While this is a good start, the sound isn’t entirely perfect. Rather unusually, this system has a crossover point between the subwoofer and the satellites of between 250 and 300Hz, a figure that is tweakable via the subwoofer. This is because by their very nature DML speakers don’t go that deep. What this means in practice is that the subwoofer has to do rather more work than it does in most sub/sat systems, where the crossover point goes as low as 80Hz. This obviously puts a lot of emphasis on this little black box’s performance, and while it generally comes up trumps, it is rather more ‘visible’ in the sound than we would perhaps like it to be.
This is particularly noticeable with male voices on movie soundtracks, where you get the dual impression of some of the dialogue coming out of the centre speaker, but the weight and body of the voice is coming from elsewhere. The simplest way round it is to put the subwoofer dead centre in between the three front speakers – where most of the deep sound will come from. But this isn’t always possible, and it still doesn’t completely solve the problem.
It’s a shame, because the subwoofer is actually pretty good, and only really struggles when called upon to play music, where a lot of information appears around the area where traditional speakers would still be working. Still, even in stereo – with the subwoofer on – this system makes a decent fist of playing a tune. But these are minor points considering it’s designed as an easy-to-use home cinema system.
Conclusion
Mission’s M-Cube system is without doubt the best application of DML – or NXT – speaker technology we have yet encountered. It works well in small or medium rooms, offers great surround sound with movies and passable tunes with music. A couple of niggles regarding imaging aside, it’s well worth the money.
Specifications:
Price: £1,199
Website: www.mission.co.uk
Size (WxHxD): Satellites: 9x9x9cm; Subwoofer: 32x32x32mm
Weight: Satellites: 1.02kg ; subwoofer: 16kg
Drivers: Satellites: DML; Subwoofer: 2x200mm drivers
Frequency response (+/- 6dB): 280Hz-30KHz
Sensitivity (2,8V/1 m): 85db
Nominal impedance: 8 ohms compatible, 4 ohms minimum
Maximal power handling: 150W
Plus points:
This neat and compact system works incredibly well in smallish rooms, thanks to the user-friendly nature of the DML technology satellite speakers
Minus points:
Because the crossover point is high at around 250Hz, the subwoofer doesn’t quite disappear in the way we’re used to with sub/sat systems
