|
Review 1 of 1
Price Paid:
$0.00 Summary:
This review concerns the use of the NHT M6 monitor as used in a stereo setup.
I decided to take a chance on the NHT M6.
The decision to buy without hearing them first was more about the virtues of the acoustic suspension design of the NHT's. Back in the day, I had a pair of KHL 17's an acoustic suspension speaker which had a very solid sound.
Unpacked, the fit and finish was first rate.
I set the M6’s on 24" Sound Design stands, and the results were breathtaking. Both my wife and son immediately noticed how great they sounded.
Each and every music genre I've played through these speakers has proven their honesty to the music.
Rock, techno, metal, opera, folk, orchestra, jazz, new age, soundtracks, etc., everything is true to the original signal. Movies and television are so much better.
Vocals are the equal of anything I've heard before, especially male singers.
I can follow the individual lines of ALL the instruments in a song, also besting anything I've heard before.
All at a price that is an absolute bargain.
The NHT M6’s is a major upgrade.
Looking up reviews, you will find them rated by Stereophile as a class A when used in a full range system.
International Audio Review also conducted a very extensive review of the M6, as part of the NHT Evolution Loudspeaker System.
(http://www.iar-80.com/page103.html)
IAR placed great stock in what they called "rich warmth". It is the power of the M6, something I will hereafter require in a speaker.
I followed IAR's recommendations after first listening to the NHTs, running them full range with tweeters out, the speakers toed in and on stands to have the tweeters just below ear level. The soundstage really opens up with this setup. At first I had the switch set to 0 which means a 6db midbass rise, but quickly found it added too much, so as recommended I set it to 1.
Someday I'll play around with phase too.
The old venerable AR acoustic suspension design has life left in it to be sure.
I never thought I'd prefer any boxes to panels, but that is the case with the M6's.
Purists insisting on minimal drivers and the simplest crossovers should see what can be accomplished in this design too.
NHT M6 is in my system to stay!
Strengths:
There is no backplane to deal with as panel speakers must. No delayed signal competing with the main waveform.
I'm very wary of box resonance, it is a dead giveaway for most conventional speakers. I don't hear any sonic signature of the cabinets from the M6.
Other virtues of the NHT M6's are their use of rubber surrounds, so they should last indefinitely. They have many possibilities for set up as well. The tweeters can be placed in or out, there is a switch for bass augmentation, and since they are made for home theater, they make a superb center channel speaker.
Acoustic suspension gets a bad rap for being inefficient, and there was some readjusting of channel levels at first, but really nothing serious. They present a fairly easy load to drive.
Amplification so far has been a home theater 100 watt per channel (if even) Sony receiver.
One of these days, I’ll plug them into some Counterpoint & Meitner gear, but honestly I’m amazed how good they sound with such modest gear.
I was first concerned that the published frequency response 61Hz-20kHz with a -6dB cutoff at 45 Hz to would mean problems matching with my subwoofers.
Running them full without the interference of a crossover for the monitor, it has been the only success I've ever had with subwoofers.
And, from what I gather, one reason is the shallow ramp of the frequency falloff, and the energy contained in the upper bass and midrange. It was absurdly easy to integrate them.
The bass excited room nodes can be eased by moving the subwoofers around.
I would love to someday use NHT's front U1 or U2 firing subwoofers systems, but for now a stereo pair of Celestion S20’s using the 24db slope and the crossover set around 80Hz, works very well.
Weaknesses:
Ok, I miss the "Made In USA" Similar Products Used:
Over the last 25 years I’ve had Dahlquist “DQ10's”, then Carver “Amazing” ribbon speakers, Martin Logan's original “Sequels” (12 years with them), through to Green Mountain Audio "Europas.
| 
5 of 5
