[Listening test] Lonpoo LP42M - active minimonitors

Product: Lonpoo LP42M - active bookshelf loudspeakers
Manufacturer: Lonpoo - China
Suggested retail price: circa €/$110/pair, depending on offers and shipping
Reviewer: Lucio Cadeddu - TNT-Audio Italy
Reviewed: May, 2025

Four years have passed since I tested the Lonpoo LP42X, the active version of the amazing LP42, which quickly became a best-seller on the market of entry-level speakers. That first active series was followed shortly thereafter by an identical version (same name!) but with more inputs, including digital ones, tone controls and a remote control. Lonpoo have not let much time pass - just a couple of years - and here is a new, completely renewed version, called LP42M which, I imagine, does not replace the LP42X, given that they have some relevant differences.

A closer look

The LP42M's are very different from the former models: you get new drivers and a new, larger cabinet. The electronic section is still equipped with remote control, tone controls and digital inputs (coaxial, optical and Bluetooth) and it also retains the line input, both on RCA and 3.5mm minijack. All audio inputs, including the line level one, are managed by a single all-purpose chip, the mysterious BP1048B2 from the Chinese company MV Silicon, a chipset which also takes care of DSP management. The line inputs saturate quite easily, it suffices to connect a standard CD player output. If your line source doesn't have a way to adjust its output, you can't connect it to these speakers. Hence, to avoid line input overload, I've been forced to use a CD player with adjustable output. No problem occurs when you connect a smartphone headphone output to the line input. In any case, this is a major design flaw that has never occourred to me in, say, 40 years of HiFi testing.

The power amp section still relies on the usual TPA3116 Class D chipset. The USB input only works with pen drives, there is no PC interface and, incredibly, the very useful HDMI ARC input is now gone (why?). Therefore, the TV can only be connected via digital or line level outputs. The DSP offers different settings classified by musical genre (flat, classical, rock, jazz). A front switch controls both power on/off and volume. It rotates ad libitum, so when the maximum volume is attained the speaker emits a brief beep. A colour-changing LED indicates the different inputs which have been selected.

The drivers are completely new: the woofer, still a 4" unit, trades carbon fibre for aluminum, while the tweeter is a smaller unit, with a silk dome and neodymium magnet. The woofer's magnet is remarkably huge, practically as big as the driver itself. The crossover is still very simple: just a capacitor (MKP 3.3uF at 5%) and a 1.5Ω attenuation resistor on the tweeter. The internal cables still have the usual, intelligent foam rubber winding to avoid noise and vibrations when air passes through the passive box but are strangely absent in the active one (again, why?). The drivers are bass-reflex loaded by means of a rear-firing port. The power supply is located inside the speaker. One of the two speakers is completely passive (slave) and must be connected to the active one (master) via a speaker cable, which is also supplied. The multi-standard binding post complete the package, and look of decent quality.

The MDF cabinet, well filled with sheets of sound-absorbing material, is now larger: cm 25H x 15.5W x 17D, while the weight is 5kg per pair. The claimed technical specifications speak of a frequency response ranging from 40Hz to 20kHz.

Never rest on your laurels, but if something works well...why change it?

Let's clarify a bit first: the first LP42X, which I reviewed a few years ago, only had the line input; the second series, let's call these LP42X mkII to avoid confusion, were identical in terms of cabinet and drivers, but the electronic section was completely different, being able to handle digital signals and even HDMI ARC. This LP42M is electronically similar to the latter, but both the cabinet and the drivers are different, as already mentioned. I performed the comparison with both the original LP42X and the latest LP42X mkII.

Let's clear up any misunderstandings right away: the first LP42X's sound MUCH BETTER than the later ones and also than these LP42M. The comparison is simply embarrassing, both in terms of tonal balance and reproducible sound pressure. Having no limitations on the volume knob, the first LP42X can play really loud, with a solid, full-bodied and dynamic sound. The performance of both the LP42X mkII and these new LP42M is very different. The electronic volume limiter makes both these speakers play at least 10 dB quieter than their elders. It's a simply enormous difference. If you like to listen at high volume, forget about both the LP42X mkII and the LP42M: in my listening position I struggled to reach 80 dB SPL peaks. These values can still be sufficient for close listening (desktop type) or in less tolerant "condominium" environments.

From a qualitative point of view, the old LP42X win hands down, and it is hard to believe that we are listening to the heirs of the amazing passive LP42s. There is very little that recalls their sound, apart from the usual openness in the high range. That said, the differences between the LP42X mkII and the new LP42M are not huge, but they are all in favour of the latest version. Clearly the new drivers and the new cabinet have some small advantages. Don't imagine day/night differences, though. Let's say that the mid-high range is more refined and cleaner, even if it should be attenuated by at least 2 dB to be in balance with the rest of the audio spectrum. Even the bass range is slightly better: it is more extended and homogeneous, while the LP42X mkII struggle to follow the music pace correctly, with the woofer being slower than the tweeter.

What is most annoying, however, both in this new version and in the previous one, is an evident dip in the mid-range, which takes away body from voices and instruments, especially percussion. These sound lifeless, to say the least.

From a dynamic point of view, the LP42M gains some dB, sounding more agile and reactive. Even from the point of view of the 3D image they score better: the sound-stage appears to be not linked to the speakers, and it's also wider and deeper. These are not striking differences, but they can be perceived. Unfortunately, there's not enough meat to make these speakers earn a full pass mark and it is a shame because the drivers seem to be able to perform better.

The problem is the electronic section, which heavily manipulates the signal, with a double A/D - D/A conversion for the analogue signal, to which one must add the evidently evil hand of the DSP and the built-in volume limiter. Even passing through the digital inputs, however, the situation does not improve. Just look at the diagram above, that is, the input management performed by the mysterious chipset...the problem is clearly hidden there! I would add that, perhaps, even the power supply section for the TPA3116 is not up to the task, as it is clearly very different from the massive outboard PSU which equipped the first version of the LP42X.

Some advice/tweak

Before judging the speakers, as usual, let them play at a high volume for a few dozen hours. The supplied speaker cable is not bad, but could be improved. The cap on the tweeter can also be improved, we have covered the topic in a separate article. The tweeters might sound too bright, so you could think of attenuating them by increasing the value of the resistor in series. It is 1.5Ω unit by default, for an attenuation of around -3dB. In my opinion another 2-3 dB of attenuation could do some good but I doubt it would fix the dip in the midrange, the result of either a wrong crossover point between the drivers or, even worse, some electronic manipulation. Do not hope to fix it by means of the tone controls either, as it won't work.

Complaints

Manufacturing & Finish.
The level of finish is very good for the price, certainly superior to the old passive LP42s. I find the elimination of the HDMI ARC input inexplicable, while the DSP pre-sets are quite useless, better to leave everything flat and, possibly, help a little with the tone controls, in case of non-ideal environments or listening at very low volume. I appreciate the presence of the front placed power button and volume potentiometer, as well as on the remote control. In desktop use it is very convenient to be able to manage everything without using the remote control or putting your hands on the rear panel. As said, the line inputs (both the RCA and the 3.5mm minijack) do not accept a 2V line level signal of, say, a standard CD player. The line input saturates and the sound output becomes extremely distorted. This is a serious flaw that should be addressed as soon as possible (it seems they're working on it). N.B. I've tested two different pairs, just to be sure.

Finally, I think the idea of not indicating in any way the chosen DSP equalization is terrible. To revert to the flat position (DSP excluded) you have to press RESET on the remote control or remember how many times you pressed the EQ button. The tone controls can only be adjusted manually on the rear panel of the master speaker and do not have a centered “zero” position.
Sound. The LP42M's represent a small step forward compared to the LP42X mkII, but 100 steps back compared to the first series: substantially insufficient sound pressure, lifeless sound, with an evident dip in the midrange, super-bright high range. The incredible sound of the first passive LP42 and the first active LP42X is far gone. This confirms the annoying tradition of some Chinese companies that churn out products at a constant rate but, evidently, they do not listen to them. Or, if they do listen to them, they do not have the experience or the means to understand if they sound good or not. Hence, some products sound unbelievably good (by chance?) while others are horrible. For sure, the designer of the LP42M is not the same person who designed the first LP42 and LP42X.

Conclusions

The LP42M's are a tiny step forward compared to the second series LP42X, but not enough to deserve a recommendation. I say it bluntly: these LP42M have been a big, bitter disappointment. It is possible that the new drivers can do better (or so it seems) but first the designers should go back to the origins, eliminate all the digital electronic section and leave only the line input, amplified by the good TPA3116, equipped with a decent power supply. If you really want to add digital inputs, do it through a separate D/A section. Internal, but separate. And throw the DSP to the nettles. And fix the line inputs overload problem. In other words, these speakers need to be deeply revised. What a shame! I'm disappointed, to say the least.

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Lonpoo LP42M - active mini-monitors

Never rest on your laurels, but if something works well...why change it?

A closer look

Never rest on your laurels, but if something works well...why change it?

Some advice/tweak

Complaints

Conclusions