Page 1 SUPERTEST Mordaunt-Short Avant 902i £150 Mordaunt

Supertest
stereo speakers
Mordaunt-Short Avant 902i
“Make no mistake,
these 902is are the
best value-for-money
speakers around”
m for
Convincingly dynamic
and confident,
properly musical; looks
against
Top end can be
problematic if
system-matching
is poor
m
If you want to buy a really capable
budget standmounter with the
absolute minimum of fuss, you
might decide to avoid the 902is.
However, make no mistake, they
are the best value-for-money speaker
around, but there’s just a little bit
more care needed when matching
your system to these dynamic,
musical Mordaunt-Shorts than is the
case with their ­obvious rivals.
£150
m
★★★★★
verdict
Not as adaptable
as some, but our
pick nonetheless.
Your budget system
deserves speakers
this good
Mordaunt-Short Avant 902i
★★★★★
Despite the stiff
test
result competition from
some top brands,
the Mordaunt-Shorts are
winners of our Supertest
£150
Let’s deal with that caveat. The
brilliantly crisp, assertive top end
sparkles and shines, but doesn’t take
too much encouragement to cross the
line into hard/bright ­territory. If you
have an amplifier that isn’t shy about
­dealing with the high stuff, the
Avant 902is are undoubtedly to be
avoided. However, everyone else
should dive in, because they’re fab.
tiring, and always engaging, the
Avants relish recordings of all kinds.
Beyond their sheer, exuberant
musicality, the 902is are more-thanadequately made and daintily
attractive. Spend the extra few
minutes to match them carefully
and they won’t disappoint you.
Proof is in the pudding
With Scott Walker’s 30 Century Man
playing, the 902is time really well,
marshalling a natural tempo, and
integrating voices and instru­ments
pretty seamlessly. Plenty of fine detail is
on display, with the 902is confident,
assertive voice being beautifully judged.
Bass frequencies are the most robust
in the test, solid and straight-edged, and
manfully resist bloom­ing even when
parked too close to a rear wall. Never
Fours and fives worthy of attention
The Missions and the Tannoys are
­compulsory auditions, especially if
some of the deals we’ve seen are at all
representative. The self-consciously
grown-up Tannoys might prove too
pedestrian for some, and the Missions
problematic in terms of positioning, but
they both offer authentic hi-fi sound.
Five stars is the aim, though, and just
three recipients are found worthy of the
accolade. Wharfedale’s Diamond 9.1s
might be the priciest here, but their
refinement and gregariousness make
them a bargain. The Q Acoustics
1020s perform heroically, too, and are
priced to sell.
However, we know where our money
would go: take a moment to ensure
you don’t inflame the tweeter, and
Mordaunt-Short’s Avant 902is will
keep you entertained indefinitely.
This test proves again that it doesn’t
matter how modest your system – you
can make the very most of it without
spending an arm and a leg. There’s a
speaker for every eventuality here, and
the market is so fierce that even the
most timid of hagglers should be able to
cut a decent deal on their chosen model.
“Competition in the
speaker market is so
fierce that even the most
timid of hagglers should
be able to cut a deal”
Mind you, the deal would have to be
pretty special to make the Gale 4020s
into contenders. Lazy sound is a
cardinal sin, and the Gales don’t even
have the good grace to be particularly
inexpensive while they’re at it. If you’ve
got the space, the Eltax or Dali products
are much more convincing propositions
– but by no means the best around.
Extracted from full review
september 2006