Mordaunt-Short has long been known, first and foremost, for its high-value budget loudspeakers, a tradition that current owners Audio Partnership has rigorously maintained.

However, developing an upmarket 'flagship' range makes good sense, as it provides a technology test bed for new ideas that can subsequently 'trickle down' into more affordable models.

This £4,000 per pair Performance 6 Limited Edition is a subtly revised variation on the Performance 6 theme introduced in 2004. Although this LE version carries a £500
price premium, the two models look visually identical, apart from the colour, which is only available in high-gloss 'Midnight Black' (as distinct from 'Granite Grey' and 'Brilliant Silver').

Top quality redesign

The similarities might be obvious - the same elegantly shaped enclosure, the same metal diaphragm drivers operating in the same three-way, four-driver configuration.

The differences with this LE variation are exclusively under the skin, specifically in the crossover network and enclosure - two areas where increasing refinement has brought substantial gains for a number of brands in recent years.

Improved crossover network performance through careful selection of audiophile-oriented components, has been having a major influence on upgrading loudspeaker sound quality.

Recognising this, the Performance 6 LE's network has been redesigned around a new printed circuit board, using Mordaunt-Short's established DVP (dual value parallel) capacitor technique with high-quality polypropylene types from noted specialist ClarityCap.

Elegant styling

"Wood is not an engineering material", was a catch phrase used when Mordaunt-Short first launched the Performance 6, to stress the several advantages that accrue through moulding an enclosure from a polymer resin.

It's a fair point, as wood - even when 'mashed-up' into sawdust and then bonded together again with wax and resin as MDF - does have certain limitations, mostly because it's normally formed into flat sheets of constant thickness.

And although it's true that MDF is much more machinable than chipboard or plywood, there's no denying that a moulded monocoque type structure offers several potential advantages.

The most obvious of these is the irregular and exceptionally elegant shape. All surfaces are curved, and the whole thing is strongly tapered so that it's slim and very shallow at the top, but slightly wider and considerably deeper down at the base.

Curved surfaces are much more rigid than flat ones and also ensure that internal reflections are well scattered. They also ensure that tightly focused standing waves aren't created.

Moulding allows for much more complex shapes inside and Mordaunt-Short has taken full advantage. The drive units are actually bolted to rods that extend forwards from the thick rear spine of the enclosure, while strategic ribs reinforce the sides.

Inside the speaker system

For this LE version, the polymer resin has been re-formulated to give better performance, and internal details refined to improve the bass. Grilles are supplied to cover each driver individually, but stickers suggest it's better if they're not used. Only the coarse mesh protecting the tweeter is a permanent fixture.

This a full three-way design, featuring four metal-diaphragm drive units arrayed up the front above a flared reflex port. The twin 165mm bass units have M-S's familiar silver dished metal diaphragms, 120mm in diameter with little radial stiffening ribs near the periphery. The midrange unit looks like a smaller version, though its 75mm diaphragm is rib-free and driven with help from compact neodymium magnets.