Going from my old generic 5.1 system to a pair of AV 40s was completely night and day. There simply is no comparison. Sure the bass doesn't go to 20hz and won't rattle the windows, but the bass that these pair of speakers do produce are incredibly tight and punchy. The trebles are crisp and overall the speakers are very neutral sounding.
M-Audio AV-40
M-Audio AV-40 is what I call JUST OK monitors. M-Audio charges a lot($150) for what they are really worth of. I will compare with my Z-2300($110) to order to provide a clear picture.
Take the example of the power output claim. M-Audio says a "continuous power" of 20 watts per channel which brings to 40 watts for a pair.
Dismantling the AV-40, I found a bog standard EI transformer rated at 14V X 2, 1.4A i.e. 39VA. In contrast Z-2300 uses an expensive toroidal transformer of 151VA costing 4x times that of AV-40 transformer.
A toroid have numerous advantages over EI type such as low weight, low hum, low noise and also being smaller in size than an equivalent EI type.
I was also astounded that the transformer of AV-40 is so awfully close to the power amp board. In order to prevent magnetic interference from the transformer effecting the amplifier their is a divider made by thin soft iron plate section. This design is utterly crap since the intensity of the internal air flow formed under strong vibration may cause the this thin film to vibrate a cause noise. In addition, this iron plate has already started to rust. So much for quality components.
The ripple filter capacitors used in AV40 are made by "God Knows What" KSK brand of 4,700uF,35V. These KSK are famous for getting blown. The Z-2300 at-least uses a known name like SamXon or CapXon rated at 10,000uF, 35V. So the pair of ripple filters on Z-2300 cost 3x times of AV-40.
Since the AV-40 uses Class-AB power amps, the max these amplifiers will be able to produce is 39/1.27 ~= 30 watts for a pair. So, you have 15 watts of "continuous power" per channel.
Z-2300 also uses Class-AB power amps, the max these amplifiers will be able to produce is 151/1.27 ~= 120 watts. 76 watt goes to the sub & 22 watt to each of the sats.
With so less power on AV-40, you crank up the volume and the single ST Microelectronics TDA7265, 25 X 2 = 50W power amp being awfully limited by a sub standard 30 watt power supply gives up. Mind you those TDA7265 comes at $5.7 a piece.
Z-2300 have a pair of ST Microelectronics TDA7296 & a pair of ST Microelectronics TDA7295. That sums up to 60 X 2 + 80 X 2 = 280W being limited to 120 watt power supply. Cost of these four amps is over $21.
Z-2300 uses a costlier external heat sink, so all the heat from the power amps are radiated outside keeping the amplifier cool. The AV-40 uses an internal heat sink, so the heat remains inside the box causing rise of internal temperature. This shortens the life of the amplifier module.
At least the Z-2300 have a potent amplifier using quality components which later can be used else were. On an average the Z-2300 amplifier is 4x costlier than AV-40 amp module.
After the M-Audio AV-40 farce, I would recommend every body to think five times before opting for a 2.0 rather than a 2.1 below $200. Remember a 2.0 will be unable to recreate the sub-bass that a 2.1 can do.
I will go to this extent in saying that the AV-40 amp components are rivaling the cheapest Chinese speakers available at $20. Use of ultra cheap KSC, LXAP & Fujida capacitors, ultra cheap bog standard under powered EI transformer made by Shenzhen Xingyaoda Electronics. I can find no whereabouts of them in the web. Not to mention the use of internal hit-sink and flimsy iron plate separators which starts to rust after 3 months.
Where as my Z-2300 uses SamXon/ CapXon capacitors & a toroidal transformer made by TenPao. These are recognized Chinese companies who at least have there own websites.
The only component in AV-40 that was known to me was the ST Microelectronics power amp. Z-2300 uses four more powerful power amplifiers from the same make.
If M-Audio have gone for Yoda power amp then I think the cheap Chinese speaker companies could have made M-Audio their OEM manufacturer. They could have imported these AV-40's & labeled them as Dragon Killer 2.0 and sold them at $40 in China.
I used to think that 2.0 monitors below $200 uses better quality components than an equivalently priced 2.1 system is utterly wrong. To me AV-40 is not even worth $50. But unfortunately the "M-Audio" name is all one needs to shell out $150.
