Loudspeakers

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Loudspeakers

Monitor Audio Gold 300

Hi-Fi Choice | Mar 18, 2020 | 0 comments

MA’s Gold series combines luxury with fine sound, but the flagship floorstander takes things to the next level

Loudspeakers

Monitor Audio GX200 - £2,300

Ed Selley | Sep 06, 2011 | 0 comments

Precious metal Monitor Audio's new Gold GX series incorporates many of the refinements pioneered by the more costly Platinum range, says Paul Messenger Monitor Audio began operations nearly forty years ago, but is probably best known for introducing and proselytising metal diaphragm drive units, initially for its tweeter domes and soon afterwards for the cones used in its bass and midrange drivers. Add in some very classily veneered enclosures that were manufactured in its own cabinet shop and the company established a template that still holds good today. Twenty years down the line, plenty has changed of course, but the same core values remain at the heart of Monitor Audio’s more upmarket ranges. The first Platinum series models appeared some four years ago and have been covered extensively in Hi-Fi Choice in recent times: PL100 (HFC 343); PL200 (HFC 330) and PL300 (HFC 301).

Loudspeakers

Monitor Audio Monitor 300

Hi-Fi Choice | Sep 11, 2018 | 0 comments

Has hi-fi got better in the past few decades? Take loudspeakers for example; low-cost designs from the seventies were somewhere between dreadful and dire, but improvements in design and manufacturing now make it possible to do so much better. This point is beautifully illustrated by the new Monitor 300. To be frank, the price has you wondering if the company has inadvertently left off a zero. From a distance it looks like a swanky high-end floorstander – indeed, you could say the same from moderately close up.

Loudspeakers

Monitor Audio Platinum 100 - £2,500

Ed Selley | Mar 01, 2011 | 0 comments

Monitor Audio Platinum 100 This baby model in Monitor Audio’s gorgeous Platinum ‘flagship’ range features a ribbon tweeter Founded in 1972, Monitor Audio now qualifies as one of Britain’s longest established speaker brands, especially amongst those still in UK ownership. Although it’s best known for successful ‘mainstream’ models like the Bronze and Silver series, the company took a significant step towards the high end in 2007, with the introduction of Platinum models like this £2,500 per pair Platinum 100 two-way standmount. A ribbon tweeter is the hallmark of all the Platinums and here it’s combined with a 165mm bass/mid driver in an exceptionally solid and beautifully finished enclosure with a decidedly complex shape. The back and sides are formed as a continuous curve, with mildly convex sides, a slightly concave back and quite gently curved edges.

Loudspeakers

Monitor Audio Silver 8 - £1,250

| Jan 26, 2015 | 0 comments

Driven a new car lately? They’re very good, aren’t they? Even a relatively anonymous, middle priced Eurobox like a Ford Focus is now capable of safe, comfortable long distance travel, and is no slouch around country lanes. It’s economical, nippy and practical, so what’s not to like? Loudspeakers are getting this way too. Having started reviewing them in the mid-nineties, I come across fewer downright bad ones now. Perhaps it’s because we’re a bit further down the road, or up the learning curve, to know how best to design a loudspeaker.

Loudspeakers

Monitor Audio Studio

Hi-Fi Choice | Oct 05, 2018 | 0 comments

When Monitor Audio first unveiled its Studio standmount loudspeaker at the Bristol Show in February, I was genuinely intrigued. Unlike pretty much everything else in the company’s extensive loudspeaker lineup, it doesn’t belong to a wider range of products but is instead a design that, for now at least, exists entirely on its own. It has no claims to multi-channel use or smart home integration and it surprised visitors to the show by debuting early, having been planned to launch at the Munich High End Show in May,but instead beingready in time to be on display at Bristol.

Loudspeakers

Monopulse 62S - £1,195

Ed Selley | Jul 20, 2010 | 0 comments

Monopulse 62S £1,195 Monopulse breaks the rules on standmount stereotypes with the help of its proprietary super-tweeter The basis of Monopulse loudspeakers lies in applying audio lessons that were learned working with phased-array radar systems, the prime purpose being to reproduce transient leading edges accurately. The consequent need to time-align the outputs of the three drive units at the listening seat imposes some constraints on the driver layout. These are solved by adopting a floorstanding configuration (which determines the height of the drivers above the floor), by placing the tweeter beneath the bass/mid drive unit, and by mounting a super-tweeter on the top, set back from the front panel under a metal protective hoop. The complexity of this arrangement perhaps goes some way towards explaining the decision to go for a fabric covering over the front and sides of the enclosure.

Loudspeakers

Morel Soundspot 2.1 Ultra - £699

| Jan 23, 2015 | 0 comments

With the exception of REL and other longstanding subwoofer manufacturers, the concept of the 2. 1 system is something that has really only come into its own since the arrival of the sub/sat package in the home cinema boom at the start ofthe millennium. The concept of small speakers that take up little space and are underpinned by a subwoofer that can be tucked away out of sight had advantages for getting a home cinema system into a space that otherwise couldn’t accept one. It didn’t take a genius to see this could be applied to a hi-fi setup too.

Loudspeakers

Neat Acoustics introduces new Ekstra floorstanding loudspeaker

Hi-Fi Choice | Apr 03, 2019 | 0 comments

With a configuration first seen on Neat's Ultimatum XL6, the Ekstra is going into production...

Loudspeakers

Neat Acoustics Motive SX1 - £1,885

Ed Selley | Jan 12, 2015 | 0 comments

British audio companies often adopt a more relaxed pace of evolution to their product ranges compared with some other countries and with speakers in particular, models and ranges can go many years without replacement. Neat Acoustics’ loudspeakers are a classic exampleof the‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ approach – models like the Petite and Elite have been membersof the range almost since the company’s founding, albeit with continued upgrades. So, when the company decides to carry outa refresh, the result is always going to be interesting. This time it is the affordable Motive range that has been given a good going over after eight years (with some more subtle updates during that time).

Loudspeakers

Neat Acoustics Orkestra

Hi-Fi Choice | Dec 18, 2023 | 0 comments

Neat's floorstander builds on recent design philosophy, but fills a slightly different role

Loudspeakers

Neat Motive 1 - £1,490

Ed Selley | Jul 27, 2011 | 0 comments

Neat Motive 1 Neat by both name and nature, this compact floorstander is physically, rather than sonically laid back A well-established operation, Neat’s reputation was founded on a small, but very communicative standmount called the Petite. The product portfolio has expanded considerably since then; the four stereo pairs in the Motive range consisting of three ultra-compact floorstanders and a standmount. Though still quite small by any standards, the two-and-a-half-way Motive 1 is the largest of these, a little taller than the two-way Motive 2, in order to make room for an extra bass-only driver beneath the main bass/mid driver. The twin 135mm drivers have 95mm cones, while the tweeter has an inverted 25mm titanium dome with integral-pleated surround.

Loudspeakers

Ohidian unleashes Incanto loudspeaker

Hi-Fi Choice | Nov 15, 2022 | 0 comments

New UK-built three-way floorstander

Loudspeakers

Opera Callas - £2,875

Ed Selley | Mar 01, 2011 | 0 comments

Opera Callas This very compact and exquisitely presented stand-mount has a thoroughly unconventional multi-tweeter Opera and its associated electronics brand Unison Research both share premises near Treviso in north east Italy. And in the best Italian tradition, this standmount looks absolutely gorgeous and is very substantially built too, though it’s not exactly cheap at £2,875 per pair. A solitary and rather small 135mm driver with a 100mm diameter magnesium alloy cone covers the bass and midrange. It has a large (38mm) fixed solid copper ‘bullet’ phase plug and is assisted by reflex loading from twin rear ports.

Loudspeakers

Ophidian P3 Evolution

Hi-Fi Choice | Dec 17, 2019 | 0 comments

Ophidian is quickly building a reputation for knockout sonics and this floorstander shows why

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