Blue Sky EXO 2.1 MKII Active Studio Monitors

Blue Sky are now a familiar name in the monitoring world, and many of the company's visually distinctive products manage to straddle the home studio and home theatre markets. Their new Exo 2.1 stereo monitoring system uses 2 relatively small satellite speakers and a floor-standing subwoofer to provide full-range coverage, with a desktop remote-control hub providing a means to control the level of the bass and the overall volume. This hub also functions as an input-source connection point, as it includes an iPod input and 3.5mm headphone jack on the front, as well as both XLR/jack combi and phono connectors on the rear. When the headphone jack is used, the speakers are automatically muted.

The Exo 2-way satellite speakers are based around a 3" neodymium concave driver, augmented by a 1" soft-dome neodymium tweeter that sits behind 3 protective bars. The crossover within the satellite is passive and each speaker is powered by its own 35W amplifier, which is housed in the sub so that all the amp and PSU circuitry is situated in one place. Speaker connections are made between the satellites and sub using conventional binding posts, and suitable cables are included with the system. The satellite enclosures are built from three-quarter-inch MDF and feature a textured, black-finish front baffle. They measure just 203mm x 127mm x 127mm and weigh a modest 1.36kg each. Magnetic shielding allows operation close to old-style CRT monitors, and there are inserts to accept an optional omni-mount mounting bracket.

The sealed-box-design subwoofer uses an 8" speaker with a cast-aluminum frame and a 1.5" voice coil. This is mounted in a forward-firing position behind a cloth grille, driven in mono by its dedicated 90W amplifier. The specified frequency response of the sub is 35Hz to 140Hz, 6 dB although the tests were done in anechoic conditions, which extends the response in a typical room down closer to 20Hz. Despite this, the sub is fairly dainty, measuring 330mm x 350mm x 330mm and weighing in at 11.4kg. As with the satellite speakers, the predominant material used in construction is MDF. Four removable spiked feet anchor the box to the floor.

The whole system is controlled from the hub, which links to the sub via a captive mini-DIN cable. Here you'll find the physical connections for the input formats described earlier, as well as the phones output. All the inputs are always active and are effectively mixed, which means you can monitor up to 3 simultaneous sources if you wish. Usefully, the subwoofer level can be independently adjusted from the hub rather than on the sub itself. This arrangement works well, though it would have been more sensible to make the sub adjustment a screwdriver preset (or to feature some other protective mechanism), to prevent it from getting moved accidentally.