Mordaunt Short MS812 Crossover Advice

[colin.hepburn]

Hi All
Just got a very nice matched pair of Mordaunt Short MS812 stand mounts
A bit unusual looking with their 8X5 inch elliptical bass/mid drivers and 1 inch metal golddome tweeters rear Ported
On my sand filled Atacama SE 24 Stands they sound very nice from bottom to top very smooth and detailed treble with open midrange and bass is tight again detailed and low with great pace and speed and rhythm toped of with a slightly warm in character tone a very involving speaker with my JE .EL34/KT66.Single ended Amp
Spec
Impedance - 8 ohms, Sensitivity - 90dB,55Hz-22 KHz
I am hoping with the 90db that they will work well with lower power SE amps in my room there’s nothing on the net about them if anyone has a any detailed on them or has a hi fi mag review I would interested to know
Pics



And Hardwired Xover the inductor are not marked with their values so maybe difficult the upgrade

[john & Jake the dog]

hi colin,only this, thus far.

Mordaunt Short MS 812, 814, 815, 816 & 817 hoped to resurrect EMI 'Surround Sounds', liquid cooled aluminum dome tweeters to 22KHz, lowest note Frequency Response varies with cabinet size, double woofer MS 817, 3-way tall cabinet 30Hz, 91dB SPL, 1w/1m. Single woofer 3-way (above) 35Hz, 90dB, 2-way floor stander 45Hz, 89dB etc. 8 ohms impedance. Owners claim sounds as good as looks, but they bankrupted the company, a bold attempt to market EMI style ellipticals in the 1990s, available at slashed prices along with GLL Imagio, many were impressed with the value for money at around a quarter of the real price. Audio dealers scoffed at the MS 815 series as 'not made to the standards of original EMI'




Review 1 of 1
Summary:
They look and sound amazing. You are not able to mess them with the others. Individual style!Eleptical mid/bass driver,black box, chery veneer around the drivers. The sens. is 90db, height- 42 cm, weight- 7kg/!/, bi-wire... five years warranty ... anything else!? You do not need to put them near the wall- the bass is strong enough and well tuned.
But the real great advantage is the midband- just perfect and natural. Involving!
I use them with amp Sony TA FA3ES, Pioneer PD S550, Pioneer CT S505S, cables QED Quodos.

[colin.hepburn]

Hi John
Thanks for your info on the MS812 series
I can confirm that the MS812 I have do in fact sound as good as they look I need to experiment with placement some more and maybe shorter stands as I feel the 24inch one I have are bit too tall I will have to dig out my old 90s hi fi mags see if I can find any reviews on them there’s nothing much on the net about them which I find a bit strange

[colin.hepburn]

I was wondering if Peter Comeau had anything to do with the Mordaunt Short MS812

[colin.hepburn]

Originally Posted by colin.hepburn

Hi All
Just got a very nice matched pair of Mordaunt Short MS812 stand mounts
A bit unusual looking with their 8X5 inch elliptical bass/mid drivers and 1 inch metal golddome tweeters rear Ported
On my sand filled Atacama SE 24 Stands they sound very nice from bottom to top very smooth and detailed treble with open midrange and bass is tight again detailed and low with great pace and speed and rhythm toped of with a slightly warm in character tone a very involving speaker with my JE .EL34/KT66.Single ended Amp
Spec
Impedance - 8 ohms, Sensitivity - 90dB,55Hz-22 KHz
I am hoping with the 90db that they will work well with lower power SE amps in my room there’s nothing on the net about them if anyone has a any detailed on them or has a hi fi mag review I would interested to know
Pics



And Hardwired Xover the inductor are not marked with their values so maybe difficult the upgrade

Now I am using the Mordaunt Short MS812 again
I am thinking to upgrade the Caps and remove the Xover from the speakers
The Xover is a 6db first order I think
So all I can do is change the caps to something better
As you can see from the image it has two different value caps wired in parallel a 1.8uf and a 1.2uf 160v to make a 3uf

My Question is should I still use two cap of same value or just one with a value of 3uf I am sure I read somewhere that using two caps sounds better than one any ideas on this thanks

[Phil Y]

Hello Colin,
In theory 2 smaller caps will have less inductance and therefore better high frequencies but 3uF is such a low value that I would be surprised if you would be able to tell any difference. I'm not sure I have ever seen a 3u cap, it's not a preferred value. You may have to buy 2 whether you want to or not!

Phil.

[colin.hepburn]

Originally Posted by Phil Y

Hello Colin,
In theory 2 smaller caps will have less inductance and therefore better high frequencies but 3uF is such a low value that I would be surprised if you would be able to tell any difference. I'm not sure I have ever seen a 3u cap, it's not a preferred value. You may have to buy 2 whether you want to or not!

Phil.

Hi Phil
Yep 3uf is not a standard value i don’t think nore is 1.8uf maybe a problem getting ether of them

[Desmodromic]

Might I suggest the 3uF ClarityCap ESA from Falcon Acoustics

http://www.falconacoustics.co.uk/alc...capacitor.html

Falcon seem to have some 'unusual' values and they offer a great close tolerance matching service too. I fitted these in my B&W's and they sound pretty good. Not a bad price either.

[colin.hepburn]

Originally Posted by Desmodromic

Might I suggest the 3uF ClarityCap ESA from Falcon Acoustics

http://www.falconacoustics.co.uk/alc...capacitor.html

Falcon seem to have some 'unusual' values and they offer a great close tolerance matching service too. I fitted these in my B&W's and they sound pretty good. Not a bad price either.

Aha yes thanks Graeme
I had forgotten about this company

[Greg.]

Very good suggestion, Desmo. Falcon supply caps of values outside of standard ranges to meet crossover needs and have them specially manufactured. I've just ordered a pair of 8uF 1% tolerance when closest standard value would be 8.2uF, but I want to replace the original value. Furthermore, at the moment, these caps from Falcon are free shipping