I had a fun and interesting day today and was looking forward to sharing some thoughts and experiences. Some technical info, a fair bit of personal opinion and some recommendations to follow, so if you have a few minutes to spare I hope you enjoy the read and maybe find some useful information along the way.
This started with my coming across an ad for Monitor Audio Gold 200 4G speakers. These retail for about C$6900 ($5475 US). These have the RST (Rigid Surface Technology) coated drivers and coated ribbon tweeter. The asking price was C$3250 in near mint condition and I was seriously thinking of making the 7 hour drive to Montreal to check them out. Monitor Audio Gold was a dream speaker in my eyes. The gloss ebony finish is gorgeous (and a C$1200 option).
Before making such a long journey, I thought I would check Audio Connexion in Burlington as they often have used and B-stock speakers on sale and they are only 1.5 hours away. Sure enough, they had a pair of C-stock Monitor Audio Gold 200 5G speakers also in ebony, for C$4500 ($3570 US). The 5G has woofers that are 1" larger than the 4G, a redesigned smaller mid and a
micro pleated driver (MPD) for the tweeter, which borrows tech from the Platinum line. The crossover on the 4G is 2500Hz while on the 5G it is 3500Hz which should improve the mid-range by getting further out of the vocal band. By all rights, the 5G should be a significant improvement over the 4G.
So I talked things over with my wife and we decided to drop her off at the Ikea while I speaker shop. Audio Connexion is just off the 403 highway and pretty easy to get to (about 5 miles from the Ikea). A good size show room with a decent selection and several listening rooms. I asked about the 5G and they were right in the front room. They retail for C$7500 but had a crack in the top right front corner, hence the discount to C$4500. It looked repairable to me, so I asked to demo them. They set them up in a room similar in size to mine, about 12'x16', but my setup is across the width while theirs was along the length (speakers on the short wall). Carpeted floor, single couch and some sound absorbers along the left and right walls (not too much treatment). This room had modest gear with a streamer connected to an integrated amp, which was fine by me as my AVR is modest as well. There were more exotic components in the bigger rooms. Music selection was through Apple Airplay on a tablet.
This is where I would like to summarize how I go about speaker testing. I listen to mostly progressive rock, classic rock and some alt and electronic rock/pop, but I mix in other genres as well. A distorted guitar can sound ok on any speaker, so I try and pick tracks with natural components as well, like acoustic guitar, piano, standup bass and various percussion instruments. I also try and play a lot of tracks that I am very familiar with so that I know what to look for. I played electric bass in a band for several years so I know very well what a bass guitar and drums should sound like.
- For a general overall impression, I started with a new favorite, Porcupine Tree: Arriving Somewhere But Not here. Nice balance of instruments, a clear vocal track and I can pick out every piece of the drum kit.
- A go to album for me is Thomas Dolby: Aliens Ate My Buick. So much goodness! Key to Her Ferrari is a James Bond style number with bongos and piano layered behind the guitar and walking bass line, followed by Airhead which is a really fun pop number with a lot going on. Very tight rhythm and keys accented with punchy slap bass, synth fills and horns. Funny lyrics too. Pulp Culture has an amazing slap bass sound and a snare drum that really pops. Ability to Swing starts with synth and finger snaps and some very clean guitar work. Budapest by Blimp has that fantastic punchy bass sound again with some beautiful keyboards and softly sung vocals. This album covers a lot of bases and is one of my favorites.
- For female vocals I like Kate Bush. Sensual World is a nicely recorded album, but Wuthering Heights from The Kick Inside is a nice test as it starts with piano and vocal and adds layers of instruments as it progresses.
- One of my favorite albums is Yes: Close to the Edge. I am very familiar with the sound of Chris Squire's Rickenbacker bass and the music is quite complex. The title track and Siberian Khatru are great examples of that signature sound and Bill Bruford's amazing drumming. And You and I starts with acoustic guitar which is joined by bass and triangle and then Jon Anderson's vocals. A couple minutes of each song to note those important aspects.
- Dire Straits make great recordings and Mark Knopfler's guitar work is impeccable. Sultans of Swing is a song that most should be familiar with.
- Dianna Krall's albums sound wonderful and even if you don't like jazz they are a great test. A simple arrangement of piano, standup bass, drums and vocal let you listen carefully to each instrument. You should be able to hear the pluck of the strings, the tap of each symbol, the dynamics in her piano and the vocals are beautiful too. I chose Temptation for reference.
- Crowded House: Into Temptation is great for the vocals, cello and brush work on the drums.
- This could be a long list so I will just mention Road Runners Volume 1 from auto hifi. A compilation CD put together by an Austrian or German hifi magazine. If you like 80's and 90's rock and pop, each track offers something different. Aquamarine is a beautiful instrumental track from Santana. Bakers Street has that iconic saxophone. Five Miles Out by Michael Oldfield has some very distinctive drum tracks and lots of effects on the vocals which require clear playback to be understood. Joe Jackson's Steppin' Out has layered piano and high bell-like tones (xylophone or glockenspiel). Walking on the Chinese Wall by Philip Bailey has a wonderful wall of sound that fills the entire room. Mr Blue Sky by ELO has a loud bell and very unique vocal mix spread across the stage for the chorus. Some of the remaining pop tracks have very punchy synth bass and drum tracks. Great assortment to test various aspects of a speaker.
So how did the Gold 200 5G sound? To be honest, I went in with high expectations as this was a $7500 speaker compared to my $1600 bookshelves (2010 dollars). Surprisingly I was very disappointed. The one thing I was hoping for was a more realistic vocal sound but this was primarily where they lacked. Hard to describe in words, but with my current speakers the instruments and vocals sound like they are the same distance away on one stage. With the Gold 200 the vocals sounded distant, like they were 10 feet behind the instruments; not lifelike at all. The highs were also very soft. I had to strain to try and hear symbols. When the bass got deep, these small towers provided a good amount of bass, but the mid bass had no punch. The slap bass in Thomas Dolby sounded flat. I spent a good hour trying different tracks to give these speakers a fair shake, but the only song that sounded any decent was Dianna Krall, Temptation. I was entirely underwhelmed and thanked the sales rep but told him that I just wasn't feeling it and the speakers were not doing it for me.
Close to the Audio Monitors they also had a used pair of
JBL HDI-3600 towers, with their well known 1" compression horn-loaded tweeter and three 8" woofers in a 2 1/2 way design. I had read good things about this line (including in the forums) and asked if I could demo them as well. Retail is C$5000 ($4000 US) and these were in mint condition gloss black for C$3000. (They are smaller than they look in this photo.)
Well, colour me a JBL fan! These were really nice to listen to. Vocals were much more natural, a better centered image, nice deep bass and more detailed (pronounced) high end. I played most of the same tracks for about an hour again with no ear fatigue. I can see why people like these. They are just big black boxes with the grills on but with the grills off in gloss they are quite nice. BTW, for both speaker brands I moved side to side on the couch, sat forward and back and also walked around the room. The sound did vary noticeably with position so I had to wonder if there was something up with that room. Over all very impressed though. I seriously thought about bringing them home with me and I can heartily recommend that people check these out if in their price range. JBL makes a great centre speaker as well so a good option for home theatre too.
I did not want to impulse buy, so, tempted as I was, I told the rep that I really liked them and would be in touch soon if I decided to go ahead. I have not yet listened to the Paradigm Founders or Premiers and for that amount of money I wanted to do proper research.
On personal reflection, I learned an important lesson today. If you had asked me a week ago if there were speakers that I would purchase without hearing them, I would have said "Yes, there are a few.". I thought that at a certain level / price point there are several speakers that would all sound great. I thought that the Monitor Audio Gold was one of them. Boy, was I wrong. There may be plenty of positive reviews, but they are definitely not for me. The lesson here is that unless you absolutely do not have the ability to demo speakers or cannot afford to buy and sell several times over, make the effort to hear as many brands as you can because the final choice is a very personal one.
After arriving home, the first thing I wanted to do was listen to my
Paradigm Studio 20 while the memory of the JBLs was still fresh. The result was again rather surprising. To keep things fair, I set the AVR for Direct Stereo (no Audyssey or subwoofer, same as the demo room). Started with Thomas Dolby and there was that full punchy bass that I love coming from my bookshelves. I've had subwoofers for a while but these speakers still surprise me with their bass output for their size. Not only that, but the vocals were clear and right in front of me where I expected them. The soft vocal in Budapest By Blimp with the soft keys and simple punchy bass line is just a joy to listen to for me. Kate Bush's vocals were nice and clear. With Porcupine Tree and other tracks I could clearly hear every symbol. I could hear the steady tap of the high-hat punctuated by the occasional ring of the ride symbol or a distinctive crash symbol and the symbols had different placement across the sound stage. My room has some challenging acoustics, with the side wall, bulkheads and recessed cabinet, but the Paradigms still sounded better than the other two rather expensive speakers that I tried out today. I still find the upper mids in the vocals a little hot and classical music does not do well in this room, so I was banking on better speakers making a noticeable improvement. I discovered instead why I bought these in the first place. They really are a great little speaker. Sounds like I may be better off tweaking the room after all and maybe trying a little EQ to smoothen things out.
It was still fun to get out and visit a hifi shop for the first time in a while. They said I could bring my speakers and do an A/B test in the big room if I wanted, which would be a much more fair comparison of course. Might take them up on that offer. They carry FYNE, JBL, Triangle Borea, KLH, and higher end Klipsch as well. And if you made it this far, thank you and hopefully you found it mildly entertaining.
