MOON Voice 22 loudspeaker

Earlier this year, in May, MOON by Simaudio announced the launch of their very first loudspeaker, called Voice 22. After more than forty years of excellence in high-end audio electronic design, MOON was keen to offer its own voice with a new loudspeaker.

Design

The MOON Voice 22 loudspeaker is a two-way design with a 29mm soft dome tweeter with a custom waveguide and, close by, a 155mm mineral-filled polypropylene woofer that has an aluminium basket behind it. The stated sensitivity is 89dB/2.83V/1m and the crossover is at 1.5kHz. The crossover is mounted on a dual-layer PCB with metallized polypropylene film capacitors. These capacitors are designed, says MOON, for long-term reliability, and of course sound quality. The speakers have a quoted frequency range of 45Hz – 30kHz and a nominal impedance of 6 Ohms.

The speaker cabinet is filled with unique patent-pending technology called CGD (Curved Groove Damping) to control the panel resonances of the loudspeaker. There is a rearward bass port above the terminals and foam dampeners are supplied if required.

There is a new ‘Hover Base’ designed by MOON. This lifts the speaker a few millimetres up and because this base is recessed and a bit smaller than the cabinet the MOON Voice 22 genuinely does appear to hover on the loudspeaker stands I’m using. MOON claims the Hover Base will leave any surface unmarked, the base has a soft rubber/foam rectangular footprint under the Hover Base. The Hover Base is actually removable and if you have the bespoke stand that can be purchased from MOON and it offers a stable and flush fit for enhanced performance.

Quality

The speakers undoubtedly have that pure quality you would expect at this price. The sample I have is black, high gloss, and very mirrored so out of the box, it is a fingerprint nightmare and photography is really tricky. The rear terminals feel solid and are very accessible, they come out directly from the rear at no angle at all. The soft corners are just that and there are matching magnetic cloth-covered grilles that snap fit with perfection.

The dimensions are (W x H x D): 20cm x 35cm x 29cm, and the Voice 22 weighs in at 10.5kg. They are priced at £2,650 in the UK with the stand being an extra £495. There is an impressive 10-year warranty on product registration.  You can explore MOON Voice 22 with Renaissance Audio.

Performance

Review Equipment

I have the MOON Voice 22 paired with the excellent MOON ACE All-in-one, it is a worthy match and MOON is suggesting their speaker paired with their own electronics is taking the guesswork out of speaker matching. I’ve also driven the MOON Voice 22 with my own magnificent Moor Amps Angel 6 power amplifier with the matching Pre-Angel using the iFi Pro iDSD streaming DAC.

Separately, and briefly for fun, I’ve had a play with a Naim Uniti Star (which is very competitive with the ACE, regarding functionality, performance and price).

Physically

The speakers are on a proper heavy standmount, barely toed in for me and I have ended up with them about 30cm from the rear wall and 2.5m apart. I’m the same distance away. I’ve got rugs and acoustic diffusers everywhere now in addition to the clean and tidy room I started with, so it is a fairly neutral but acoustically good room.

On the stands, the speakers, strangely, do appear to hover as the tapered base works up to the cabinet base and this black taper merges into the room.

Using the MOON ACE there is a solid clunk on turning on the ACE and so too in standby mode, it is very satisfying. The remote with the ACE is very sleek and possibly the classiest I’ve had in the last 12 months.

MOON Voice 22 with the MOON ACE

The MOON MIND App is brilliant and my algorithm in the App seems perfect for my current listening. So, the first thing I need to do is see where I am with these speakers with a familiar track that has scale, significance, and detail. Enter Radiohead’s Subterranean Homesick Alien (Qobuz, FLAC 24-bit, 96kHz) which has the aforementioned scale in this presentation and the resolution to get you very excited. My first experience of MOON’s Voice 22, with the ACE, is pitch perfect. There is a persistent and substantial soundstage that has a scale that belies the size of the system and these standmounted speakers. Next, to see where things are, I turn to Jack White’s Dead Weather and their dynamic track 60 Feet Tall (Qobuz, FLAC 16-bit, 44.1kHz). Here the details with the sticks and snare are impeccable, as the track takes off the splashing cymbals are refined, controlled, and never harsh or overbearing.

Taking things down a step or two Taylor Swift’s exile (Qobuz, FLAC 24-bit, 44.1kHz) suggests the Voice 22 speakers can handle a piano ballad as comfortably as it handles the ultra-aggressive Dead Weather soundtrack.

After a short period, the MOON MIND App takes me onto Let’s Dance to Joy Division by The Wombats (Qobuz, FLAC 24-bit, 44.1kHz). Here, again the Voice 22 take off with a bouncy, dynamic but room-filling presentation. The key takeaway for this reviewer is the scale of the presentation given the size of the footprint, through Jay-Zs Empire State of Mind (MQA Studio, 44.1kHz), Radiohead’s midrange House of Cards (Qobuz, FLAC 24-bit, 44.1kHz), and even Fazil Say’s Chopin Nocturnes (Tidal Masters, 24-bit, 48kHz) dominate the room, should you so wish, or they can serenade you to sleep, with less volume.

MOON Voice 22 with Moor Amps Amplification

…the MOON Voice 22 is capable of relaying this stark change in electronic capability…

Yes, this is over £10,000 worth of electronics, two boxes of pre and power, and yes this is a whopping 150W/ch into 8 Ohms, even more into these 6 Ohms, and these electronics are chalk and cheese when compared to the ACE but this is what happens when you go from all-in-one to a proper pre and power combination (not to mention a top-class streaming DAC, though I might have preferred the MOON 280D).

By a mile, starting with Bob Dylan’s Hurricane (Tidal Master 24 bit, 48kHz), the soundstage is heightened, lighter, and crisper easily and there is a presence here that the ACE will not get to. It is all tighter, vibrant, rhythmic, and bouncy, which means… the MOON Voice 22 is capable of relaying this stark change in electronic capability and for this, there are bragging rights to be had. And, whatever you think of Dylan, this is THE track, and these are THE speakers to give Dylan a fair run.

Next, I’m searching for the bass response from the Voice 22, something this Angel 6 can deliver in spades, in my experience. Kaboom!!! Wow, the Moor reaches down, after the sparkling piano introduction in its delivery of Benson Boone’s GHOST TOWN (Tidal Master 24 bit, 44.1kHz) and I’m certainly getting most of that 45Hz response. These loudspeakers are impressively keeping up with my standard review tracks.

This low-end response is here too with one of my favourite albums of the last 18 months, Arooj Aftab’s Vulture Prince (New Amsterdam Records, Vinyl). I am absolutely captivated by the track Last Night with the detailed snare vibration and the room harmonics here. The lovely double bass is as good as live for me.

Thoughts

…it really does feel as if these Voice 22 loudspeakers are a little special and an audition is required…

The ACE, ‘A Complete Experience’, at £3,500 and the MOON Voice 22, complement each other perfectly which makes this a £6,150 system of the highest order, the MOON MiND system controlling the streaming functionality, is the best there is. Some decent speaker cable and you’re set for the long term in respect of musical enjoyment, it is hard to find any fault with this setup, it is as simple as that.

Separately, it really does feel as if these Voice 22 loudspeakers are a little special and an audition is required, whether you have an ACE or other if you’re in the market for a standmounted solution.

Overall

The MOON Voice 22 is a fine articulate standmount speaker in its own right, and it demands a listen…

With the MOON ACE, this is a really high-quality stereo system without a doubt, there is substantial room-filling sound here.  The MOON Voice 22 is a fine articulate standmount speaker in its own right, and it demands a listen, no matter what electronics you are using.  If this is their first cut at a speaker, I simply cannot wait for the next iteration from MOON, although this is so good, they might not feel the need, but a floorstanding one of these could be Outstanding!

Specification

Full details are on the company’s site.

The distribution of these MOON Voice 22 loudspeakers is through Renaissance Audio.