Don Lindich Reviews the Swan M200MkII.

Don Lindich writes the Sound Advice blog and is a national syndicated writer whose opinions appear on a variety of publications.  Don recently had some kind words for the Swan M200MkII, the current iteration of the long-term M200 line of studio monitors priced inexpensively enough to offer premium desktop sound for the daily computer or other music source.

Don says:

“I was expecting something good, but they exceeded my expectations.  Midrange detail was extraordinary.  I listened to Broon’s Bane from Rush Exit: Stage Left from my iPod and the guitar sounded full, rich and natural, with every pluck of the string rendered gloriously, every resonance finding its way to your ears.

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“…the M200 MKII’s slanted cabinet design does its job to enhance stereo imaging as I experienced a precise, holographic soundstage that seemed like a 1/50th scale version of my Ohm Walsh 5000 speakers, presented in front of me on my desk instead of filling my room.   At close range with the volume set lower due to my proximity to the speakers, they sounded even more natural and effortless than they did when I first fired them up as whole-room speakers.

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“The beauty of the M200 MKII is they work so well in so many ways.  With their excellent sound, built-in power and the common RCA connection you can use them with lots of different components.  I hooked them up to an iPod in a spare bedroom in my home, placed them about 6 feet apart and listened to them from about ten feet away.  They sounded like a pair of fine quality bookshelf speakers hooked up to a clean-sounding receiver.

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“Connect a DVD player or CD player to the RCA inputs and you have a stereo with high-end sound, perfect for an office, a dorm room, bedroom, a garage, anywhere you may want to enjoy good sound.   You could even connect them to the output of a phono preamp and use them with a turntable.  Just be sure to use a long RCA cable and locate the turntable some distance from the speakers.

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“With the M200 MKII’s fine sound quality, even if they didn’t have built-in amplification they would be a bargain at the price.  Given they are essentially an audio system out of the box, the value equation becomes extremely compelling.”