Mondo Mint Configuration & Build Quality

I like twists. I like my movies with twists, my pretzels with twists, and power tools that utilize an easy twisting motion to replace blades and bits. So it was with great interest that I took a second look at the Mondo Mint system after realizing it was both a lifestyle music product AND a wireless iPod system. The wireless iPod port was what really piqued my interest. After all, it's not every system that allows you to drop your iPod into a local OR remote charging station and have either location play it through the same set of speakers. The Mondo also closely resembles a double-wide Apple Mini, with the same color motif and rounded corners. It's a nice look and the machine will fit in well with an AppleTV should you decide to go that route.

Configuration & Build Quality

Setting up the system was easy, and I found that you can use the Mint in a number of ways. After studying the parts (User Manuals are for sissies… but they do make for good bathroom reading after you make an initial go at it) I was ready to begin. Unboxing the unit (which comes well-packed and protected with custom foam packaging and a nice box for the iPod dock and accessories) I laid everything out. There are two speakers, the main amplifier unit, a remote iPod dock, credit-card style remote control, antenna and assorted cables. It's not a tough system to assemble and everything connects the way you'd expect.

The speakers connect to the main unit via supplied Canare cables. These cables are 16-gauge and have a unique termination method. Apparently the cable ends go through a hole, wrap half-way around the connector and are hidden under the screwed-on plastic strain relief. There is no soldering and strain relief is limited to the plastic banana jack covers. Now I'm not one to spend any time on cables, but these seemed like they could lose connection at any time or at the very least pull out over time if you don't handle them correctly. To be safe, be sure to grab them from the red and black covers and not by pulling on the cables themselves.

The woofers are basically NS4-255-4D drivers from Aurasound and feature a 4" high-output woofer with a neodymium ring magnet that has an unusual shape to it that contributes to its excursion ability (nearly 1" peak to peak, though I never gave it enough juice to make it throw that far). The driver was wired to the crossover via two 12-gauge soldered cables and was flush-mounted to the enclosure.

The enclosure itself is made up of 1/2-inch wood with a thick piano-gloss coating that gives each speaker a nice white sheen. The corners are rounded and build quality is impeccable for this price. The inside of the cabinet was well-damped (over-damped?) with polyester fill - and with a ported speaker this small I wonder if it actually might have changed the tuning frequency of the box.

The tweeter is essentially a BC25SC55-04 which is meant to be recess-mounted. On the back I noticed a heat sink which, in combination with the ferrofluid in the magnet gap, helps cool the driver and aid in handling more power output. This is a decent driver with an effective frequency response up to 25 kHz - and we all like to play tricks with the neighborhood dogs every now and then, don't we? The tweeter was mounted almost on top of the flared port which extended about 75% into the cabinet. At the bottom was the crossover, which featured air coil inductors and polypro bypass capacitors in parallel with a series electrolytic cap to reduce equivalent series resistance (ESR) in what appeared to be a 2nd order LP and HP (12dB/octave) configuration.