Monitor Audio system opinion?

[Falp]

I'm thinking of this system:

MA Silver S2
MA Bronze central
MA Bronze B1 rear

Maybe a Sub - Rel Quake


Opinions?

[Nobber22]

No problem with the fronts or rears, but I recommend you buy the matching Silver centre, to get a uniform front-soundstage.

[Falp]

Originally Posted by Nobber22

No problem with the fronts or rears, but I recommend you buy the matching Silver centre, to get a uniform front-soundstage.

I think the Bronze serie is enough for moveis/surround but I prefer better speakers for music/stereo

What do you think?

With Marantz or Denon electronics...

[Reiner]

I think the Bronze serie is enough for moveis/surround but I prefer better speakers for music/stereo

Still, a matching center gives you a more coherent sound. Ideally all 5 speakers should be of the same type but this is usually not possible. If you compromise do so with the rears, but not with the center as else sound panning from one side to another would sound pretty weird as the tonal balance changes.

[Falp]

But if tonal balance between the Bronze and Silver can be the same (is it?), I would get better sound and resolution in Stereo Music!

Opinions?

Tonal balance between the Bronze and Silver is the same or not?
Help in this question please...

[Crustyloafer]

The tonal difference between the MA silver series and the Bronze series is quite large. At my shop we sell all of the MA speakers and I could not recommend mixing different ranges together at all.

[Falp]

A friend of mine has just replaced his B&W 602s3 fronts for a pair of Nautilus 805 and kept is previous 600s3 rears.

Told me is previous 602s3 and current Nautilus 805 have exact the same tonal balance...

I guess it could be the same...

[Gizmo 76]

I would recommend keeping the front and centre speakers as the silver range. Then use the Bronze BFX for rears, superb surround speakers. I've never come across any panning issues or any obvious differences in their sound compared to the fronts.

I prefered the S1 speakers over the S2's, they just seemed more controlled with a tighter sounding bass, but maybe the S2's I demo'd weren't run in as much?!?

[Reiner]

But if tonal balance between the Bronze and Silver can be the same (is it?), I would get better sound and resolution in Stereo Music!

Well, you should not change the fronts (i.e. use the Silvers), so adding a matching center does not affect stereo but improves the movie experience.

Tonal balance between the Bronze and Silver is the same or not?

Difficult to say. Usually speakers that are tonally matched have the same drive units (and even than sometimes they do not match 100%).
The general advise is to stick to the same series.

[Falp]

And what do you think of the musical hifi performance of the S2?

[Gizmo 76]

I probably rate them higher in Stereo performance than as Home Cinema speakers.

A real detailed and sweet treble and a very nice bass reproduction. I find alot of other speakers quite dull sounding in comparsion. Others have commented on them being on the bright side, but this isn't an issue for me as i've been use to Monitor Audio's Tweeters for the past 6 odd years, and they sound great.

This is my opinion on the S1s though, not the S2s.

Giz.

[Falp]

I do like good musical metal tweeter bright sound, I have a pair of 10 years loyal Celestion 3 mkII and fell in love with the B&W Nautilus 805 Sound...

[Falp]

I probably rate them higher in Stereo performance than as Home Cinema speakers.

Why?

[Gizmo 76]

I'm not saying they're bad for Home cinema use, I have them in my system.

But on harsher soundtracks e.g. JPIII, where there are alot of high frequency type sounds the metal tweeters go into distortion type territory. I've never come across this with any CD's, and I don't think it's the speakers fault as such.

From research it seem's to be that some soundtracks (read that as quite a few) aren't re-calibrated from their Cinema version, meaning that the high frequencies can be quite high. Due to at the cinemas as it's such a large space there is a high frequency roll-off, so there are higher than what would be needed in a home enviroment!!

Other speakers with different tweeters cope better with this than Monitor Audio's ones, but like I said I haven't come across this in CD, SACD, or DVD-A playback. Also if you amp has a THX mode you would be able to tame the treble to hopefully a listenable level, my Denon has a EQ mode for this, but it doesn't fully cure the problem.

I listen to quite alot of music, and love them in this department. The slight distored highs have always been a bit of a bug bear. So this is why I rate them higher in their Stereo performance.

Giz.

[Falp]

Thanks again for the info!

Stereo Music Sound is also my first priority.

And bass extension and control?
Do you listen to music with or without the Sub?