mordaunt-short pageant 2

[karma67]

the ns1000's are going to be recapped soon,whilst this is going on i'll be using my old pageants,listening to them now they still sound good even after the yammy's.
the pageants were recapped some time ago,wadding removed and 5mm steel plate added to the cab walls.

[mightymonoped]

Not surprising. I've owned both and I know which I'd favour. Everybody should try a pair of Pageant IIs at some time. In the right room and system they can sound sublime.

About time the old MS got some of the appreciation they are due I reckon? I really don’t understand why they seem to be so overlooked.

As you say, in the right room and a sympathetic system they are just magical.
In my current flat setup these are giving me everything I need. They get better with every source upgrade so far (and they love EL84s)





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[Sherwood]

hi,
i saw these local to me on ebay for £50,i jumped on them!
lovely sound and in fantastic condition,i fear my ditton 15xr's are going in the cupboard!
they even came with the original bill of sale too,£129.90 in 1978.

I was considering buying these myself around that time. In the end I went for a pair of Rogers LS3/5a's. I still have the receipt for these. Surprisingly, the Rogers were not that much more expensive: 150 quid.

In current terms, the Pageants would be well over a grand!

Geoff

[2kings]

Had a pair when I was at uni in 1979!
They were good.....
nostalgia!

[Philberish]

Hi all.

Lovely to see MS Pageant 2s getting some praise (and the Signifer a few topics down). Anyway, I was part of the MS design team from 1980 to late 1987. Happy to answer any 80s Mordaunt-Short questions if I can.

Phil

[karma67]

Hi, what model replaced the pageant and signifer?

[Lawrence001]

There was that semi open frame floorstander I forget the model but it was the top one in the mid to late 80s I think?

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[Philberish]

The Pageant 2 was replaced by the Pageant 3. Not nearly so well known or respected and a bit of a commercial flop. Much taller and narrower than the P2 and fabric covered apart from a veneered top. MS and KEF discovered at about the same time that customers didn't really like fabric covered speakers. P3 was three-way – DSB208 bass driver, Audax mid and Audax TW74 tweeter. Nothing really replaced the Signifer until System 442 (named after a match ball winning raffle ticket at Tottenham) launched in '86 (I reckon the last Signifer would have been made in about '83).

P

[walpurgis]

I remember the 442. I saw and heard them at an audio show when they were released. Funny looking things, can't say they left much of an impression, 'cos I don't remember what they sounded like. Celestion also introduced a model named 442 at around the same time (Ditton 442), you don't see many of those about either.

I seem to recall seeing the then new Roksan Darius speaker at the same show. What a horrible thing they were, nearly as grim as the Naim SBL .

It wasn't all bad back then. The Spendor S100 was a glorious sounding speaker.

[Philberish]

I remember the 442. I saw and heard them at an audio show when they were released. Funny looking things, can't say they left much of an impression, 'cos I don't remember what they sounded like. Celestion also introduced a model named 442 at around the same time (Ditton 442), you don't see many of those about either.

I seem to recall seeing the then new Roksan Darius speaker at the same show. What a horrible thing they were, nearly as grim as the Naim SBL .

It wasn't all bad back then. The Spendor S100 was a glorious sounding speaker.

Well we got some pretty good reviews with the 442 but it wasn't an easy sell what with its weight, looks and transit screws. It needed a big room too and that look was decidedly "Marmite" – especially after an expensive London design consultancy got asked to help (I remember a colleague at MS describing the cabinet as looking like a child's coffin. That was nice). A bigger problem though was that the UK sales guy had a back problem and struggled to get 442s out of his car and into dealers. He was much happier demoing MS20s.

Yeah the Darius was an odd one. One of the first with a decoupled tweeter though. And most Spendors are glorious (although the BC1 I always thought was overrated). Spencer Hughes' son Derek is currently doing all the design work at Graham Audio - the new LS3 is a lovely little box. We'll have to disagree on the SBL (you know it had basically the same bass/mid driver as the Pageant 2?), but then I had many good times at Naim so I'm a b it biased in its favour.

P