Minimus 7 vs. Mini Advent

[markshan]

I bought a pair of really clean Mini Advents at the thrift today. Admittedly I bought them thinking that they would be easy to flip, but now I'm thinking perhaps they should go in my bedroom system. The upside to them is that they are aesthetically more pleasing, the downside is that they are a bit larger. I haven't A/B'd yet, and don't expect to have a chance to for a couple days. In the meantime, I am curious about your impressions of how the two models compare. Thanks.

 

[Isotonic]

Advent mini > than Minimus 7.

 

[dkelley]

Advent mini > than Minimus 7.

in every way, it's bigger too, and any small size increase from a speaker as small as the M7 creates a SUBSTANTIAL increase in enclosure volume and therefore Low bass extension and/or efficiency. They SHOULD be better speakers.

but for true mini speakers, which have over time come to be associated with the M7 as the very largest that you find, the M7 is a quite decent speaker.

I'd take baby advents if you got to choose though heard them once. quite preferred them.

 

[JoeESP9]

Own M7's. Heard Mini Advents many times. The Advents are better.

 

[Michael Powers]

I'll 4th that, and suggest that if you find yourself liking the M7's more, it's possible that there might be something wrong with the Advent's.....

 

[Zilch]

Be good if somebody posted a pic of their Mini Advents.... :yes:

 

[newguy1]

Maybe mini advents beside M7's.....

 

[325bmw]

Be good if somebody posted a pic of their Mini Advents.... :yes:

Ask and you shall receive........I use mine for the rear surrounds......love them...never compared them to the M7's......sorry.

I tried to include the wall switch for size..........

 

[markshan]

I expected most people to say the Advent, if for no other reason than it is an "audiophile" brand, but I'm surprised nobody has voted for the Mini 7 yet. They seem to get a lot of love on these forums. Also I was surprised to see that these Advents are ported. Isn't Advent usually a sealed cabinet? It just makes me wonder if these Jensen mad units are of similar quality to other Advents.

 

[terra1]

apples to cantaloupes

I expected most people to say the Advent, if for no other reason than it is an "audiophile" brand, but I'm surprised nobody has voted for the Mini 7 yet. They seem to get a lot of love on these forums.

That's because unless we're talking about the same size cabinet and drivers, it's comparing apples to cantaloupes -- it's a contrived contest. You might as well compare Minimus 7 to Large Advents and get a loser.

Minimus 7s are great value for size, cost, and availability. You have to either go BIGGER, more expensive, or rarer to make a case. No more no less. A speaker's gotta know its limitations, love's not blind.

 

[jimfet]

That thing is so cute. Yes it is.

 

[Stuart Pedaso]

I like the Mini Advent. It's as good a choice as many when you want decent sound in a small space on a budget. But, as pointed out, it's not physically close enough to categorically compare to a Minimus 7.

The Advent will naturally offer a little more range at the low end as a standalone speaker. But neither of these is truly a whole speaker without a subwoofer. Advent made a small passive subwoofer as I recall, that was often paired with, and probably designed for, their Mini's. I believe if you compared the two again, but each set up with a well matched subwoofer, the outcome would not be so certain.

In fact, especially knowing how effective the Zilch/PeteB crossover mod is, if I was looking for satellites in such a system I'd be leaning heavily toward the Minimus 7s.

 

[Zilch]

Thank you, 325, I had never seen them before; they certainly appear quite nicely made.

I'll be on the lookout.... :yes:

 

[markshan]

I like the Mini Advent. It's as good a choice as many when you want decent sound in a small space on a budget. But, as pointed out, it's not physically close enough to categorically compare to a Minimus 7.

I got to A/B them just now and I realize that this is quite correct. I guess I let the word "mini" trick me into thinking that they were of comparable size. I do think that the Advent sounded better, but not blow away better. Both sets of speakers were reasonably flat sounding to me except each had an artificial sounding peak that I suppose was to provide low mid boost to compensate for their size. That peak was a bit lower in frequency in the Advent and was slightly less fatiguing, but both speakers were quite similar (IMHO).

What I realized when I started setting the speakers into my small system is that the Mini Advents are actually much closer in size to my BIC Venturi V52 pair. Both have 5" woofers and shiny dome tweeters. The cabinets are much closer in size. When I compared those it was no contest. The BIC's crushed the Advents. It isn't even close. More bass, a much smaller low mid hump and generally less fatiguing. The BICs sound more like a "real" speaker where the Advents have that "tiny speaker trying too hard" sound. I guess the Minis will end up as originally purposed.