Roksan Record Player, Rotel Electronics, Monitor Audio Speakers, Nordost Cables

Making their North American debut in the Rotel/Monitor Audio room were Rotel's P5 preamp, with built-in 32- bit/768kHz DAC ($CAD5299), and 1080Wpc M8 mono amps ($CAD18,000/pair). Speakers were Monitor Audio Gold 300s, said to employ technology trickled down from the company's flagship Platinum ll model.

The source consisted of the Roksan 20 Plus turntable ($CAD5300) with Sara unipivot tonearm ($CAD3600) and Shiraz cartridge ($CAD5300). Roksan's Caspian VSC S2 speed control/phono stage completed the package. Though lacking in ultimate scale and bloom, the sound of the system was delicate and detailed, with good flow and a nice sense of rhythm. Ancillary equipment included cables by Nordost and snazzy-looking stands by Norstone.

COMMENTS
RH's picture

(I attended the show today)

Those speakers were beautiful - among the most gorgeous ebony finishes I've seen for a speaker.

Unfortunately I found the top end to be "get me outta here" bright, bleached and icy sounding. Which has often been the case before when I've encountered the MA speakers using the ribbon tweeters.

(I own and really like a few MA speakers, including the older bronze stand mounted speakers. I haven't liked the direction they went in the upper frequencies in the quest for every greater detail).

Bogolu Haranath's picture

Monitor Audio Gold 300 speakers were reviewed by Stereophile, Nov. 2019 issue :-) ...........

Ortofan's picture

... Monitor Audio Gold 300 speakers, the frequency response was remarkably flat, especially at high frequencies.

It's a bit disappointing to see that Rotel has adopted a cooling solution using fans for its latest power amps.

At about the same price point, instead of the Roksan analog disc playback setup, I'd rather have a Luxman PD-171AL turntable, SME 309 tonearm, Ortofon Cadenza Red cartridge and Parasound Halo JC 3+ phono preamp.

Bogolu Haranath's picture

We need the new McIntosh C2700 vacuum tube preamplifier with tone controls ($8,000), to soften the sound a little bit :-) .........

X