Monitor Audio Hyphn Loudspeaker - Pair (Black)

Hyphn is a peerless, definitive, uncompromising demonstration of the Monitor Audio Group’s current design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities, and its future ambitions. It is unlike anything Monitor Audio, or anyone else, has ever created: the most creatively ambitious, technically advanced and powerful loudspeaker in the company’s history. It delivers a dramatically enhanced listening experience, with a visually striking presence.

 

Born of Passion, Vision & Knowledge.

Hyphn is born of collaboration between our designers and engineers, who set out to build the best loudspeaker anyone has ever heard. An ambition that’s easy to express, but a lot more challenging to achieve.

Hyphn is intended to be a ‘statement loudspeaker’ both technically and visually. It is also designed for ‘real’ rooms, taking into account and addressing all the inherent constraints and compromises that entails.

 

Our Transparent Design Philosophy.

Hyphn is a product of Monitor Audio’s Transparent Design Philosophy.

We believe the ultimate loudspeaker is capable of producing sound as laid down by the artist so accurately that it becomes transparent. The physical design should be sympathetic to this in any environment and work in harmony with the desire for transparency.

Every Monitor Audio product is the result of intense collaboration, drawing on decades of experience within the design team and ensuring that all the elements of performance, technology and design work in harmony.

Hyphn is the physical manifestation of this.

The designers were clear they didn’t want to produce a big box with lots of circles on the front. Indeed, their main challenge to themselves was how to create a loudspeaker that didn’t look like one.

They also recognised, rightly, that you can’t set out to create an ‘iconic’ design, any more than you can sit down to write a ‘bestselling‘ novel; it’s for the market and the audience to judge and grant that status. But they did want the design to be very ownable and distinctively ‘theirs’. And they realised early on that in Hyphn, they had something very special indeed.

 

Engineering The Impossible

Some of the team’s biggest challenges lay in engineering solutions to problems that simply don’t exist in a simple box design. For example, where do you run the cables for the two sets of bass drivers so they can’t be seen? (Through the middle of the drive unit anchors).

Here, as they had throughout the project, they relied on sound engineering principles, which hold that it’s better to make something simple with known issues and fix them, rather than make something highly technical or entirely new. For example, instead of trying to create a ‘perfect’ rear chamber for the M-Array, they simply made it as small as they practically could, then used foam and other conventional techniques to eliminate any resonances. And as it turns out, the bridge actually enables better acoustics and far exceeds the original expectations on what the engineers thought possible.

 

Hyphn’s unique cabinet is constructed using the highest quality solid surface material available. After lengthy research and testing, we settled on a composite that combines acrylic, minerals and natural pigments. This creates a smooth, thermoformable and visually seamless surface, which is then precision milled to produce Hyphn’s striking and distinctive profile.

The acrylic stone material provides the perfect platform from which the drive units can operate to their full amazing potential. It is both totally rigid and naturally inert, so doesn’t create any unwanted vibrations within the bass cabinet enclosure.

 

Beautifully Finished.

Hyphn is expressed in three contemporary finishes, Matte Heritage Green, Matte Black and Pure Satin White. Each showcases the elegant architectural lines of the Hyphn design. Carefully selected to present a feeling of luxury, each finish deepens the connection and lustre of the physical shape, and ensures that Hyphn sits within its environment seamlessly.

Whether as more of a statement centre-piece of sonic power or a subtle sculptural design, disappearing beneath musical notes, Hyphn represents a physical presence and undeniable quality that will last a lifetime.

 

Uncompromising Performance 

A definitive and uncompromising performance.

Acoustically, Hyphn is almost identical to the Concept 50, which was always intended for production. However, beneath the surface, almost everything was reimagined for even better performance.

The six mid-range drivers in the M-Array appear acoustically as a single source. This creates a very detailed sound field, with stereo audio delivered to the best possible capability, with huge depth of sound. Hyphn is engineered to be tonally transparent across the full range from 18Hz up to 60kHz. Importantly, it’s designed to maintain this performance as it’s turned up; it should never sound strained or stressed at any reasonable level in a room.

 

Point Source Driver Array

Hyphn’s point-source driver array is located squarely between the twin pillars, each of which houses a pair of powerful 8-inch (203mm) bass drivers.

The unique M-Array configuration features a single Micro Pleated Diaphragm III (MPD III) Transducer surrounded by no fewer than six, 2-inch Rigid Diaphragm Technology III (RDT III) dedicated midrange drivers to deliver sensational acoustic transparency alongside improved off-axis performance.

Hyphn’s unique point-source driver array configuration delivers exceptional soundstage clarity, allowing the listener to precisely pin-point individual instruments and vocals for a thrilling acoustic experience.

 

The M-Array

The M-Array is an ultra-compact multi-driver midrange and tweeter assembly. A masterpiece of intricate detail and design, the M-Array is a testament to the collaborative approach of acoustic and mechanical engineering within Monitor Audio’s Research and Development team.

Using our renowned RDT III cone technology, the six midrange drivers together have a surface area that is slightly larger than our Platinum midrange driver.

 

MPD III Transducer

At the heart of the M-Array, sat precisely at the acoustic centre of the six 2-inch midrange drivers, is the Micro Pleated Diaphragm III (MPD III) high-frequency transducer. Developed by Monitor Audio’s acoustic engineers, this accurate transducer was unveiled for Monitor Audio’s 50th Anniversary celebrations.

The MPD III Transducer delivers a larger, clearer, and more consistent sound. Music and film are delivered with precision and clarity, allowing the listener to enjoy levels of accuracy and detail beyond what they have experienced before.

 

Midrange Drivers

Rigid Diaphragm Technology III (RDT III) is a composite ‘sandwich’ structure made from ultra-thin low mass skins, bonded to a honeycomb Nomex® core material. Extremely light and strong, it can respond with great speed without bending – just like a perfect piston.

RDT III uses Ceramic-Coated Aluminium Magnesium (C-CAM) for the front skin, while the rear skin is made from a woven carbon fibre material. The combination of such a light and strong material structure reduces distortion by over 8 dB above 300 Hz, which makes RDT III the lowest distortion cone technology in Monitor Audio’s history.

 

Powerful, Force-Cancelling Bass Drivers

The sheer scale and authority of Hyphn is delivered via no fewer than eight, powerful 8-inch bass drivers – four precisely positioned, and rigidly secured within each Hyphn cabinet.

Face two bass drivers in pairs and the reaction force of one will be the same as the other – equal and opposite. This means there is little or no vibration force from the drivers, either within themselves or passed through into the cabinets.

The result is a cabinet that is almost vibration free, with all the listener hearing is the sound; pure, clean and detailed.

 

Crossovers

As with everything on Hyphn, the smallest details have been considered, even down to baking the inductors in varnish, which binds the wires together to reduce vibration or mechanical resonance. Ceramic wire-wound resistors reduce power compression, and have also been doubled or quadrupled up where necessary to achieve our desired max power handling (800W).

Bass, mid and high frequency sections utilise individual PCBs, which minimises crosstalk and magnetic fields. Boards have been carefully optimised to minimise the interaction between adjacent inductors and mounted on rubber isolation feet within the cabinets, preventing vibration travelling through the PCBs and components, improving sound quality.

 

Cabinet

Hyphn’s unique cabinet is constructed of thermoformed mineral and acrylic stone. The cabinet is then precision milled. The result: a totally rigid structure that provides the perfect platform from which the drive units can operate.

This naturally inert material is perfect for the Hyphn enclosures. With built-in formed strengthening ribs and bracing, with internal and external wall thickness of 12mm up to 24mm around the force-cancelling bass drivers, the result is a cabinet that is almost vibration free.

Hyphn is the most powerful loudspeaker Monitor Audio has ever produced.

 

Specifications:

Sensitivity (2.83Vrms @ 1m)
86 dB

Recommended Amplifier Power (RMS into 4 Ohm, Music Signal)
200 - 1,600W

Continuous Power Handling (RMS into Nominal Impedance, Pink Noise with 6dB Crest Factor)
800 W

Nominal Impedance
4 Ohm

Minimum Impedance (20 Hz to 20 kHz)
3.5 Ohm @ 2.2 kHz

Drive Unit Complement
4 x 8" RDT III Bass Driver
6 x 2" RDT III Midrange Driver
1 x MPD III Tweeter

Frequency Response (In-room, -6dB)
18 Hz - 60 kHz

Maximum Peak SPL (single speaker @1m Z-Weighted)
129 dB

System Format
3-Way

Bass Alignment
Bass Reflex

Port Tuning Frequency
25 Hz

Crossover Frequencies
350 Hz, 3.7 kHz

External Dimensions (Inc. plinth) (H x W x D)
1392 x 502 x 520 mm (54 13/16 x 19 3/4 x 20 1/2")

Weight (Inc. plinth, ex. packaging)
106.9 kg (235 lbs 10.7 oz)

Warranty
5 years