In the spotlight today we have a high fidelity floor stereo speaker system from Microlab, the SOLO9C, which has a host of expanded I/O connections over its predecessor.
Product on review: Microlab SOLO9C Stereo Speaker System
Manufacturer & Sponsor: Microlab
Street Price: £149.99 – 179.99 GBP
Microlab are hitting the UK market hard of late, updating the renowned SOLO7C stereo speaker system with various improvements upon the original and coming out with the successor, the SOLO9C. Offering a vastly expanded input/output over the 7C which has just 2x RCA input sources, the 9C also offers optical Toslink, co-axial and a HDMI input/output for lossless audio from your Blu-ray player. This will have media centre/ home cinema enthusiasts drooling with delight at the possibilities. The specification of the 9C is comparable to the 7C with various tweaks to the signal to noise ratio (SNR) and channel separation. The most obvious changes that will be of consequence to the end user other than the expanded I/O will be the slightly larger 1.5″ tweeters, the extra 17mm height and the extra 15W RMS output per speaker that give a total of 140W RMS, which is nothing to sniff at.
Overview by Microlab
Microlab Solo9C is a range of high fidelity floor stereo speaker, classic wooden finish cabinets loudspeaker systems for the professional home audio used. Solo9C was designed to offer an effective self-contained solution for application with amazing acoustic condition in living room.
Specifications & Features
Amplifier specs
Output power: 140 Watt RMS
Power distribution: 70 x 2 Watt
Harmonic distortion: 0.3 % (1Watt, 1kHz)
Frequency response: 50 -20 000, Hz
Signal/Noise ratio: 80 dB
Separation: 60 dB
Speakers specs
Tweeter driver type: 1.5″
Bass driver type: 6.5″
Material: MDF
Interfaces
Output: Terminals, HDMI
Input: 2RCA, Auxilliary, HDMI, Toslink, Coaxial
Dimensions
Satellites: 214x575x323 mm
Product Net weight: 21.9 kg
Output power: 140 Watt RMS
Power distribution: 70 x 2 Watt
Harmonic distortion: 0.3 % (1Watt, 1kHz)
Frequency response: 50 -20 000, Hz
Signal/Noise ratio: 80 dB
Separation: 60 dB
Speakers specs
Tweeter driver type: 1.5″
Bass driver type: 6.5″
Material: MDF
Interfaces
Output: Terminals, HDMI
Input: 2RCA, Auxilliary, HDMI, Toslink, Coaxial
Dimensions
Satellites: 214x575x323 mm
Product Net weight: 21.9 kg
Packaging & Accessories
Outer Packaging
There is no other way to put it, the box is huge and imposing, thus the heavy-duty cardboard box is needed. There is decent information about the product including multi-lingual specifications on the side, a picture on the front of the product. The packaging on the inside is tight and dense which should be capable enough of protecting to product in transit.
Packed with accessories
Accessories to a product always feel like little goodies and Microlab have spared nothing. We find a manual, 2x RCA to 3.5mm jack, 2x RCA – 2x RCA, HI-FI interconnect cable, Coaxial cable, HDMI cable, optical Toslink cable and a remote control. To use the HDMI function, you will need 2x HDMI cables, one for input and one for out, though, if you are planning on using this feature, you are likely to have a spare HDMI cable with your DVD/Blu-ray player.
The interconnect cable
Unlike what we saw with the H50BT, the HI-FI interconnect cable comes equipped with gold bullet tips than can be plugged directly into the terminals on the speakers which should save a bit of time on setup.
The remote control
The remote, is a great addition to a product such as this, conveniently allowing control of the speakers at a distance. Featuring controls for power/standby, input select, reset, mute, master volume, bass volume and treble volume.
Removing a front grille
The large MDF frame is covered with fabric to protect the drivers from damage and dust, easy to remove and easy to replace.
Closer Look
The SOLO9C stereo speaker system
The Darkwood veneer on the MDF looks very classy and would fit nicely into most living room designs. The tower design has a relatively small footprint and should be easy to position in any situation. Once you have removed the grille we can see the two large 6.5″ woofers with the 1.5″ tweeter up top, all looking good.
At the back
On the rear side of the speakers there are two large bass reflex ports giving the woofers enough space to breathe.
Input/output
From the top we have HDMI input/output, the 2x 2RCA connections for AUX and PC, a Toslink optical input, a coaxial input and the left speaker output terminals in the bottom right.
Control Dials
Being able to have manual control is always a good thing on speakers and these three dials do just that. Pressing in the master volume dial at the top selects between input sources, beneath this we find independent volume dials for the treble and the bass.
Tweeter and top woofer
The tweeter is dwarfed by the 6.5″ driver.
At the base
Finally the bottom 6.5″ finishes off the trio of audio drivers that is present on each speaker unit.
Performance Testing
Setup, Design & Observations
The first and most notable hindrance to setting up the SOLO9C would be the mass, at close to 10Kg each, weaker people may underestimate the amount of energy required to move these speakers into position. Once done, connecting the cables are relatively simple. For the HDMI pass-through, Set your Blu-ray player to LPCM audio output and connect it directly to the HDMI input on the SOLO9C, then connect your screen/TV to the HDMI output. The other input sources are fairly straight forward to setup.
The design of the SOLO9C is very attractive with a black/very dark brown wooden effect which would easily fit into many living room designs. The build quality is exceptional, from the sturdiness to the dials everything seems in place. The remote, while light, seems strong and perfectly adequate. The remote was tested at a range of 3.5m and seemed to work well within an arc of around 80° with the right speaker in the centre of the line-of-sight, if these are placed on the floor, make sure nothing blocks the right side speaker. The dials freely rotate 360° with tactile feedback given in the form of little clicks, thus increasing/decreasing volume digitally. The top dial also doubles up as an input selector by pressing it in. The only real issue with the build quality, are that the feet are spongy pads stuck onto the bottom, but considering the seem stuck on well, this is more of an oversight. This would mostly affect those mounting the SOLO9C on a laminate flooring and may prefer a more robust solution for the feet without worrying they will wear off after a little moving around.
Multi-media
Testing out the bass capabilities, I ran a low frequency sweep from 10Hz-100Hz, bearing in mind that the SOLO9C is rated for 50Hz-20,000Hz, I was pleased to find that the 20-50Hz range was audible (below 20Hz tends to be outside of human hearing).
At first I decided to play through various music tracks from my phone and immediately it was clear that the sound was impressive, enough for me to instantly realise that my phone is a very poor quality audio source and decided to move on. So I then decided to connect the SOLO9C to my PC to throw a tirade of abusive audio tracks that are capable of shredding through the bass, mids and treble. The 9C was able to articulate the whole range fantastically and competently. I thought it may be best to let the speakers ‘break in’ for a while before throwing it to maximum volume. I did this by leaving them to play shuffled music for several hours each day over the course of a week, this would have included music from all types and genres. While it is hard to objectively decide whether this break in period had a real effect or not, the audio clarity was decidedly excellent. Nuances in the high tones were present alongside deep bass, while the mid tones and vocals were never drowned out.
Cranking it up to the max volume (numbered 60) was close to committing suicide as face blasting, foundation shaking volume was produced. There was a touch of distortion introduced at max volume, but it was hard to tell if this was from ‘being too close’ or the speakers inability to handle the volume, to which I suspect a combination of the two. It could even be that the break in period was inadequate.
The volume is scaled 0-60 on the speakers, while volume level may mostly be subjective, this scale is given in consideration to ‘home use’, I know there are ‘louder’ speakers, but this is just to give an impression in a home setting.
1-10, being next to silent/ inaudible,
10-20, barely audible/background,
20-30, quiet, light listening,
30-40, moderate listening, good for movies or music
40-50, loud listening, cinematic feel for movies, light party level for music
50-55, very loud, party level, not advisable for everyday listening unless your aim is to anger your neighbours,
55-60, very loud+, this is where there was some distortion noticed, though honestly, I wouldn’t recommend using this volume unless you intended on having a street party.
For gaming, in a way, the SOLO9C is overkill, mostly because games tend to have a limited audio compression, but that didn’t stop the awesome sound quality and crystal clear separation of in game sound effects. There is little hesitation needed to say that the SOLO9C is fantastic for gaming. The only real negative would be, some may prefer a surround system over a stereo system for their gaming needs.
To test the HDMI input/output, I watched through Pacific Rim and Thor: The Dark World on Blu-ray, having some food and watching a movie with your friends can never be the same on sub par speakers, the audio quality was enveloping, engaging and crystal clear. The bass moves through you leaving every detail there.
Unfortunately I was not able to test a 3D Blu-ray.
Conclusion
Microlab have surely nailed it with the SOLO9C, a pair of towering speakers each kitted out with a dual 6.5″ woofers and a 1.5″ tweeter, there is little excuse to not fork out for the sound quality these provide. The expanded I/O and inclusion of the HDMI connection makes the SOLO9C a great choice for home cinema. At just £150-180inc VAT, if you pride yourself on your huge flat screen TV, and enjoy watching high definition movies yet you haven’t got yourself a speaker system, you owe it to yourself to get these. If you use games consoles on a huge flat screen TV but do not have a speaker system, you owe it to yourself to get these.
The downsides are few and for the sake of critical feedback, one could say that it is a shame that the 20-50Hz frequency isn’t better represented, while it is audible, it is fairly dipped, which would be why the SOLO9C is specified as having a range of 50-20,000Hz rather than 20-20,000Hz. The rubber feet could have a more robust implementation as the circular rubber pads could come off at some point but this isn’t going to be a huge issue for most. The only real detrimental feature of this product would be the introduced distortion at very high volumes, regardless it is highly unlikely that people will be using these speakers at their maximum volume regularly and would be easy to overlook. I would like to believe that speaker systems should be designed in a way that they are capable of running at their maximum volume continuously without this kind of distortion but this is very rarely the case in the audio industry. All things considered, what the Microlab SOLO9C does do, is provide fantastic high fidelity audio that can support any, if not all, of your home audio needs at a price that is hard to ignore. For these reasons we proudly award the SOLO9C our Vortez Gold and Amazing Value.
The Microlab SOLO9C enables lossless audio playback for a true cinematic experience to movies, creates total immersion in gaming, and provides enjoyable high fidelity music playback at a volume that can genuinely blow you away. At this price, they’re a steal!
Pros.
+ Multiple connection options (HDMI, 2x Stereo RCA, optical TOSLINK and Coaxial)
+ Precise, balanced crystal clear sound across bass, mids and treble
+ Very loud
+ Attractive aesthetic and excellent build quality
+ Awesome for games, home cinema and music
+ Comprehensive bundle, including remote control
Cons.
– Some distortion at max volume
+ Multiple connection options (HDMI, 2x Stereo RCA, optical TOSLINK and Coaxial)
+ Precise, balanced crystal clear sound across bass, mids and treble
+ Very loud
+ Attractive aesthetic and excellent build quality
+ Awesome for games, home cinema and music
+ Comprehensive bundle, including remote control
Cons.
– Some distortion at max volume
Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net. Thanks to Microlab for providing today’s review sample.
