evolution acoustics mm2 - review after 600 hours

Category: Speakers

I have overhauled my system considerably in the last 18 months. I sold my lamm 2.2 and wilson wp7 and now have the dartzeel amplifier and evolution acoustic mm2 speaker.

There are quite a few glowing reviews of the evolution acoustic mm3 speakers on the 'gon but very little has been said about its little brother the mm2. They are the exact same speaker but for the mm3 has an extra powered woofer that sits on top. The difference in price is $28,000 for the mm2 versus $38,000 for the mm3. The nice thing about the mm2 is that you can just order an extra woofer and install it on top of the existing mm2 and it will then be a mm3. So for a lot of people who have a smaller room or a smaller budget, the mm2 represents a great option.

I was reluctant to sell my wilson wp7 because I had heard other speakers in the 150k - 50k price range and had found little that was significantly better. I liked the Vandersteen 5A better in some respects but I liked the wilson wp7 better in other ways. I considered upgrading to the wilson maxx2 and heard them with both the vtl s-400 tube amp and the krell monoblocks in different listening rooms but found the maxx2 to be only slighly better than the wp7 and quite a lot more expensive. I could have bought the maxx2 new for $30,000 and felt it was still too expensive relative to my wp7 that I bought used for for $16,000. I had also heard the usher berellium speakers and the magico minis and felt that neither was much if at all better than the wilson wp7. The wp8 also seemed to be at best a slight improvement over the wp7.

I had trusted jonathan tinn over at chambers audio regarding the purchase of the dartzeel amplifier and he swore by the dartzeel amp with the new evolution speakers. The dartzeel were as he advertised the most real sounding amplifier I had ever heard. If you want the best of what tube and sold state sound like, the dartzeel sounds like the best of both worlds.

So I took a leap of faith and bought the evolution mm2 speakers not the mm3 because my budget could not take the bigger hit and besides jonathan assured me I could always upgrade to the mm3 with ease at a later date.

It was immediately obvious to me upon listening for the first hour on these speakers that the soundstage of these speakers blew the wilson speakers out of the water. The evolution mm2 has the advantage of a powered woofer and the ability to control the crossover, the treeter, the fullness of the bass, and the bass extension. While the wp7 and the maxx2 have impressive bass, it really feels like boys to men when compared to the bass of the mm2. It was also immediately apparent that the treble is much accurate on the mm2.

I now have a little over 600 hours on the mm2 speakers and the sound is now more seamless, the mid-range has blossomed, and the feeling of the recordings is so very "live"

I am not a wilson basher by any stretch of the imagination but I would analogize that the difference between the wp7/wp8 and the mm2 is similar to the difference between regular television and high definition.

I would also like to point out the mm2 were set up personally for my living room by evolution acoustics and jonathan tinn (thanks kevin especially). Speaker placement and room acoustic calculation is terribly important even in a dedicated listening room like mine which was designed and treated by a sound engineer.

I am aware that this speaker won't even be fully broken in until about 1000 hours and am looking forward to even greater listening enjoyment. I am planning to buy the evolution acoustic speaker cables to further enhance the experience. I highly recommend these speakers as well as the dartzeel amplifier to anyone who wants an incredible live soundstage for jazz and rock recordings.