MAD-Max: A Pro Monitor with an Audiophile Pedigree

by The Audio Beat | June 2, 2015

here is much more than meets the eye with the Modern Audio Design MAD-Max ($6500/pair), a fully powered monitor designed for both studio and audiophile use. The speaker packs a great deal of technology into a small package along with an audiophile lineage that comes from the company's principals: Richard Gerberg of Modern Audio, longtime US distributor of ProAc loudspeakers; and Graeme Bridge, former design engineer for ProAc in the UK.

The MAD-Max's cabinet employs a combination of materials: MDF of differing thickness for the cabinet proper and sheets of bituminous material for internal damping. The speaker combines a ferrofluid-cooled soft-dome tweeter and a special midrange/bass driver whose cone is fashioned from Dynaweave, a gel-spun multifilament fiber with a high stiffness-to-damping ratio. This leads to a cone that, according to the company, "is incredibly light yet retains the pistonic effect of a much thicker and heavier cone without the stored energy that can blur the reproduction of low and midrange frequencies." Each cone is created under high vacuum pressure and temperature, then die cut. The woofer also employs a unique magnet system called NeoBase, which allows rearward sound waves to pass by the magnet system, virtually eliminating this source of coloration.

As for power, the MAD-Max uses Dual 180W switching N-channel MOSFET amplifiers, one per driver, incorporating overcurrent, overvoltage and DC protection. Crossover filtering is accomplished by a 28-/56-bit, 50-MIPS digital audio processor. All processing is done in full 56-bit mode. The crossover point is 3kHz.

Inputs connections are via XLR. Each speaker measures 17"H x 8 1/2"W x 11 3/4"D and weighs 42 pounds. Various finishes are available.