PRESS RELEASE

New Hafler M5 Compact Nearfield Monitors September 28, 2000 Hafler unveiled its new high performance, passive nearfield monitor, the M5, at the 109th AES Convention, held from Sept. 22 to 25 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Booth 846. Scheduled to ship this spring, the M5 has a suggested retail price of just $299, making it a must for the audio engineer who seeks that famed Hafler sonic clarity and accuracy in a passive monitor system. "Hafler has responded to the needs of those engineers, especially those on a budget, who are already dedicated to using Hafler amplifiers," explains Jerry Cave, managing director for Hafler. "The M5 is based on the same incredible sonic platform as the TRM6 active monitor but in passive and more compact package. Hafler amps are already the professional standard, and we wanted to develop a small, accurate and cost effective passive monitor that reflects the same dedication to quality that is expected of a Hafler product. That solution is the M5." The magnetically-shielded M5 is a compact (5.3 liter) 4th order Butterworth vented 2-way loudspeaker designed to work alone or in conjunction with Hafler’s line of acclaimed professional amplifiers and voiced to compare alongside the highly acclaimed Hafler TRM8 and TRM6 active monitors. The M5 has also been designed to work with and complement the Hafler TRM10s active subwoofer. The M5’s 5/8-inch thick MDF cabinet has an internal volume of 5.3 liters and a front firing slotted port tuning the system to 70Hz. The low frequency character allows smooth response extending down well below system tuning. Small panel size and strategically placed internal bracing reduces wall flexing and mid-band resonance while high cabinet rigidity also improves low frequency mid-bass coupling. The low profile M5 enables it to project a well focused and reflection-free natural soundstage in small console, workstation or meter-bridge applications. The M5 tweeter uses a proprietary 25mm silk dome and exponential horn waveguide combination and is the same unit as found in the highly regarded Hafler TRM6 active monitor. The exponential horn loading provided by the waveguide sets or "locks in" the width and depth of the soundstage. The M5 waveguide also provides a rocker switch that will allow the user to select between 0 (flat) and a –3dB control in tweeter output. Advertisement "The M5 high-end is exact and honest and reflects what was actually heard during a monitoring session, whether live or recorded," explains Gary Church, chief acoustic engineer for Hafler. "In order to maintain the integrity of the M5 system, it was designed and voiced to compare along side the highly acclaimed Hafler TRM8 and TRM6 active monitors. The M5 is an easy load to drive with anything from a Hafler P1000 to the renowned 9505." The 5.25-inch (133mm) M5 mid-bass driver is custom designed and manufactured specific to this new Hafler monitor. This woofer provides fast and efficient low frequency damping and uniform piston control while minimizing inter-modulation distortion (IMD) components. High magnetic linearity is achieved by using a long 32mm (1.25-inch) diameter voice coil set in a computer optimized magnet structure. The M5 mid-bass driver is carefully designed and constructed to be both thermally and mechanically capable of handling the 200-watt system power rating. The M5 crossover uses a symmetrical 4th order (24dB/octave) Linkwitz-Riley passive filter set at 3.2kHz. This all-pass type of filter will sum both high and low-pass filter sections to a flat magnitude response and allows both drivers (more) to be wired in the same polarity. The high-pass section of the crossover uses two user-selectable L-pads to set tweeter gain. All capacitors in a signal path are high quality polyester film types and all inductors in a signal path are low DCR air core types. M5 system inputs are via 5-way gold binding posts. "Any new Hafler system in development has to survive the rigorous referencing against current, well-established Hafler products," explains Cave. "The new M5 certainly reflects a great success for Hafler in achieving a reliable reference level of performance in a compact and portable package at an affordable cost." For more information, visit their web site at .

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