Posted by Duke on December 15, 2005 at 17:18:23:
Roger West told me that Sound Lab will be displaying a new version of the M-1, called the M-1PX, at CES in January. The M-1PX is essentially a bobbed version of the Majestic, with the same 45-degree panel geometry, but a mere 6.7 feet tall instead of nearly 9 feet tall. Roger said it was okay for me to post this.
The narrower 45-degree radiation pattern of the Majestic/M-1PX speakers gives a 6 dB higher efficiency due to greater energy density, at the expense of sweet spot width. I presume that in some room geometries this won't matter, and in some it will. While I believe that all else being equal that 90-degree pattern may well be ideal, the 6 dB advantage of the new panels means that all else is not equal. I believe the improved liveliness is worthwhile. The 45-degree panels give you more of a front-of-the-hall type immediacy, while the 90-degree panels more of a middle-of-the-hall richness.
I recently heard a pair of Majestics and was mighty impressed. A couple of days ago I lost my beautiful curly maple A-1s (with factory hotrod backplates) to a fire, so when I'm in a position to replace them my inclination is to go with the M-1PX rather than a standard 90-degree radiation version. I'll probably opt for the hotrod backplates again (hotrod version = Jensen capacitors, Madisound Sledgehammer inductor, Vishay thick film resistors).
Duke