S60 in performance, but in this case aesthetically optimised for use as a dedicated centre. It naturally lends itself to both S50 and S60 when used as part of a high performance home theatre installation.

The heart of the matter

At the heart of the Shadow models, is an innovative 4-inch bass/mid driver design providing even more excursion than a typical cone driver. A high
power Neo magnet system is employed to provide the huge magnetic force required, but still maintains a very low profile. A large edge-wound 40mm voice coil gives way to high power handling, way in excess of conventional drivers of this size.
An innovative concertina suspension arrangement provides high excursion and excellent linearity where convention would otherwise make this impractical. A special RDT diaphragm has been constructed from a sandwich of ultra-thin C-CAM material bonded to a Rohacell core; providing extreme rigidity whilst remaining incredibly light. The effect is lightning fast response, accurate mid-range and tight punchy bass.
Drivers are housed in a high quality one piece extruded aluminium cabinet, precision machined to provide incredible rigidity. To reduce resonance further, a special floating driver mount mechanism has been used to de-couple the driver from the baffle. The driver face literally floats on a neoprene seal, whilst only being physically bolted to the rear of the cabinet.
Shadow is a totally new ground up design concept which showcases technically advanced materials and design innovation to create a very unique offering from Monitor Audio.
http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk

Features

• 4-inch low profile bass-midrange drivers featuring a flat RDT sandwich diaphragm constructed from C-CAM and Rohacell materials.

• A special ‘concertina’ driver suspension design provides high excursion from a low profile assembly.

• Unique floating driver mounting – the drivers bolt to the rear of the cabinet, and are de-coupled from the baffle at the front in an airtight neoprene seal.

• 4-inch low profile ABR drivers (S50/S60/Centre) are individually tuned, providing punchy bass without the noise or turbulence exhibited by ported designs.

• Specially developed 25mm C-CAM tweeter featuring unique venting and rear loading chamber for low resonance and clean pure sound down to the low frequency crossover point.

• A single alloy extrusion provides a slender profile, maximises the internal cabinet volume and offers high rigidity to suppress resonance.

• Ultra-slim depth - just 40mm to complement the slimmest TV screens.