Loudspeakers

Competing in the 'slimline' floorstander bracket, MA's Bronze 200 employs the brand's smallest C-CAM mid/bass driver, a pair of these 140mm units enabling a narrow 166mm-wide baffle. (The 231mm-wide Bronze 100 standmount [HFN Aug '20] employs a single 200mm C-CAM unit.) The loudspeaker's rated 88dB sensitivity was met on test at 88.5dB just as the specified minimum 4.4ohm impedance was confirmed at 4.35ohm/219Hz, although this implies a 6ohm rather than 8ohm nominal value. The largest swings in impedance phase are also relatively modest at –36°/100Hz and +38°/27Hz, with a mild 'worse-case' of 5.55ohm/–24° at 130Hz not proving especially burdensome for any likely partnering integrated.

The forward response shows a series of undulations between 500-1.8kHz and 7.5kHz-20kHz – the former also revealed as resonances on the CSD waterfall [see Graph 2] – but the trend is inherently 'flat' so the response error is a mere ±1.4dB (200Hz-20kHz) and the pair matching a tight ±0.7dB [see Graph 1, below]. Fitting the grille [blue trace] causes a slight disruption in presence/treble output but there's no escaping the 'C-CAM Gold Dome' tweeter resonance at 29kHz/+12dB [pink shaded region, Graph 1], even if the CSD waterfall [Graph 2] indicates this is swiftly quelled. The diffraction-corrected nearfield measurement [green area, Graph 1] suggests a bass extension of 40Hz (–6dB re. 200Hz) – close to ideal for two 110mm-effective diameter drivers, reflex-loaded at ~43Hz. However, the rifled port output also exposed two box/pipe modes at 180Hz and 800Hz, the latter, again, reflected on the response and waterfall plots. PM