Micca Motion Series MB42 Bookshelf Speakers

These speakers are no longer recomended, the version with a real crossover is much better. Check that review out over here.



If you just want to read this review no one is stopping you. It's old but there is some stuff here that is mildly entertaining.

Setup in 12.5ft x 16ft living room on the long wall, on top of the subwoofers with some books added underneath to get the height correct. Each one is powered by a Kinergetics KBA75 Class A in bridged mode, source is a squeezebox feeding digital into the DEQX that acts as the DAC and preamp. I set the DEQX to have two profiles, one for pass through with no subs, and the other with the subs enabled and crossed over at 100Hz.

Ringing at top end, great tone, putting 85dB on my couch, but it took a good bit of power to do it. Bass is full and rounded.

Distortion in tweeter is noticeable, but these sound like entry level speakers should.

Removing toe-in helps with top end and makes imaging really open up. Getting really good dispersion from the little 3/4 inch dome.

A subwoofer changes the game, while there is still a hiss on the top end from every s, these speakers sound like a beautiful deep voice with a horrible lisp.

Very dark tone, with sparky top sizzle. Roll off at 60hz is epic, but it does 60 with authority thanks to the port. Port noise is not audible even at full excursion crazy mode, the only thing you hear from the back is a little 60hz hmm that plays along with the music. It's crazy, but these do not need a sub

Very much like having the midrange on a three way speaker turned off. These guys are missing something and its aggravating me because so many other things are right with this speaker.

These speakers take to being corrected like a fish does to water. Really nice flat response, the DEQX saves the day again.

I'm finding that I miss the sound of the uncorrected speaker, flat is not fun, or maybe these things have infected my ears.

These are not $2000 speakers, not that i was expecting them to be, but I use the same measuring stick for everything, and the cheapness is immediate and obvious with the top end sizzle and muted midrange, but these speakers have a color that is hypnotic. They add body and weight to vocals and smear the imaging in a romantic and soothing manner that will put you to sleep like a warm blanket. If you are strapped for cash, and need a way to relax after a tough day, pick up a pair of these for the cost of a couple of cases of beer.

If you want your digital files to have the sound of some vintage big horn speakers that should have had the caps changed on them ten years ago with a big tube amp in similar bad shape, but still kicking and really fancy phono setup that doesn't hiss or pop, this is your speaker.

Pantha du Prince's Elements Of Light Album is the perfect sound track to these speakers.

If you are listening to music with an 80s high hat you are not going to have a good time.

These are a guilty pleasure. Yummy at times, but not the way the music was meant to sound. Highly recommended for bedroom setups or anywhere that you can safely indulge in narcolepsy. Near field or desktop, you will need to EQ the bass down a good bit or its just going to be a mess. These are musical speakers, I imagine listening to television would be a little strange with these given the tone.

These are not good speakers, in fact they are kind of shit. The hole in the midrange and the screeching highs are testament to that and stumbling on a track that they fall apart on, about half of my regular line up, gives the audible effect of being shrunken. The one thing that these do right is off axis, they have a very smooth off axis sound. Most, if not all, listening is done off axis to varying degrees and it's usually over looked when eyeballing a spec sheet.

Running on board sound to 1/8 inch stereo jack to JVC 1028V Receiver that is an "Advanced Super-A" amp that sounds like an above average A/B amp putting out about 58 watts per channel out of a claimed 120 watts. Speakers are setup on books about 7 inches off of the desktop and pulled out 18 inches from the back wall. The room is 8 ft x 11ft setup on the short wall.

Good sound, but too much correction, sounds off, foobar just can't pull off what an outboard parametric EQ can.

Adjusted again to get it right, sounds flat, looks like the scale is off on foobar as a comparison is just a smashed version of the DEQX correction.

Adjusted again to stop fighting the speakers and indulge a little bit in that warmth.

These speakers corrected with just the simple FooBar EQ sound great. You can still hear the distortion of the cheap drivers, but a good bit of that is hidden behind the warm tone. Corrected with the EQ they still sound nice and warm, but the have none of the issues that will make half of your music sound like total shit. They can be listened to without EQ, it's just not very good, but it's not horrible. Extension in this small room feel like more than enough, I'm not wanting for a sub at all which is crazy for a little 4 inch driver.





I can recommend these highly for the budget audiophile on a desktop as long as you EQ them. The FIR based EQ in foobar is the best I've run into and does a great job of cleaning these up. My EQ above is still very warm and the bass can get a little boomy if you don't adjust it for the room. The ringing of the tweeter is still going to be there, but it's not bad.. and at $50 you won't do better.

For your average consumer, they are going to love these things.. they are tiny and make tons of bass!

Updated 6/10/2013: DSP correction file

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