Montarbo W400A Speaker System Issue 45

REVIEW
MONTARBO W400A
SPEAKER SYSTEM
Italian PA manufacturers might seem obscure,
but their experience runs as deep as the
national soccer team. Montarbo is the latest
company to take to the field.
Text: Grahame Harrison
I think the time has come to write a letter to the Prime
Munster, Little Jaunty Howeird, requesting that a small team
of investigators be sent to Europe. Their mission would be to
ascertain just exactly how many ‘hidden’ audio manufacturers
actually exist, especially in Italy! I can steer them towards
another one that has just popped up on my radar: Montarbo.
According to the company’s website (which is definitely worth
a visit), Sergio Montanari started to ‘builda-da-box’ in the
1950s. In the ’60s, Montarbo produced a unique device, a
powered mixer with a great case, which featured drop-down
sides that formed a stand. It had a 100W amp and a truly
amazing ‘magnetic memory’ echo unit. I won’t spoil the rest
of the story but they were also into self-powered speakers, a
long way ahead of the rest of us.
Montarbo quickly grew to such a size that the boss stopped
ordering out for pizzas and built his own kitchen, complete
with gourmet chef! Well, that’s what I would have done.
Today the creative team at Bologna are a highly skilled force
and it shows in the company’s products. Which leads me to
the W400A – the punchy, polyethylene pitbull speaker system
from the professors of predatory power provision. In other
words, the techs have done the boss proud – except it looks
like a pitbull!
The W400A wouldn’t win a beauty contest if its name was
Elle and the entire judging panel was tripping! The woofer
looks okay behind its steel protection grille but the top of
the box is pretty unattractive, for mine. Oh well, we’re not
getting married so I’ll skip the personal taste section to get
to the (very) good bits. Pretty it ain’t, but tough it is! And it’s
got grunt. The 12-inch woofer with its neodymium magnet is
light in weight but cops 300W up the chute. The horn with its
90° x 70° dispersion can handle 100W easily and crosses over
at 1600Hz. It has two carrying handles and only weighs 18.5
kilos. There are six flying points on each box and they can
be stacked on top of each other or hung in a sling of no more
than three boxes deep.
The W400A features two MOSFET Class A/B amplifiers
that are controlled by two independent processors. Montarbo
calls its exclusive protection circuit the Intelligent Power
Dynamic Management system (IPDM). This system
allows for maximum protection from thermal, electrical
and mechanical overloads. And it works! I put the boxes
through myriad tests including acoustic duos, club dance
reinforcement, a school musical (where I had a run-in with
one mother who kept telling me how to get her six-year-old
AT 98
daughter to sound like Mariah Carey all night!) and even the
sound at an outdoor film showing. They sounded great in
each situation.
But the big test was last weekend when the local heavy/
grunge/metal/garage/hard rockin’ kings of the big riff, The
Crimson Project, tried their best to kill them at the Moonee
Tavern… and survived! So did the boxes! I used them as
monitors and they performed excellently. During the week,
the Plantation Hotel in Coffs Harbour hosted the truly
excellent Dallas Crane whose singer is apparently severely
encumbered hearing-wise. The Mackie powered boxes being
used as monitors went thermal! Five out of six conked out!
No such misfortune befell the Montarbo boxes. They also
sounded very flat, which meant that the operator only had to
tweak them slightly. All three bands on the night (the others
were Scary Clowns and Seeking Asylum) loved them as well.
I was pleased with the ‘throw’ of the boxes and their ability
to fill a room. They’re easy to transport and even feature a
circuit board drawing on the back in case you’re stranded
somewhere. The rear of the box also features sensible controls,
the traditional Neutrik Combo XLR/jack input and another
balanced XLR output. There is a master volume control and
a handy ‘mid controller’ rotary knob, which allow for a mid
boost or cut. The ‘flat filter’ switch is good when using the
W440A as a monitor speaker. The ‘SPK’ switch enhances
midrange too. The W440A even has a ground socket on the
rear in case you have earthing problems. Clever.
The Montarbo people have also included one of the most
sensible manuals I’ve ever come across. It’s detailed, very
well written with clear drawings and no obvious spelling
mistakes (other manufacturers take note!). You also get a
free 10-metre XLR microphone lead so you can actually run
signal to the box. No other manufacturer provides a mic lead
as far as I know, only a power lead (and that’s sometimes a
European IEC lead by mistake). There are no mistakes with
the Montarbo. It’s a well-presented package that sounds fine,
has the hallmarks of a product built on quality and is bound to
find a niche among the overwhelming number of competitors.
The W440A’s recommended retail price of $2499 (each) is
reasonably justified, although I still think it’s too much too
pay and I apply that logic to all Montarbo’s competitors as
well. I suppose there’s always the option of belting a dealer
over the head with a bundle of cash to get a better price.
Margins are there to be bargained with after all.
NEED TO KNOW
Price
$2499 each
Contact
LSW
(02) 9718 4900
[email protected]
www.lsw.com.au
Pros
Well built.
Powerful.
Lightweight.
Cons
Should have a free cover for
the price
Summary
Very competitive product
with suitability in a variety of
applications