The backstory—or parts of it—is important to fully understand the front story: this review. So stick with me. Founded by Wilhelm Franz in Berlin in 1940, EMT began as a…
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In 2018, Micha Huber's HiFiction AG, manufacturer of Thales tonearms and turntables, assumed control of EMT Tontechnik, taking over EMT's cartridge business including development, production, repair, and international distribution—with the exception of the EMT broadcast cartridge line for the EU market, which is still distributed by EMT Studiotechnik out of the company's original Black Forest home in Mahlberg, Germany.
Loudspeakers from British manufacturer Monitor Audio have consistently received favorable reviews in Stereophile over the past decades. From the R952MD I reviewed in January 1988 to the Silver 500 7G reviewed by Rob Schryer in February 2022, Monitor Audio speakers have offered excellent sound quality and high-quality engineering. So when I was offered the company's Platinum 300 3G for review, I readily agreed. Having lived with standmounts and minimonitors for the past year, I felt it would be good to spend some time with a pair of large, full-range, three-way floorstanders.
The…
A track I have recently been using to judge a speaker's low-frequency behavior is "All Too Well (Taylor's Version)" from Taylor Swift's album Red (24/96 FLAC, Big Machine Records/Qobuz). At 2:25, when Swift sings "'Cause there we are again in the middle of the night," the bass line drops an octave. The effect sounds awesome even on the little KEF LS50s, but on the Monitor Audio with the ports open, it was all too much.
I blocked both ports on each speaker and listened again to the low-frequency warble tones. Now the tones were reproduced evenly down to 63Hz, but the 50Hz and 40Hz…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-loaded, floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive units: two 8" (203mm) RDT III woofers, 4" (102mm) RDT III midrange unit, MPD III tweeter. Port tuning frequency: 32Hz. Crossover frequencies: 650Hz, 3kHz. Frequency response: 25Hz–60kHz, –6dB (free-field); 17Hz–60kHz, –6dB (in-room). Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Minimum impedance: 4.0 ohms at 3.75kHz. Sensitivity: 88dB/2.83V/m (freefield). Recommended power: 200–800W, music program. Maximum continuous power handling: 400W, pink noise with 6dB crest factor. Supplied accessories: screw-in cone…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital sources: Roon Nucleus+ file server; Ayre Acoustics C-5xeMP universal player; MBL N31 CD player/DAC; Ayre Acoustics QA-9 A/D converter; NetGear Nighthawk router.
Integrated amplifiers: NAD M10, Audio Research I/50, Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800.2.
Power amplifiers: Parasound Halo JC 1+ monoblocks, Naim Classic 200 Series NAP 250.
Loudspeakers: KEF LS50.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Vodka (Ethernet), AudioQuest Coffee (USB), DH Labs (1m, AES3). Interconnect: AudioQuest Wild Blue (balanced). Speaker: AudioQuest Robin Hood. AC: AudioQuest…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system and a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone with an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the Monitor Audio Platinum 300 3G's farfield frequency behavior and dispersion. For the nearfield responses, I used an Earthworks QTC-40 mike, which has a ¼" capsule and thus doesn't present a significant obstacle to the sound. I also used this microphone for the in-room behavior. The impedance magnitude and electrical phase angle were measured with Dayton Audio's DATS V2 system.
As I was talking with an audio-retailer friend recently, he reached for a Rolls-Royce metaphor to describe the McIntosh brand. Expensive? Sure, but not as expensive as some boutique high-end products. Fast? Sure, but there are faster things—also bigger things, smaller things, wackier things, and cheaper things.
But when you look at a Rolls or a Bentley, you immediately recognize it for what it is, and you want to sit down in it. And so it is with McIntosh, except you don't want to sit down in it; you want to sit down in front of it, between the speakers of the hi-fi system it occupies.…
The Golden Road (to Unlimited Devotion)
Setup was easy. After connecting cables, my first order of business was to narrow the many available inputs down to the ones I actually use: one balanced, line-level input fed from my Bricasti DAC and one phono input from my VPI turntable. Unusually for a preamplifier, you must also choose an output, tubed or solid state. Any unused outputs can be turned off. Inputs can be renamed, their trim levels adjusted. I set phono gain and loading to appropriate levels. Then I started listening.
I began my listening by A/B-ing solid state and…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Two-channel, hybrid (tubed and solid state), dual-chassis analog preamplifier with phono stage. Vacuum tube complement: six 12AX7A, four 12AT7. Line inputs: six balanced (XLR), four unbalanced (RCA). Phono inputs: two (RCA). Outputs: two balanced (one solid state, one tubed, XLR), one unbalanced fixed, one unbalanced variable (RCA), one headphone (¼", selectable impedance). Input impedance: 50k ohms balanced, 25k ohms unbalanced. Maximum output voltage: 20V RMS balanced, 10V RMS unbalanced. Frequency response: 20Hz–20kHz, +0, –0.5dB; 10Hz– 100kHz, +0…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: VPI HW-40 turntable, VPI 12" Fatboy tonearm, Pro-Ject Classic EVO turntable, Lyra Etna cartridge, Ortofon Bronze Cadenza cartridge, Sumiko Amethyst cartridge.
Digital sources: MacBook Air running Tidal, Roon, Qobuz. Bricasti M1 Series II DAC, Musical Fidelity M1 CDT transport, Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 T.
Preamplification: Audio Research Corporation Phono REF3 phono preamplifier, Audio Research Corporation REF6 preamplifier, McIntosh C2700 preamplifier.
Power amplifiers: McIntosh MC462 Quad Balanced Stereo Amplifier, McIntosh MA252…