I have been a fairly regular reader of WHF for a couple of
years now. I appreciate its accessibility vs. other mags that preach the
outrageous. Anyways, I got myself a WHF five star system about 4 years ago
consisting of the following:

Cambridge Audio 640A
Cambridge Audio 640C
Mordaunt Short Declaration 914
QED Silver Spiral interconnects
QED Silver Anniversary speaker cables (biwire)

I have to admit the system gave me years of enjoyment, much
better than computer audio, car audio and the like. I did, however, get the
upgrade bug a little while back and I wanted something significantly better. I
had heard a couple of systems available with some of my friends which I really
liked which became my reference for ‘high end’

Krell SACD Standard, 280
pre, 2250 power, Martin Logan Summits – A little dry but with beautiful
clarity, dynamics and imaging

Pass Labs amps, Sonus Faber Stradivaris – Very sweet,
instruments would hang in the air, and it had grunt when called for

Carver Amps married with Totem Forest speakers – Wow, what immediacy.
Brilliant midrange and imaging

A high end Tannoy setup at my friends studio – Sublime speed
and immediacy, very in ur face

Arcam A70, matching CDP and KEF IQ9 – Not impressed, didn’t feel
it was a worthy upgrade from the Cambridge setup

Mid Fi Marantz / KEF setup – Not impressed, no better in my
opinion than my current setup

I wanted to get the real high end deal, but without emptying
my bank. Anyways, I’ve been hearing and reading a lot about AVI ADM9’s and
other active speakers. I explored all sorts of active options including
Genelecs, JM Labs Twin 6be’s, PMC actives, ATC actives and then I came across
an American brand known as M Audio. They have recently launched an interesting
product known as the EX66. I noticed they reviewed very well in Sound on Sound
(one of the big pro magazines) and that it was priced very reasonably. I just
went ahead and got myself a pair…

Lemme just shoot some specs your way:
Built in DAC, mono pre amp and 2 x 100 watt power amps in
each speaker
36 hertz to 20+ KHZ frequency
Max SPL of 115 decibels
Built in DSP to counter cabinet resonance
Analogue volume control
Controls for adjusting treble, midrange and bass though a DSP system
2 sets of digital inputs (SPDIF and AES), 2 sets of analogue inputs (TRS and balanced)

Then I did something awful, I placed them ontop of my Mordaunt Short 914’s and wired them up with Linn Analogue interconnects connected to the digital outs on my CA CDP! At first I found the sound very open and dynamic, but very stark and jarring. I trimmed the treble 2 decibels, boosted the midrange 2 decibels, and set my bass to half space. Then they really started to sing.


Treble – extremely dynamic, very open and pleasant as long you don’t toe them in. Never sweet, but pleasant
Midrange – very alive, brilliant imaging with great depth and outstanding instrument separation without sounding clinical
Bass – Awesome! It gave me a huge amount more extension than my old setup was capable of, was much faster and much more accurate
Dynamics – Fantastic dynamics, even at very low volume. I have an SPL meter with me and have witnessed the SPL effortlessly jump up from 94 decibels to 102 decibels in my listening position which is 4m away from the speakers. That too in the 10 o clock position
Imaging – I feel its comparable to the Krell / Martin Logan setup. Brilliantly executed but not overdone
Speed – This system is lightning quick, my old system timed very badly in comparison

I’m gonna replace my Linn interconnects with a pair of proper QED digital cables and am getting myself some proper stands (probably Dynaudio). If its that good when not properly setup, I shudder to think how good it will be when properly setup.


The only niggle I have with the system is its user friendliness, the volume controls are on the back of each speaker, and each speaker has its own volume control which can be a real pain. Just one more piece of advice… Never listen to anything with high frequency junk, these speakers will severely punish you with their dynamic treble.


Just wanted to share my experiences…