Qu'est-ce que ça vaut?

Citation : Beyond The Subwoofer
But what about the rest of the spectrum from bass and low mid-range upward? Along with the previously mentioned Vifa BC25 tweeter, the Media Desk satellites contain a proprietary 100mm plastic-coned bass/mid-range driver. Integration is handled by a small passive filter network with a crossover frequency of 2kHz. This is a surprisingly low frequency, as the majority of speakers with similar dimensions and driver line-up typically cross over at something approaching an octave higher. Not only would it be normal to run the bass/mid-range driver to higher frequencies, but using the tweeter down to 2kHz brings its fundamental dome resonance (around 1.4kHz) close to the pass band.

Using a tweeter too close to its resonance risks unnecessarily high levels of harmonic distortion and reduces power handling. Media Desk can perhaps get away with this, however, because it is intended to be used for very nearfield desktop listening, and so will never be driven so hard that the tweeter gets into difficulty. The low crossover frequency brings advantages, though, as it improves off-axis response consistency. Again, bearing in mind the intended application for Media Desk, the engineering seems well thought out.

Of course, none of the engineering would matter a jot if the subjective performance of Media Desk was poor. And it's not, it's excellent. Set up with the satellites on a large desk and the subwoofer directly underneath (against the wall but not quite equidistant between the corners), Media Desk sounded good right from the start. It is revealing of mix problems right across a wide bandwidth, and it resolves low-level detail well without being bright of balance. In fact, and unusually these days, the balance is slightly warm, made more so by the acoustic reinforcement of the large desk surface — I'd be tempted to leave a subtle low mid-range shelf cut EQ plug-in running in my main output channel while mixing.

It is always a good sign when the tonal balance of a speaker system is easy to pin down, as it is with Media Desk. Speakers that, for example, seem to sound bright one minute and dull the next almost always have significant problems beyond tonal balance — a coloration that dominates, or an off-axis response that skews that balance depending on the listening position. There are no such problems with Media Desk. It just gets on with reproducing the signal accurately and consistently, to such an extent that very little more needs saying!

Media Desk is the ideal product for my present setup, necessarily squeezed as tight as possible into a home office. It offers extended bandwidth combined with pitch, timing, and tonal accuracy in a compact and, if not particularly stylish, at least good-looking package. I'm not entirely convinced by some aspects of its finish quality, but at this UK price perhaps that's being a little unfair.

There'll be no collection necessary for the review sample. It's staying here.