From an audiophile perspective, the speakers’ design leans in a lifestyle direction, but I’ve seen and heard them, and they look and sound very good. They’re also flexible placement-wise. They include DSP technology and these being designed for wide-dispersion, the sweet spot isn’t some little nook in the center of your sofa; walk around the…
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The Marantz product that was under press embargo? A speaker! Actually, two speakers: the Marantz Horizon ($3500) and its larger sibling, Marantz Grand Horizon ($5500). The speakers are intended for single-speaker wireless playback.
An ancient connection: Monitor Audio began in 1972 when John Bartlett, founder of the innovative retail chain Audio T, introduced me to Mike Beeny, manager of an Audio T branch near Cambridge, and Mo Iqbal, a local electronics wizard. Mike suggested that Mo and I join him to start a loudspeaker company. Monitor was a fashionable hi-fi term, and I suggested we name it Monitor Audio Ltd. Each director put £300 into the company account. It was registered as a PLC at an address in Teversham, Cambridgeshire. We rented an upper floor office in a warehouse close to Mo's home, since Mo worked all…
Setup and sound
Following delivery and installation, I let the Gold 300 6Gs' temperature stabilize and subjected them to some high-power musical exertion; this loudspeaker does run in. First impressions were of a well-balanced sound with no obvious coloration or anomalous response feature—a sound so neutral and natural that they could be considered self-effacing, almost bland. With time and careful listening, the impression of blandness passed. I realized that everything was there sonically but that the usual bumps and wrinkles had been ironed out so that the speaker seemed lacking in…
Following delivery and installation, I let the Gold 300 6Gs' temperature stabilize and subjected them to some high-power musical exertion; this loudspeaker does run in. First impressions were of a well-balanced sound with no obvious coloration or anomalous response feature—a sound so neutral and natural that they could be considered self-effacing, almost bland. With time and careful listening, the impression of blandness passed. I realized that everything was there sonically but that the usual bumps and wrinkles had been ironed out so that the speaker seemed lacking in…
Sidebar 1: Bolt Tension Optimization
The Monitor Audio Gold 300 6G has four tensioning bolts, clearly visible along the back of the cabinet. These bolts serve two main purposes: to compress the gasket between the driver and the cabinet to achieve an airtight seal, and to "detune" any resonances in the driver chassis. Designer Michael Hedges cites a third, smaller benefit: additional bracing for the cabinet's back panel—though he insists this has only minimal influence on the sound. After all, the cabinet is made from thick MDF—double-thick in critical spots—and already braced internally…
Sidebar 2: Specifications
Description: Three-way bass-reflex ("HiVe II Ported") loudspeaker with two rear-facing ports. Driver complement: one MPD III tweeter, one 3" (76mm) HDT, C-CAM midrange, two 6" (152.4mm) HDT C-CAM bass drivers. Crossover frequencies: 800Hz, 2.7kHz LF. Port tuning frequency: 35Hz. Frequency response, free field: 45Hz–60kHz, –6dB; in-room: 28Hz–60kHz, –6dB. Sensitivity (free field): 87dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms with a minimum of 3.9 ohms at 165Hz. Maximum peak SPL (AES75, Z-weighted): 117dB. Continuous power handling (CTA 426-B): 250W. Recommended…
Sidebar 3: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: Linn LP12 turntable with Keel chassis, Karousel main bearing, Radikal motor control. Naim ARO tonearm and Lyra Delos cartridge.
Digital sources: Naim UnitiCore network server and S/PDIF source. Roon Nucleus+. NAIM ND555 Streamer-DAC with two 555PS(DR) power supplies.
Preamplification: Townshend Allegri Reference line control. Phono: Naim SuperLine-SuperCap DR.
Power amplifier: Naim NAP250 (2023).
Loudspeakers: FinkTeam KIM, BBC LS3/5a.
Cables: Speaker: Transparent XL MM2, Naim NAC A5. Interconnects: Naim standard and…
Sidebar 4: Martin's Measurements
On axis, the primary frequency response measured respectably flat out to 12kHz with a minor, narrow prominence in the 14–18kHz range that was only present directly on axis. Output continued beyond audibility before finally settling at –10dB at a nicely extended 33kHz. Notably absent was the resonant peak often seen at or above 20kHz; its absence here is no doubt due to this tweeter's pleated-ribbon design (footnote 1). Whether coincidental or not, the high treble sounded sweet and never drew attention to itself.
Tested on axis, pair matching was…
Sidebar 5: JA's Measurements
I measured a Monitor Audio Gold 300 6G loudspeaker with the serial number 900005. I used DRA Labs' MLSSA system, a calibrated DPA 4006 microphone, and an Earthworks microphone preamplifier to measure the speaker's quasi-anechoic frequency- and time-domain behavior in the farfield (footnote 1). I used an Earthworks QTC-40 microphone, which has a small ¼" diameter capsule, for the nearfield responses.
The Monitor Audio…
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To me, Burmester equipment is the audio equivalent of Porsche cars—sleek-looking, expensive, and designed for high performance. And as my visit to the Burmester room proved, Burmester gear is fun and exciting to listen to, which is what I assume driving a Porsche is like. (Maybe one day, I'll let you know for sure.)
The Burmester room was showing an all-Burmester system, down to the cabling, that included a Music Center 111 ($55,000) music server/CD player/CD ripper/preamplifier, a 164Wpc, 218 power amplifier ($50,000), a pair of BC150…
All Prices listed in CA$.
This was one of my favorite demos at the show. It sounded so well balanced, it seemed to deliver everything in the right proportions. Bold but not in-your-face; tonally ripe but not too warm; detailed but not stringent; effortless but weighty, and so on.
In the setup I heard—there was also a Tidal-streaming setup I didn't hear—the source was a Stable 33.3 33.2 Mk2 turntable ($13,900) equipped with a Black Beauty carbon-fibre based tonearm ($11,500) and low-output Dynavector DV-20X2 MC cartridge ($1380), feeding a Luna Cables Red MC step-up transformer…