Anyone know anything at all about these speakers? They look a lot like B and W's including the kevlar cones. My son said he thought B&W made them for Monster but I can't get any confirmation on that. I had been in the market for my first HD large screen TV and Blueray player. In doing my research I discovered that my 25 year old NEC analog surround A/V receiver and PSB speakers and subwoofer(passive) also over 25 yrs old could not be used for 5.1 surround as I would never be able to find a center channel that would match timbre. (As you can see I had not been keeping up with the vast changes in the stereo and surround sound world since my initial purchase over 25 years ago) So I decided that even though my system still sounded great, after over 25 years I owed myself a major upgrade. As much as I loved my PSB's, replacing them with new PSB's, even the mid line Image series was way over my budget. After extensive research and going blind reading reviews I decided on the following wish list: Panasonic TH-50PZ800 HD TV, Panasonic DMP-BD35 Blueray, Onkyo TX-SR806 AV receiver, Axiom Epic 60-350 5.1 surround HT speaker system. I live in Canada, and there just aren't that many stereo specialty stores in my area. The above wish list would have meant getting the TV from a local Future Shop, Driving 45 miles to the closest 2001 Audio Video chain (Canadian disributor for Onkyo). I had also made arrangements to drive 5 hours to the Axiom factory to audition the Axiom speakers. Which would have also saved me 8% off the price of the speakers if I took them home with me since they would not have had to ship them. Just before I took the shopping plunge my son told me about a stereo, home theatre specialty store in Hamilton ON (only a 35 minute drive away) that I should check out first. I took his advice. Wow, glad I did!!! This place was great. Has been in business for over 70 years. Found the Panny TV for $500 bucks cheaper than Future Shop and the Blueray player at a $40 savings. I also saw this display for Monster THX Select speaker system for almost $1000 less than the Axioms would have cost me. The store had the speakers set up in their very large dedicated home theatre room. They literaly blew me away. This same store aslo sells Paradigme, and I really liked the sound of the Monster speakers much better, and they were quite a bit less expensive, and are THX certified. I was shocked, as I had no clue that Monster even made speakers. These particular speakers were on special if purchased as a set. Two 4 ohm THX SL200 towers, A THX SL200 center, two THX SL100 dipole surrounds, and a THX SL200 sub. Now, not only do these speakers sound great...they look amazing. Real cherry wood veneer. (The Azioms for $1000 more were vinyl). So even though I had never heard of these speakers I bought them and the TV and Bluray player. They made me an offer I couldn't refuse and then even threw in free delivery (35 miles). So I only had to make one more stop for my Onkyo 806.
I have now had this system up and running for almost 3 weeks. It is still blowing me away. My room is not small, 25 feet by 13 feet, and these speakers rattle the house when watching a blueray movie. I actually spend more time listening to music than watching movies. These speakers sound just great in two channel stereo. The imaging is even better than my old PSB's. The bass is crisp and fast. They sound equally good with rock, jazz, easy listening and classical. I was initially leary about these speakers because of the low price, but the longer I listen to them the more I like them. I'd really be interested to hear from anyone else that may own or has listened to these speakers. I'd also love to know if thses things are made by Monster or if they are actually made by B&W. Thanks in advance.
