Loudspeakers

The cabinet is exceptionally well finished in a flawless real wood veneer and a wide range of finishes is available at extra cost. The three drive units are configured as a two-and-a-half way design, with crossover points at 500Hz and 2.25kHz. Handling the bass end of the spectrum is a 7in driver with rubber surround and a GamuT hand-treated, wood fibre cone. The 7in bass/midrange driver is again based around a hand-treated cone, but this time with the addition of ‘slices’ into the material which are then filled with damping glue. This is claimed to control cone breakup.

The Scan-Speak Revelator tweeter is a double ring radiator design rather than a true dome. Its front spike is is an integral part of the design, shaped to aid dispersion and clamp the centre of the dome.

GamuT calls its crossover circuit a ‘Non Resonant Linked Impulse’ solution controlling interactions between drivers, cabinet and the circuitry itself.

The speakers are wired internally with ‘WormHole Signature’ cabling, another GamuT development comprising individually insulated conductors surrounded by a special woven dielectric, all inside a second cover with copper threads within it. GamuT claims that this ‘permits the effective termination of unwanted stored energy, thus optimising impulse behaviour’.

To round the package off, a smart grille appears to locate on just two holes in the cabinet but it is further stabilised using magnets that sit on the drive unit fixings. Finally, the manual supplied covers the usual connection, running-in and general care aspects, and also includes a guide to optimal positioning of the speakers within the listening environment.

A rounded view

The GamuTs offer an easy sense of integration from low bass to high treble and the outputs of the drive units coalesce to offer a beautiful performance ‘in the round’.

A measured dip in output across the upper midband is something that one gradually becomes aware of, but in a strange way it can work to the M5s’ advantage. With Diana Krall’s vocals on When I look In Your Eyes CD [GRP] the performance was pulled back a little – but the overall result was to seat Miss Krall at her rightful position, beside her piano.

Ultimately the GamuTs do not seek to impress by any sense of false showmanship but are more than capable of generating a very open and capacious soundstage. Their low end is deep, tuneful and big-hearted – spinning ‘The Man Who Sold The World’ from Nirvana’s Unplugged LP [Geffen] gave a bass drum that was as vivid as we have ever heard it; each strike was firm and taut but without any sense of overhang.

The gently strummed electric guitar that begins Jeff Buckley’s ‘So Real’ from his Grace LP [Simply Vinyl] had a menacing intent to it and Buckley’s vocals themselves sounded stunningly heartfelt. And when the track moved up a gear, the M5s exhibited no sense of strain or compression.

Verdict

These M’inenT M5 loudspeakers are a very welcome addition to the UK market. They require some care in equipment matching to give of their best but, once configured optimally, offer a refined and musically adept alternative to the mainstream.

Originally published in the 2013 Yearbook