Adrian.

 

I have a pair of very small Denon speakers made by Mission. They came off a Denon midi system.

 

They look like this:

 

http://www.denon.co.uk/site/frames_main.php?main=prod&ver=&MID=3&sub=3&fill=3&action=detail&Pid=209 - http://www.denon.co.uk/site/frames_main.php?main=prod&ver=&MID=3&sub=3&fill=3&action=detail&Pid=209 &

 

They have a rear port and I had until recently been using them on my computer. However, last week when I finally figured that the cross overs in my main speakers had died, I pressed them into service on my main system. They don't have a huge amount of bass in comparison to my TDL RTL2 but they sound surprisingly OK. It doesn't seem to matter where they are positioned.

 

The link above includes a What Hifi review of the whole system.

 

Dave

 

Those are the speakers made by Mission I was trying to remember!, sadly not made any more. I shall look out for some/search the web etc. Colour is right too !!

 

Adrian.

 

Oh, I almost forgot to mention....

 

I have a pair of Royd Sintras in my garage, sitting unused.

 

They are 7 litre minatures, finished in black real wood veneer. Again rear ported and can be sited more or less anywhere but they have a leanish sound and are happy near walls.  Very heavy though: mass loaded with cast iron or something. Need a very strong shelf...

 

A quick look on evilbay shows results for Mission/Denon  SCM5K, SCM10K, SCM51 etc

 

Never heard of the Royds, and not a lot of info apart from being introduced 1990. Sounds like postage would be more than value and how big is 7 litres?

 

I'll keep looking on evilbay for more SCM's..................................

 

Adrian.

 

Size wise brilliant ( tiny ) and have forward firing bass port ( what bass? ). So cosmetically they are great, sound wise they are adequate But they are generally for backgound or when I'm BBQ ing with the french doors open , then when full of red vino everything is rosey anyway

 

The wife likes the "look" of them, so thats OK !

 

Dave, do you still use the Pink Triangle? I remember them going down a storm several years ago, with battery power supply if I remember correctly. Never listened to one though!

 

Adrian.  

 

I completely agree with Graham, even though I suggested China some three years ago or so. Graham was whining about the costs of production, and being in the same business (in general) as he is, I knew what it meant.

 

Contracting the actual manufacture out does have its benefits: for one, you are rid of the nitty gritty and your stuff costs less, and for another, one could make the jump to SMD, thus reducing size and leads, something you are always looking for in audio.

 

But it does have some serious drawbacks as well. One is that you have to depend on somebody else for your manufacture, and if he should fall, you fall with him. Another is that the Chinese connections functions with large series only, so people like Graham and myself are almost automatically barred from the $40K or 10,000 pcs barrier. And the last is that in SMD, your choice of high quality components shrinks drastically; no problem with common parts, but anything a bit out of the ordinary could become a serious problem. Also, repairing SMD mounted circtuit boards is not something I'd recommend to anyone.

 

Which is why Graham and I love our old style true hole boards. I second his view that sooner or later, outsourcing one's production will come back like a boomerang at you, as has been so aptly demonstrated by many an electronics giant at some point. For example, ON Semiconductors/Motorola now manufacture around 90% of their portfolio outside the USA, keeping local only military tech. Some years ago, their power transistors, which I for one swear by, started showing problems they never had before, not even when introduced and still with infancy woes; the problem was eventually tracked down to an overzealous local manfacturing plant exec in Mexico, who decided some parts of the manufacturing process could be skipped to return greater savings figures and lower price per item to his bosses in the US.

 

Knowing this, small potatoes people like Graham and myself, who just love to sleep tight every night, prefer to keep very tight reins over our own, local, manufacturing.