SSI 2009

Stereophile readers often wonder about how products are chosen for review, and, as I said at the SSI "Ask the Editors" panel discussion, the Monitor Audio Platinum 200 provides a case in point.

I had heard the Monitor Audio Platinum 300 at last year's show, and was sufficiently impressed that I talked to Monitor Audio rep Sheldon Ginn about reviewing one of the speakers in the Platinum series. The Platinum 300 was an obvious potential candidate, but it had been around for a while, and the new speaker, just introduced at that time, was the Platinum 100, a smaller, stand-mounted model. I was interested, but I wasn't sure if it was the right choice for me, given that I didn't have that much experience reviewing speakers in its category. I vacillated between choosing the 300 and the 100, and it never came to requesting review samples of either speaker.

Fast forward to April, 2009, and the Monitor Audio display at SSI2009. The Platinum 200 was on demo: this is the latest speaker from Monitor Audio, not yet in production, and is a smaller version of the 300, sharing what appears to be the same tweeter. (Sheldon wasn't sure—it might be even further developed.) In any case, the system with the Platinum 200's had a lovely sound; I thought wouldn't mind spending some time with these speakers. And so, with JA's approval, the review was on. I don't know exactly how I'll find the speaker's performance in my own room and system, but the speaker passed my the first criterion for selecting a product for review: it intrigued me enough for me to want to spend some time with it, and made me think that Stereophile readers would be interested in hearing about how it performed. (And, for the record, I have no idea, and don't care, whether Monitor Audio is or was an advertiser, or ever will be in the future.)