AUDIOPHILE SPEAKERS FOR $200 - YOU'RE JOKING? Admit it, we all love a deal. We like to save a little money, to know we're getting something special, maybe even something another person missed the opportunity to find. Well, I've got a deal for you! Most of you will think I'm joking after I tell you about this pair of $200 speakers we just started carrying. Yes, you read that right- $200 per pair. The company is Mordaunt Short and they obviously have acquired a speaker genius, or at least have mastered the art of Chinese manufacture. The new Carnival line ranges from $200 to $695. I know, we've had lots of cheap speakers before. Best Buy sells a whole load of crap in that price range. These are different. The model I want to tell you about is the Carnival 1. They come in black and a really classy finish called Calvados. The finish is superb. The joinery is precise and the cabinet feels very substantial. The drivers too look like proper stuff, not some of the cheapo units we've seen in other off-shore designs of the past. There's even a real phase plug on the woofer. Alright, enough about the finish. These little guys sound amazing. They're rated at 90Hz to 20Khz but you hardly notice any missing bass and certainly no missing scale or dynamics. Of the many many bookshelf speakers I've heard, this is the most convincing at fooling you into thinking it's a bigger speaker. They're only rated at 85dB sensitivity but I think that's a bit conservative even with the sealed box design. Subjectively they play closer to 87dB and I never find them wanting for volume, even with 30 watts. The frequency response is well-sorted and there are no noticeable flaws or accentuations, save for maybe a little lack of top end extension. This is completely irrelevant at the price, but it also endows the speakers with the ability to play very loud without distortion or fatigue. Yes, I've long held the conviction that it's impossible for a $200 speaker not to sound brash or bright but these are the first exception. Imaging too is spectacular. As small speakers tend to do, these disappear completely. Side to side imaging is superb and stable, while front to back is more than acceptable. Overall then we've got gorgeous looks, build and mechanics, neutral tonal balance, the ability to play at loud volumes and great imaging. But, are they musical? I've been playing everything from the Rolling Stones to Mozart with dirty rap and electronic in between. These are a blast to listen to. They're fun and accurate and they don't call attention to themselves. Competitors costing 10 times as much could learn a thing or two. The Mordaunt Short Carnival 1 reminds me of the Sonic Impact T-amp, but better. It's a deal of absurd proportions which sounds good, but goes further and actually makes sense for you, me and everybody to own. It's products like these that are going to woo lifestyle or entry level buyers who thought speakers had to be big and ugly to sound good. There are some very interesting things happening off-shore. Competition is heating up and prices are going down but most of all I think we're finally starting to see some genuine design improvements in relation to price. Making a speaker like the Carnival 1 five years ago would have been impossible.