Monoprice Monolith Encore T6's vs Golden Ear Triton 3+

[Danzilla31]

Output and sensitivity and distortion

The golden ear could get louder and have more output with no distortion then the Monolith. BUT in my room size this was a non issue they both still had plenty of headroom left when my ears didn't the golden ear just had more

Although I suspect the Encore T6 could do better. All the reciever has to power in the golden ear is the midrange driver and the tweeter. They have a powered sub section. The Monolith Encore do not. I suspect with a nice beefy seperate power amp or even dual for biamping. The Monolith could give me more then what the Marantz 6015 powering them could do.

Golden Ear Triton 3+ 10 out of 10
Monolith Encore T6 8 out of 10

 

[Danzilla31]

Summary

so let's sum it up shall we?

Did the Golden Ear outperform the Monolith. For the most part yes. But if we're talking about diminishing returns and value for your dollar not near enough to justify they're normal current regular price of $1800 or $3600 a pair or they're sale price of $900 a peice or $1800 a pair compared to the Monolith T6 current sale price of $292 or $584 a pair or regular price of $400 or $800 a pair.

The Golden Ear were a good price at theyre original price at $999 each. With AudioQuest jacking them up to $1800 each. No way way overpriced. But even at $999 each in my room the Encores hold theyre own to well to justify the increase in cost. Heck if the golden ear hadn't gone on sale at $900 each I never would have tried them

So with all that said and done for what I need in this room the Golden Ear are getting sold the Monolith Encore are staying for a long long while until the next speaker I want to try out shows up

 

[Danzilla31]

Anything I missed or any comments or feedback feel free fellas. Hope you enjoyed this thread as much as I did listening to these speakers!

 

[shadyJ]

Very nice report, Dan! I am not surprised by these results. I had the Monoprice Encores in for review at the same time I had the Paradigm Founders 100F speakers in, and I did a similar A/B comparison shootout. I was shocked at how well the Monoprice speakers kept up with the Paradigm speakers. Yes, the Paradigms were better, but not nearly at the scale of the pricing difference. The Encores are really stellar speakers for the money.

Now think about how well the Monoprice Monolith THX tower speakers would have kept up with the Golden Ear speakers, since that is a more price-appropriate comparison!

 

[Danzilla31]

Very nice report, Dan! I am not surprised by these results. I had the Monoprice Encores in for review at the same time I had the Paradigm Founders 100F speakers in, and I did a similar A/B comparison shootout. I was shocked at how well the Monoprice speakers kept up with the Paradigm speakers. Yes, the Paradigms were better, but not nearly at the scale of the pricing difference. The Encores are really stellar speakers for the money.

Now think about how well the Monoprice Monolith THX tower speakers would have kept up with the Golden Ear speakers, since that is a more price-appropriate comparison!

Hey thank you so much for the positive feedback @shadyJ !!! That means a lot coming from you.

Yeah I was shocked I mean shocked at how good these Encore T6 are for the money

Its crazy you bring that up about Monoliths THX lineup because that's my plan next year. Put some money back and save up to try out the Monolith THX towers. And also the new Martin Logan XT line!

 

[Kleinst]

Great review and I find these kinds of posts very valuable. It's the same thing I experience with my Infinity RC263, R263 X4 setup. They are so darn good that even spending a lot more doesn't mean it woud get better. And as weird as it sounds, sometimes some speakers are a match for the room and in this case I think these infinity's just work for the living room I have them in.

I even tried replacing the RC263 with a Revel C208 and in the end, I valued the uniformity across all speakers and kept the RC263 and returned the C208.

In other cases, with a large theater room or something, I could easily see other speakers being better. But I've pretty much given up on trying to redo that room and just enjoy the bargain I got for that one.

Sounds like that's the case for the Monolith and I'd love you to get some of those THX's to compare because I had considered getting some of those myself if the price was right or I found a used set for the right price.

 

[Danzilla31]

Great review and I find these kinds of posts very valuable. It's the same thing I experience with my Infinity RC263, R263 X4 setup. They are so darn good that even spending a lot more doesn't mean it woud get better. And as weird as it sounds, sometimes some speakers are a match for the room and in this case I think these infinity's just work for the living room I have them in.

I even tried replacing the RC263 with a Revel C208 and in the end, I valued the uniformity across all speakers and kept the RC263 and returned the C208.

In other cases, with a large theater room or something, I could easily see other speakers being better. But I've pretty much given up on trying to redo that room and just enjoy the bargain I got for that one.

Sounds like that's the case for the Monolith and I'd love you to get some of those THX's to compare because I had considered getting some of those myself if the price was right or I found a used set for the right price.

Thank you for the kind words!!!

What you said is so spot on. I could get better for my bedroom setup but in that room size at that distance a lot of the things I would be paying for better bass extension more output less distortion I wouldnt be able to use because the speakers could get there before they become a factor. More is not always better if what I have already gets me there.

Also I like what you said about the room sometimes dictating the speakers you need. The golden ear triton 3+ completely did not like that room size and being that close to the walls. I heard them in a bigger room that had been treated and it really was a night and day experience

In my bedroom really good horns and regular speakers that both utilize really good wave guides work the best in there.

I do plan on buying and trying the Monolith THX speakers and when I do I will post a review and I'll be more serious next time and do some in room measurements!

 

[panteragstk]

Nice review! Those Monoprice Encores look very interesting, especially for the price.

What speakers have you had in that room up to this point? I remember some, but maybe not all. JBL, Monoprice, GoldenEar, and that's it? I feel like I'm forgetting one.

I only ask because I'm curious as to what your favorite is/was.

 

[Danzilla31]

Nice review! Those Monoprice Encores look very interesting, especially for the price.

What speakers have you had in that room up to this point? I remember some, but maybe not all. JBL, Monoprice, GoldenEar, and that's it? I feel like I'm forgetting one.

I only ask because I'm curious as to what your favorite is/was.

Thank you very much! So far I've had JBL the 590's the 580's and 530's in there. I've had the Klipsch RP-8000F and the bookshelf 600 the first version I think they were in there I've had the SVS prime towers in there. The SVS Ultra bookshelves in there. I've had the monoprice Encore T6 in there. The golden ear triton 3+ in there. The Elan TheaterPoint 650ls in there. So far I think that's it in this house in that bedroom Lol.

My next on the bucket list is the Monoprice Monolith THX Ultra towers they're top of the line. The Martin Logan Motion F20 towers the new ones. And the JBL studio 698 towers! Can't wait to try each one of those out!!!

 

[ryanosaur]

Not from a value perspective, but what has made you the happiest overall from a pure performance perspective?

 

[Danzilla31]

Not from a value perspective, but what has made you the happiest overall from a pure performance perspective?

So far in that room the JBL 590 and the Monolith Encore T6 in that order.

I would say the golden ear because I've heard what they can do in a bigger room. But they didn't like being in a tighter room. Still sounded great but nowhere near they're true potential

 

[lovinthehd]

So far in that room the JBL 590 and the Monolith Encore T6 in that order.

I would say the golden ear because I've heard what they can do in a bigger room. But they didn't like being in a tighter room. Still sounded great but nowhere near they're true potential

You're too kind, I'd eliminate the GE speakers simply because they're owned by fraudioquest. Can't see giving money to that outfit.

 

[Kleinst]

You're too kind, I'd eliminate the GE speakers simply because they're owned by fraudioquest. Can't see giving money to that outfit.

Are GE and Def Tech owned by the same company?

 

[lovinthehd]

Are GE and Def Tech owned by the same company?

No GE is owned by fraudioquest, Def Tec is part of the Masimo group (like Denon, Marantz, Polk, Boston Acoustics, Classe, etc for audio).

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

Are GE and Def Tech owned by the same company?

No. But sandy gross, who founded/cofounded Polk, DT, and GE was the chief speaker designer for DT and GE.