This review page is supported in part by the sponsors whose ad banners are displayed below

But Wei Chang had more. When asked from whom Enigma source their drive units, "woofer and tweeter both are of our own design and manufactured exclusively by us. Our woofer diaphragm combines Polypropylene and Mica, the tweeter is silk." On whether their network employs a Zobel filter, linear or progressive slopes and is housed in a sealed sub enclosure to shield it from the high-pressure environment of the inner box, "the crossover employs linear slopes, a 3rd-order high-pass, a 2nd-order low-pass, a Zobel filter and for internal space savings reasons there is no independent xover chamber. The port is tuned to 40Hz." On standard finish options, "we have piano-gloss black and for veneers bird's eye Maple and red Macassar." On the factory-recommended setting for Sopranino, "the confirmed setting is at 10K (mid) and -3dB." On whether the internal walls are flat or—as the laminated Ply construction would afford—patterned to break up standing waves and reflections, "the internal walls are covered with a damping material and ribs to eliminate standing waves and resonance." On why Sopranino wasn't integrated into the box to eliminate extra wires for a unified appearance, "this was made irrelevant by the fact that this level of meshing between custom dynamic and patented self-polarizing electrostatic driver technologies has never been achieved before let alone perfected. There simply isn't anything to market that quite looks like our hybrid system. And all Mythology M1 hybrid systems come with a pair of 50cm high-grade jumpers exclusively designed for this setup as shown."


"The woofer: The lateral profile of the woofer shows an extra-large magnet compared to its 6.5" diameter and a cast frame to maintain maximum rigidity with minimum rib area. What can’t be shown in photos is the quality of materials.


"Within an entire batch each woofer deviates no more than 1dB from any other. This is only achievable by using the best quality materials and precise craftsmanship. The upper photo showed the PP cone. Extreme care was taken to ensure that not a trace of glue can be detected overflowing into the cone and surround.


"The dome tweeter: Experts are often surprised by the extremely low crossover point of the M1 which enables it to achieve its signature non-colored and highly transparent midrange sound.


"The catalyst is the unusually sized 35mm dome tweeter. The lateral photo reveals its oversize magnet motor and beautiful silk dome. Though covered by the big aluminum baffle, from the inside the tweeter has an aluminium faceplate to mount onto it."

New dedicated 7-position height-adjustable stand for Sopranino super tweeter to cover approx. 36" - 48". The foot proint is 13" x 10", the price €600/pr. "It took us 6 painstaking months but we’re extremely proud of this elegant yet straightforward solution."


"Inside our company we've long believed that calling Sopranino a mere super tweeter just doesn't do it complete justice. We believe a far more apt description would be a never-before-seen ARD or ambience restoration device which doesn't require nearly as much effort or hassle to set up and/or adjust when compared to other so-called super tweeters to locate the proverbial sweet spot for maximal results. Our Mythology M1 uses a relatively large dome tweeter crossed in at 1kHz. This is indicative of the core of our design philosophy: to create a woofer/tweeter combination that was designed specifically to complement the transparency and fast transient response of our unparalleled ARD.


"Being an extremely powerful low-distortion driver, our 100% proprietary 35mm tweeter dome covers mid to 20kHz to free us from needing a 3-way design. We think that a conventional 3-way design with a dedicated midrange would have created very complicated phase/harmonic inconsistencies. When listening very intently to female vocals in a 3-way system for example, her base notes may come from the midrange but the associated harmonics from the tweeter. This is inherently unnatural. If the midrange is a cone driver, this problem will be exasperated. Female vocal cords are small. They cannot be accurately reproduced by a big heavy cone no matter what the brochure says.


"Additionally our very heavy metal face plate increases system mass to lower resonance. In this fashion we generate an extremely low resonant frequency with a relatively small enclosure. At the same time we exploit many different materials from metals to glass to plywood etc. to ensure that this system sounds maximally neutral and clean. For audiophiles the search has always been about a new performance from their favorite recordings. Sopranino has already proven itself to provide that missing link. We believe that in time our Mythology M1 with its relatively compact design and formidable yet delicate sound will present consumers with an entirely new perspective on what a high-performance monitor system can and should be. With its extremely clean powerful bass extension, beautiful mid-to-high range and ultra-high frequencies parlayed with a one-of-a-kind ambient restoration process, it's an unique experience that's truly worthy of some much needed shut eye."


Previewing the M1 in the press
, I had Spencer Holbert's The Abso!ute Sound CES report whose beat were loudspeaker from $15-25K: "Okay, maybe these speakers technically fit into Chris Martens’ under-$15k category but just barely. That said, I just had to include the Mythology M1s ($14'690/pr) because these speakers had the best highs of my 'category' thanks to the superb Sopranino electrostatic tweeter aided by the Ayre K5XEMP preamp, V5XE power amp and Cardas cables.

"Plus they had pretty incredible bass extension for their size and really bumped on a track from the Titanic soundtrack. Yes Jack, these bookshelf speakers can fly."


Chris Martens' report added "ENIGMAcoustics’ most famous product may be the Sopranino electrostatic super tweeter but that could change with the advent of the new Mythology M1 stand-mount monitors ($14'690/pair). The Mythology M1 starts as an extraordinarily capable full-range (yes really!) two-way dynamic driver-equipped monitor supplemented with an included Sopranino super tweeter. " Listeners were simply slack-jawed upon hearing the compact Mythology M1 because it somehow delivers the low-end extension associated with medium-to-large floorstanders, good dynamics and the open and airy yet relaxed treble response so characteristic of speakers fitted with the Sopranino super tweeter. The result is a compact monitor that frankly sounds like something much bigger (and more expensive)."


From Wei Chang, "a senior executive from Deloitte stopped by our Mythology M1 exhibit at the Venetian Tower during the recent 2014 CES in Las Vegas one night around closing time. He thought the only room that sounded superior to our Mythology M1 in the entire high-end audio section of the Venetian Tower was the new Hailey system by YG Acoustics. "But Wei," he went on, "that’s an Audi A8 up there on the 35th floor." Later that same evening this gentleman attended a Leadership in Technology dinner hosted by CES. According to him, he enjoyed Mythology M1 so much, he started to share his enthusiasm with several other executives. "Just FYI" he later wrote in an email to me, "one of the executives I showed your product sheet to is the president of Onkyo." "Well, as of today we haven't heard from Onkyo..."

EnigmAcoustics' anechoic chamber