You'd think that M-Audio had the monitor market pretty well covered with their Studiophile range. . . there's the entry-level AV series, the next-step-up BX-series and at the top of the pecking order, the DSM1's, direct relations to the DigiDesign DSM1s designed by the much-lauded PMC of Britain. But the new M-Audio CX-Series monitors are the response to what M-Audio saw as a gap in their market coverage -- a consumer sweet-spot, if you will -- right at the upper-mid price-range.

The CX-series is comprised of two models, the CX5 (5" woofer, 90 watts) and the CX8 (8" woofer, 120 watts). Both models feature a new cabinet design that incorporates M-Audio's "OptImage IV high-performance wave-guide." This awkwardly-named design provides "an expanded, layered soundstage" which in turn yields a larger than normal sweet-spot. M-Audio says that the OptImage IV design is the result of "years of research and work with waveguide design." And "OptImage" was the best thing they could come up with to name it?

Aimed at the serious project studio, the CX monitors feature a number of "room tuning" controls on the back for combating the ill-effects of placement within less-than-ideal acoustic situation. LF Cutoff, MF Boost and HF Trim switches provide attenuation along specific bands, and an Acoustic Space control. . . well, it's not clear exactly what it does, but it has detentes at -4dB, -2dB and Flat.

The woofers are made of Kevlar for wide excursions and resonance damping, and the tweeters are silk-dome for a smooth high end that extends up to 30k. These active speakers are internally bi-amped; a combination of the well-tuned crossover-threshold and the particular driver mounting design produces a very high headroom. These monitors should be very difficult to distort.

With MSRPs of $399.99 and $299.99 for the CX8 and CX5, respectively, these new monitors are sure to make a dent in the mid-level reference monitor market.