I love my MA speakers, they were excellent value for the quality they bring with them, even bought new. I would imagine these to be equally well-balanced, but a bit "bass-light" as far as reproducing the actual low-frequency end of things. Mind you, your two 4" drivers add up to the same as my single 8" driver, so what do I know? 

I'll be interestred to read your findings.

No, two 4" drivers add up to half the surface area of an 8" driver.

So....I've finally sorted the XO frequencies of my Sub Speakers. l ended up about 70hz.
Interesting the Studios behave a lot better on the lower mids,and down until they start to roll of,even though their are a twin ported rear Speakers, they don't seem to peaky,compared to the D7. A good example, my notch filter would be set to -8db at 63hz, with the Studios it's-3.5db. Before l move on to the sound, l actually had to turn up my Behringer inuke DSP 1000 that powers my subs,as the Studios seems too be more sensitive than the D7.

The biggest thing for myself when you plug in some Speakers,is trying to relax. Initially, you play your go to tracks,and you note pro's and cons.

But time has also told me that listen to a random selection songs can be beneficial, as you don't hear them that often, so you can enjoy, and take your Hi Fi head off.

One of hardest things to adjust too with the MA is simply the clarity. Everything is so clear and clean, the midrange and hf work so well together, with instruments having better separation in the mix, that smudging you can get,when another frequency robs another of its tiny details is greatly reduced.On less demanding material, Vocals and instruments so clear and airy,delay, what pedal a guitarists is using, its all on display.

So what about the Ribbon Tweeter, l've had a couple Ribbons over the years, l actually used some DIY Gennexxa Linaeum folded ribbon tweeter with 8" Bandors years ago, they really sounded good,then l lived with some Gallos which where functional,but l couldn't get on with them,they used to grate a bit.

That leads me to the MA,the Ribbon Tweeter is really something special indeed,it's clear, fast,non grating and it the produces textures only hinted at by many other tweeters,l understand MA did in house modifications to the Ribbons,whatever ever they did,it works.

A great trate of Studio is it's speed, and due to the Ribbon,it can stop on a Penny or Dime for the Americans.
The lower end is fine and level and even to about 70 to 80hz.Again,on it's own you don't get the BOOM, it's hinted at, and your rewarded with a faster low end reproduction.

Enter my Subs, or even your own 🤣 and the wallop is back, although you need to take time with levels and XO not to spoil and only compliment the sound of the Studios.

So what about negatives, on there own, they may be to bass shy for some. And a word of warning, these speakers really take no prisoners,if you feed them a over bright source,they will reproduced it warts and all, so perhaps not a speaker to be starting out with, if your front end components and amp isn't up to the task.

On the positive side, problem recordings that in past, like Queensryche Speak from Operation Mindcrime can really grate, not so the MA, still presented with a get track and a awful thin grey mix.
On good recordings like Chris Jones Thank You your presented with fantastic intimate performance.
They also rock out really well, guitars crunch, Metal Church's Start The Fire really kicks ass, while giving additional detail.

Well, all l can say, result... l only paid £245 for the Studios,although mine do have some cabinet dinks,l have seen them sell from £350 to £400 on ebay. They really are a great speaker for the outlay, and provided your other components are decent, then l would say they are poor man's PL500 MK2.

Looks like these are keepers, anyone want to buy some D7's 🤣

Damien

Your bang on John in regards to texture. The Studios do need careful balancing with sub,so just a case of under pinning the sub to supliment the lower frequencies,it took quite a bit of time to get just right.

Crap production, great album. A honest portrait of the album, if a album needed a remix, this is one of them

The Hi res version is off the ,2003 master,as well,so don't bother with it. IMO the original 1988 CD is the most bearable.
The band got it right on Empire soundwise, but for myself OM is a superb album,sadly let down my it's master. You have to remix from scratch

Hmm ... I wonder if John ever saw them play live?

 

I'm actually pretty jealous - that classic lineup will most likely never play together again.