British loudspeaker maker Harbeth will soon be unveiling an update to their hallowed Monitor 40 loudspeaker.

 

Loudspeaker design owes much to the work done at the BBC back in the day, and every audiophile is familiar with the term "BBC dip". When it comes to that tradition, no loudspeaker makers have a more undisputed BBC pedigree than Rogers, Spendor and Harbeth.  Harbeth was founded in 1977 by  a senior BBC research engineer.  Harbeth's largest customer in the UK is the BBC, if that says anything about their loudspeakers' faithfulness to that tradition. The Monitor 40.1 is to be shown at this January's CES in Las Vegas. The new flagship Harbeth's development was spurred by the discontinuation of the previous bass driver. The new 40.1 is said to be optimized for livelier reproduction in people's home environments, instead of the dry acoustics of the studio. No specifications on the freshened Monitor 40.1 at this time.

 

The original Monitor 40 was designed as a replacement for the legendary LS5/8, which died with Rogers. The Rogers name has been resurrected by a Chinese firm, but none of the loudspeakers have been produced in the UK since 1998.

AV123 is developing two new line source loudspeakers, the Focus LS6 and Focus LS9.

 

Pre-orders are being taken on these two new loudspeakers, and we do have some details for you. The Focus LS6 is a 2 way, 14 driver line source consisting of six customized Bohlender Graebener midrange/tweeter panels coupled with eight proprietary 6.5" XBL2 woofers. The Focus LS9 sports nine Bohlender Graebener midrange/tweeter panels mated to twelve of the custom 6.5" XBL2 woofers. The units will be assembled in Colorado, and will be available in rosewood, palisander natural satin, palisander rosa satin, moho natural satin, cherry and ebony. Pricing on the standard finish models is $4495 for th LS6 and $5995 for the LS9. In addition the two models will be available in piano black, piano rosewood, and piano bird's eye maple, for an additional $400 on the LS6 and $500 on the LS9.

 

No specifications or photos of finished models as yet.

British loudspeaker stalwart Mission is about to take the wraps off their new 79 series of loudspeakers.

 

The 79 Series will be poised just below their high end Elegante line. The line will be wrapped in veneer as opposed to the vinyl clad their lesser lines receive. While sporting a more conventional look than the Elegante line, the 79 series does feature sleek, curved side panels on the enclosures. Also featured is Mission's trademark Inverted Driver Geometry (IDG), which places the tweeter below the midbass driver. The tweeters are mounted in a shallow waveguide, which may make for sound that is too forward for some, but likely gives the 79 Series the same prowess at home theater and harder music that it's predecessors enjoyed. The line consists of two floorstanding models, two bookshelf models, a center channel, a surround unit and a subwoofer.

 

Pricing is unknown at this time. As far as I know Mission, who is handled by IAG along with Quad and Wharfedale, does not have a distributor in the United States at this time. The 79 Series will be available in high gloss piano black and high gloss rosewood finishes.

British loudspeaker maker ProAc has revealed two additions to their Response loudspeaker line.

 

The Resonse TriTower is a slim floorstanding loudspeaker that stands 43" tall. Only 5.5" wide, the TriTower features three 4.5" aluminum woofers mated with a 4.5" midrange and 1" silk dome tweeter. ProAc claims the 4 ohm 90dB TriTower's frequency response covers 35-30,000Hz.

 

The Response D Two bookshelf model is a more conventional 8 ohm 88.5 dB design, utilizing a 6.5" woofer and a 1" silk dome tweeter. The woofer appears to be a Seas Excel unit, but with a glass fiber cone instead of aluminum. ProAc claims 30-30,000Hz response from the 17" tall bookshelf.

 

No pricing details at this time, the two models are available in standard ProAc maple, cherry, black ash and mahogany, with the Response D Two adding the options of ebony and bird's eye maple.