As far as looks are concerned, the MIN7, by Minfort, is one of the most beautiful speakers I’ve ever laid eyes on. Each model is handmade using recycled hardwood from old furniture.
The solid wood panels and natural tone is the perfect accompaniment to my home office and it carries with it significant bulk (it weighs 26 pounds) that makes it just feel as if it were sculpted by the hands of fine wood-workers.
The case features multiple inputs and a really nice pair of gold-plated RCA cables which give you multiple configuration options. In addition to wireless connectivity through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, the MIN7 has a coaxial input, optical input, two RCA inputs and an additional RCA output.
In the front you’ll find two 4-inch woofers and two dome tweeters. Underneath resides a 5.25-inch subwoofer, and in the back you’ll find a port hole and the aforementioned connections. On top, there are rotary knobs (a nice touch) for bass, volume and to select the channel input, as well as a headphone output.
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
As nice as the looks are, sound is where it completely falls apart. There’s a market for pretty speakers with decent sound, but the $799 pricetag for a MIN7 is a bit much for something that’s not spitting out sound that’s anywhere comparable to speakers in this range.
The sound quality isn’t terrible, but I have multiple speakers in the $100 range that match up quite favorably. At $799, you can — and should — demand more.
The reality of the matter is, the MIN7 is comparable to cheaper $100 speakers because it is a cheaper speaker, or five cheap speakers to be exact.
As far as sound, it features two amplifier chips that power the 150 watt system. Minfort claims that it consulted a “speaker drivers expert with over 26 years of experience,” but using paper cone woofers and a polypropylene subwoofer does little to add to that claim. At $799, paper cone speakers shouldn’t have even been a consideration.
The 4-inch woofers hold up admirably enough and the tweeters are average-to-good, but the subwoofer sounds terrible.
Bass is muddy, and it lacks the frequency response to really provide much thud — or at least make its presence known. The cheap speaker materials don’t help, but the problem is made worse by an amplifier that doesn’t do much to filter frequencies to the appropriate channel, or a design that might be less-than-optimal for overall sound quality.
Overall, the speaker is beautiful, but it’s basically an expensive piece of furniture with a cheap set of speakers.
It’s not something I’d spend $799 on, and in all honesty, I think the backers that snatched this up for $549 on Kickstarter are going to be pretty disappointed.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.