To the quick eye, PlatiMon's driver array suggests d'Appolito. That's for inventor Joseph d'Appolito. He used an MTM array with originally a 3rd-order later 4th-order filter to correct the downward lobing of basic tweeter/mid-woofer designs without physical time alignment. There's more to it than just using two mid/woofers closely bracketing a tweeter. Given PlatiMon's built-in time alignment, a true d'Appolito design isn't called for. It's probably why Mr. Seo calls it a virtual dual-concentric instead. The Hyphn from Monitor Audio pursues a similar notion whereby six 2" flat mids surround a central AMT like tightly clustered flower petals. Tekton Design too promote a tweeter surrounded by six more tweeters operated as mids. The Monitor and Tekton versions clearly approximate a KEF-type coax executed with standard dynamic drivers. PlatiMon's two-way simplifies them with a 3-driver two-way of 53Hz-28kHz response with 91dB/4Ω sensitivity packed into 17×7.5×10.6" HxWxD.

My SuperMon Mini in custom lilac faceplates. Stands by Q Acoustics.

Given my appreciation for Mr. Seo's baby speaker above, I was unsurprisingly curious about what he had wrought with his next one up. By May 12th a few days before the Munich HighEnd show opened its doors, my UPS tracker had the shipment on the brown van out for delivery. I asked Mr. Young who obviously speaks fluent Korean to intercede with the designer on our behalf and get answers to three short questions. 1/ what does the name PlatiMon signify? 2/ who makes the American AMT and German mid/woofers? 3/ what exactly is involved in his channel-specific design? What's electrically and/or mechanically different, why is it different and what does it do? I figured prospective buyers would want to know.

When the van drove up, the driver beckoned for help. At 33/34kg respectively, the two black boxes weren't flyweights. The solid aluminium concept does that. One box held the fully assembled stands with a small box containing eight spike shoes and six metal spheres, the other the speakers. One of the hyper-pointy footers had bent the tip of its needle in transit. No trouble, I simply lengthened that footer by a few turns on its bolt and presto, perfect balance restored.

Praise is due for PlatiMon's luxo fit'n'finish. Aluminium exists in all manner of grades and surfaces from grained to sand-blasted. Jun-hyeok Seo's metal urge is clearly intense to have contracted with a machine shop that does a top job of not just tight tolerances but leaving immaculate skins. And, these roller-ball interfaces are so precise and efficient that should a domestic feline attempt to jump atop, he/she will get seasick, skip overboard and never try again. Due to low friction and perfectly even contact from three not four bearings, the speaker oscillates for quite a bit when pushed. I much prefer the top placement of the roller balls to doing them on the floor because it keeps the stands as though bolted to the subfloor. PlatiMon's races are quite deep so even a bump to send a box into a woozy wobble won't have any of its bearings jump a dish. Countering three bearings which, being non-adjustable by nature, are guaranteed to not clatter are four not three finely adjustable floor spikes which render that interface more stable. Clearly none of these details are accidental.

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Here's the first review system. It starts with a Shanling M3 Ultra as battery-powered microSD USB-C transport into a Soundaware D300Ref USB bridge. That forwards reclocked digits to a Cen.Grand DSDAC 1.0 Deluxe which resamples all PCM to DSD1'024. Then the signal enters a Vinnie Rossi L2 Signature linestage with direct-coupled (no output transformers or capacitors) Elrog ER50 direct-heated power triodes. From there it's an icOn 4th-order/80Hz active fixed crossover which sends +80Hz signal to an Enleum AMP-23R driving the speakers; and -80Hz signal to a dual 9½" Dynaudio active subwoofer whose forward placement compensates its 2.5ms digital latency.