Monoprice Monolith Air Motion Cinema 5 Bookshelf and Center Channel Speaker Review

[gene]

Monoprice's Air Motion series speakers are checking off a lot of check boxes for those looking for an affordable speaker set that can fit in nicely with their home decor. Powerful? Check. Compact? Check. Good looking? Check. Less than $1k for a five speaker set? Check! These medium-sized bookshelf speakers and center speaker use a powerful AMT tweeter and a punchy 5.25" woofer to get the most out of their reasonably sized enclosures.

Read our review with comprehensive measurements of the Air Motion speakers to see if they might make a good fit for your home audio system.

Read: Monoprice Monolith Air Motion Cinema 5 Bookshelf and Center Channel Speaker Review

 

[panteragstk]

Nice review. This pretty much directly reflects my findings when I got two of the in-wall versions of this speaker. Treble on some tracks was overemphasized to a point it was a bit annoying, but I only had that happen on one song in my test material that I can remember.

I ended up sending them back since I decided to go a different route with my theater, but they were shockingly good for how cheap they were.

 

[Pogre]

How does the AMT tweeter compare to a Raal? I have very little experience listening to ribbon tweeters.

 

[zieglj01]

They look like they have potential, however for now I will wait and see if they improve the tweeter response. First order on the tweeter at this price point disturbs me.

 

[shadyJ]

How does the AMT tweeter compare to a Raal? I have very little experience listening to ribbon tweeters.

Hey Pogre,

AMTs and ribbon tweeters are not the same at all, at least in design. AMTs use a folded membrane, and it collapses and expands the folds to squeeze air in and out of these folds. It does so at a frequency determined by the voltage signal. Ribbon tweeters oscillates a light film back and forth as a whole. AMT tweeters tend to be more robust, but they can range in quality from good to blah. I have heard very good AMTs and also very good ribbon tweeters.

 

[Pogre]

Hey Pogre,

AMTs and ribbon tweeters are not the same at all, at least in design. AMTs use a folded membrane, and it collapses and expands the folds to squeeze air in and out of these folds. It does so at a frequency determined by the voltage signal. Ribbon tweeters oscillates a light film back and forth as a whole. AMT tweeters tend to be more robust, but they can range in quality from good to blah. I have heard very good AMTs and also very good ribbon tweeters.

Ah, so there are distinct differences. I wish brick and mortar stores were still around for hifi audio. I'd love to get out and listen to more.

 

[panteragstk]

Ah, so there are distinct differences. I wish brick and mortar stores were still around for hifi audio. I'd love to get out and listen to more.

They are, just depends on where you are...and if you are willing to drive.