Some time ago, a friend asked me if I had any good suggestions for upgrading TV speakers.
As we all know, although TV screens are getting bigger and bigger, the sound quality is indeed not very good. In order to pursue better sound effects, the most direct solution is to configure additional speakers.
Generally speaking, there are basically three types of TV speakers:
1. The new house is decorated and it is not short of money. Then go directly to the multi-channel true surround sound speaker, which consists of the main speaker plus a number of surround satellite speakers. Used to watch movies that support Dolby Atmos, the effect is not very good~! However, since the location of each speaker and wiring must be planned in advance, it is not recommended to mess with the existing decoration later;
2. Soundbar is a relatively trouble-free overall solution for surround sound. plan. In particular, many sound bars already have multi-channel, multi-unit sound units, which can achieve effects similar to the surround panoramic speakers above through algorithms and wall reflections. But Soundbar is generally composed of several small-diameter, low-power sound units, so it's okay to watch movies, but it's almost fun to listen to songs;
3. Use traditional 2.0 HiFi active speakers As audiovisual speakers. Of course, when you have money, you can directly switch to passive speakers. Although it doesn't have the effect of surround sound, it is obviously better than the above two as HiFi, so I recently upgraded to Swan Hivi's M200MKIII speakers, and the result is certainly a "cool" one!
Swan Hivi needs no introduction. Among domestic speaker brands, hivi #039 has a very good reputation. M200 is the star model of hivi M series. In the early years of s, there were even two versions of M200 MK2 and MK3 existing at the same time, respectively catering to different levels of the market. It can be seen that M200 starts with hivi # 039 and is s M series. Even now, we can still see that there are two versions of M200 and M200MKIII with different pricing on the hivi official website. And I started with the relatively high-end M200MKIII.
In terms of speaker type, M200MKIII is a 5-inch 2-band active bookshelf speaker.
Several knowledge points are involved here. Let me start with a simple popular science:
1. Bookshelf speakers 3354 are opposite to floor-standing speakers. Because speakers are relatively small in size, they generally use woofer units below 6 inches, so they can be easily placed on desktops, bookshelves, and TV cabinets;
2. Divide the frequency by 2 -. In other words, in addition to 1-way frequency and 3-way frequency, the speaker also consists of two sound-generating units with different frequency bands. For the M200MKIII, it consists of a 28mm tweeter and a 5.25-inch mid-bass unit.
3. Active 3354 To put it simply, an active speaker is a built-in power amplifier circuit that can amplify the input analog audio signal and output it. Instead, it is a passive speaker that requires an amplifier to be connected in order to use it. For the HiFi circle, it has always been believed that only passive speakers are sufficient for HiFi, but for the general public, active speakers are more useful and they do not need to spend too much energy on training. In fact, they work better.
As a classic of hivi, M200MKIII was first born in the 1990s, during which it went through at least three large-scale iterations. But no matter how it is upgraded, its sloping front panel and the side panels of the black box made of light-colored logs are still retained, making the overall appearance not only weighty but also not rigid and conservative. In terms of appearance, it can be said to be quite good.
Of course, the appearance of the M200MKIII is not just for good looks. The real purpose of the sloping front and top panels is to reduce regular reflections of sound waves emanating from the back of the sound-producing unit inside the cabinet, thereby preventing the sound from becoming muddy and blurry. The side panels on both sides are used to further strengthen the overall structural strength of the speaker, absorb noise, and make the sound purer.
As mentioned before, M200MKIII adopts a 2-frequency architecture. The tweeter unit is a TR25 dome dynamic unit with a diameter of 28mm, and the diaphragm is a fiber spherical diaphragm imported from Germany. Similar Wheway dome tweeters are also widely used in Hivi's Diva series and F series. Although the M200MKIII does not use the metal diaphragm tweeter with better resolution or the ribbon tweeter of the M300, it is superior to its sweet and delicate treble and has the loose and natural texture of the dynamic unit, so the matching effect is more in line with its 2-way combination positioning.
As for the mid-low frequency, it is composed of a single 5.25-inch composite diaphragm unit. The middle part is a hardened dome, which is mainly responsible for the analysis of the mid-frequency part. Moreover, there is a wide elastic folding ring on the edge of the diaphragm, which helps to strengthen the elasticity of the diaphragm edge, thereby enhancing the low-frequency performance.
Many people may not have an accurate concept of the caliber of the unit, but in fact, to put it simply, we would say "the camera's bottom kill", and for the mobile sound unit, it also "circles the kill" .
For comparison, I originally used the same 2-way speaker, but the mid-low frequency unit only had a 4-inch diameter. Because the M200MKIII has a larger caliber in the mid- to low-frequency moving coil unit, it can drive more air under the same vibration of the diaphragm, which can bring more shocking sound effects.
In fact, for my living room of about 15 square meters, M200MKIII can already bring a clear sense of shock without increasing the volume. But my original 4-inch box was barely enough to read, until it was noisy. It can be said that the difference is very obvious.
I was a little confused before whether I should choose the 6.5-inch M300, but now I see the 5.25-inch M200MKIII. It seems I made the right choice!
To protect the two sound units, the M200MKIII is equipped with a removable dust cover. Some old recorders like to take off the dust cover before listening to music. They think it's real enough. But I'm not that picky. What's more, the dust cover made by Hivi is relatively transparent. Compared with AB, it has no obvious impact on the sound quality and can be installed on it with peace of mind.
As a home audio-visual entertainment speaker, there are three potentiometers on the right main box panel of M200MKIII for adjustment. The bass is used to control the bass level, the treble is used to control the treble level, and the remaining volume Used to control overall output level and volume.
The original intention of placing the adjustment knobs in the front is to facilitate the user's fine-tuning during use. Each knob has an obvious stepping feel. But mostly, and rarely adjusted. As for the analog encoder, I prefer to use the standard remote control of the M200MKIII to adjust it. It's more convenient after all.
It is worth mentioning that the volume knob itself also integrates the function of switching input lines, which can be switched in sequence by pressing it.
There is a multi-color status indicator light hidden in the lower right corner of the tweeter unit of the right main box of the M200MKIII, which facilitates users to distinguish the working status of the current speaker and input signal source. The indicator light is not very bright and usually not too obtrusive, but it would look better if it were directly made into a luminous LOGO like the M300.
As mentioned before, the sides of the M200MKIII are made of logs. The official statement is that it is hand-made birch logs, which have been cut, sanded, dried, sprayed, and polished to a thickness of more than 12mm. Its function is to strengthen the stability of the side of the cabinet, absorb the vibration of the cabinet, and ensure that when playing large dynamic music, the sound will not become muddy due to the vibration of the cabinet.
But even if these "metaphysics" are put aside, from a visual point of view, the side panel of the M200MKIII does add a lot to the overall appearance, and the warm and delicate wood texture is also hard to put down.
The main functional modules of M200MKIII are concentrated on the main box on the right, which is very simple compared to the secondary box on the left.
On the back panel of the speaker, at the top is the L-shaped inverter outlet at the back. Its main function is to use the vibration on the back of the mid- and low-frequency sound unit to guide and transmit it out of the box through the inverter. Generally speaking, there are front and rear inverting tubes, but the bass effect presented by the rear inverting tube will be better and clearer. The only drawback is that the box should not be too close to the wall, which requires the back of the speaker to be at least 30cm away from the wall. So the layout must be paid attention to.
On the back of the main box, except for the huge metal fins, all interfaces are divided into upper and lower parts. The upper part is various signal input interfaces. M200MKIII not only supports two pairs of universal RCA analog audio signal inputs, but also supports digital audio signal input based on coaxial interfaces and optical fiber interfaces, and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless audio signal input. The lower part is based on the power input and physical switches of the 8-word line. Between the two partitions is a 4-core power output interface with a self-locking interface, which is used to connect the main box and the auxiliary box.
The M200MKIII is also not sloppy in terms of accessories. Take the connecting cable used to connect the main and auxiliary boxes as an example. Not only is the iron wire thick, it is also wrapped with an anti-pull and anti-snatch woven protective net. More importantly, the interfaces at both ends adopt gold-plated technology, which reduces signal transmission loss and is strong and reliable.
In addition, M200MKIII also provides a 3.5mm to RCA connection cable and a square-to-square optical fiber transmission cable.
In addition, M200MKIII also comes standard with a remote control, which can not only control the speaker's switch and volume, but also switch input signal sources with one click.
When M200MKIII is used as an audio-visual entertainment speaker with a TV, the RCA interface is usually used for input. M200MKIII provides two sets of RCA interfaces, including RCA and coaxial, optical, and Bluetooth input interfaces, which all use independent input channels to avoid crosstalk between signals when multiple devices are connected at the same time.
However, it should be noted that the horizontal distance between the two speakers of M200MKIII cannot be less than 70cm. The 5-inch box itself is not small, so if it is used for a computer, the desktop must be large enough.
However, I prefer to use coaxial or optical fiber interfaces to directly input digital audio signals.
This is because the M200MKIII adopts a front and rear digital power amplifier architecture and a double BB combination. Speaking of BB, its most famous name is PCM1704, while M200MKIII uses a combination of PC5012 and PCM9211.
The former supports lossless conversion of 32Bit/384kHz high-definition analog signals, and the latter provides 24Bit/192kHz digital signal decoding. In addition, it is equipped with the TAS5611A digital amplification chip produced by TI, which can meet the total output power of 120W. At the same time, the distortion rate at low power output can even be maintained at 0.03%, reaching a certain level of HiFi level.
In terms of indicators, there is no doubt that PC5012 will be more advanced. However, considering that digital signal input is a major trend in the future, especially when equipped with HiFi equipment and audio and video output front-ends, digital signals will be more convenient and direct, so I directly eliminated RCA in the actual wiring.
As shown in the picture above, I can simply send the digital audio signal output by HiFi Hiby’s new R6 to M200MKIII through Typc-C USB to coaxial, which is more HiFi friendly.
As for connecting the computer and TV box, it’s more convenient. Direct connection via optical fiber is possible. Especially for TV boxes or other devices that support HDMI output, you only need to match an audio splitter to separate the digital audio signal from the HDMI and output it to the M200MKIII through photoelectric conversion, which avoids the input of the front-end signal during the signal input process. Signal interference for purer sound.
It must be said that the back interface layout of the M200MKIII is reasonable, and the lines for different purposes are clear and difficult to interfere with each other. This shows that hivi is making its products more perfect through gradual optimization.
In terms of sound, thanks to the improvement in unit caliber, the sound of M200MKIII feels more energetic, and the power of 60W 60W is indeed more powerful. Especially the sound of cannons in film and television works and the various drum beats in symphonies give people a sense of reality.
Although the M200MKIII is in the middle and lower panels, which is the key point of inferior frequency division than the M300, what is really great is its high-frequency performance, which is also Hivi’s consistent impression. So even though the M200MKIII is just a 2-way box, its high frequencies are still very subtle, slightly sweet and delicate. The treble details of string instruments and other instruments present a clear sense of lines and high information density, which sounds very enjoyable. Moreover, compared with headphones, the loose temperament of speakers is indeed more charming, especially when sitting in the "emperor's position", the sense of presence that hits you is difficult to match even with a headphone system worth 10,000 yuan!
But the most rare thing is that the M200 MKIIII is also advancing with the times. Compared with the old version, the new M200 MKIIII has updated the Bluetooth standard, supports the latest Bluetooth 5.0, and has built-in support for Qualcomm aptX high-definition Bluetooth audio encoding.
So when you want to listen to something, you only need to take out your mobile phone to open Apple Music or other online cloud music apps, connect M200MKIII and enjoy music easily.
The mid-frequency voice of the M200MKIII is relatively loose. Even in Bluetooth mode, its sound is still very full and solid, the image is clear, and it has an obvious out-of-the-box feel. Especially using a projection screen to enlarge the screen to more than 100 inches, the VIP-level audition experience that feels like being in the middle of the first row of a concert brings me an unprecedented sense of exhilaration!
As for the low frequencies, the M200MKIII does have a lot of low frequencies. After all, the M series is positioned for audio-visual entertainment, so it is normal to slightly reduce the triple frequency distribution. However, the low-frequency quality of M200MKIII is good, the flexibility is good, and the overall atmosphere is well enhanced, giving people a warm and sweet feeling. You won’t feel tired even after listening for a long time.
Lastly reveal a small detail. There is a small bronze medal on the back of the auxiliary box. This is the logo of each set of M200MKIII speakers. In addition to the signature of hivi chief sound designer Frank Hale, there is a unique serial number in the lower right corner. Isn't it amazing?
Finally, let us summarize the approach.
As a hivi M series, the performance of M200 MKIIII # 039 allows me to see hivi # 039’s understanding and sincerity towards the final consumer. As a 5-inch box priced under 2K, the hivi M200 MKIIII is indeed an excellent product in terms of configuration, rich input lines and final sound performance.
If you want to experience the feeling of HiFi while enjoying entertainment and audio and video, then hivi M200MKIII will be a good entry-level choice for you!
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