A lot can happen in 5 years; that’s now how long it’s been since Monitor Audio delivered their previous iteration of their perennial ‘entry level’ speaker range.
With improvements made in source material (especially streaming services), electronics and even cables, the environment a speaker finds itself in can be more demanding yet provide the raw material to sound better than ever before. For those who enjoy listening, there has never been a wider range of choice.
Monitor Audio have risen to this challenge and recreated their most affordable range, taking elements from more upmarket models and applying a fresh approach to design with genuinely new models that may share heritage but have their own distinct identity.
The new Bronze models have a refined and restrained design language with just two purely stereo options; the shelf or stand mount 50 7G and the floor standing 300 7G. These integrate with the centre, surround and on-wall options for surround sound and home viewing.
Let’s look at the new 50 7G.
There’s a lot to be said for the simplicity of the classic two way ported design. By avoiding complexity you can better get to the heart of music and that’s what this speaker is all about. Yet behind the simplicity is attention to detail. If you look closely you’ll see this in the front panel. It’s plywood that’s so cleanly machined you’d not know if we hadn’t pointed this out. It’s remarkably similar to the approach taken by Sonus faber in their Lumina range and even echoes back to Shahinian for those with long memories. There’s good reason to use plywood here – strength and a lack of resonance being key.
Into this front baffle, the two drivers are carefully placed – the most highly developed metal coned designs yet. As with any cone material, it’s the expertise in implementation that is the greatest contributor to the end sound. Every speaker in the Monitor Audio range, right up to the statement level Hyphn shares the same technologies and the development that drove this project, finds a voice in the new 50 7G.
With every succeeding generation of the Monitor Audio ranges the coherence between the individual drivers has improved – so the transition from bass to midrange to the highest frequencies becomes smoother. This is directly attributable to the consistency of materials used in the drivers and the continual development around cross over design and component selection. Again with Bronze 7G these aspects are noticeably improved.
The cabinet construction of the 50 7G is well above what might be expected. We’ve already highlighted the use of plywood in the front baffle. The subtle negative detail behind and barely visible side lamination add sophistication. With 3 finish options (walnut black and white) you have ample choice.
The frontal profile is very clean with no port, visible screws or fixings. The 50 7Gs are surprisingly deep – this has the benefit of increasing the cabinet volume and is immediately reflected in the impressive bass performance. If you look into the rear port you can see internal bracing which makes the extended cabinet sidewalls much less resonant. And while rear ported with plenty of bass, the supplied foam inserts greatly improve the balance and immediacy if placed on shelves close to walls or corners.
All of these features and improvements combine to deliver a substantial improvement in sound quality. Not to mention the quantity – this is more important than you might first assume. There are good reasons to want a smaller speaker that sounds big. And these feed into real qualitative benefits.
Getting the most out of your new speakers.
The 50 7Gs are easy for an amplifier to drive – so you don’t need vast amounts of horsepower and an amplifier that’s running happily definitely sounds a lot better. You can also choose your amplifier based on quality rather than quantity. The expansive sound generated by this Monitor Audio model is so engaging because you’ll be hearing plenty of sounds that were simply never there before.
While the 50 7G’s will certainly perform well with similarly priced of even lower cost amplifiers and sources, to settle at this level is really to miss the point of what these speakers are capable of. Their ability to deliver on any improvements made in front them is remarkable and beyond anything I have previously heard at this level.
As an example, we’re also evaluating the latest Nordost entry level speaker cable. Changing from another well proven cable delivered an immediate and convincing improvement. But more importantly allowed us to easily hear the different character of the Nordost. This doesn’t mean you have to have top end speaker cable to enjoy the 50 7Gs – just that they will faithfully reproduce even subtle improvements because they have such a high level of resolution.
Obviously we do have equally modern speakers from both Monitor Audio and other brands that exist at higher price levels, but the 50 7G’s have closed the performance gap substantially. And more to the point, the distance between what we thought of as a great sounding affordable speaker 10 or 20 years ago is now a yawning gulf.
The Monitor Audio designers have had a lot of fun working on the 50 7Gs – by choosing to go for larger driver than the previous 50 6G, and pushing out the cabinet depth, they have given it great kick in the bass. The real trick is that they haven’t sacrificed other qualities to do this; efficiency is still high, the cohesion of midrange and treble is excellent and there’s no lack of pace and the ability to deliver leading edge transients without descending into harshness.
The serious technical work in the background with the finer points of cross over design, the mechanics and materials in the drivers, all contribute to the subtleties you’ll appreciate over time but the innate lucidity and drive they deliver really defines the overall character. It’s not strictly neutral but honestly, this is a good thing and we’d far rather have some enthusiasm in the presentation of music. The 50 7G is expressive and engaging.
While it’s a five year timespan between Monitor Audio generations, if you already have a system, it’s highly likely that you have been with your present speakers for a lot longer. The new 50 7G could be just what you need to breathe new life into your system and set you up for many years to come. Good as many of our previous affordable speakers have been it’s easy to appreciate the new when you hear it.
Likewise if you’re building a new system, the 50 7G’s challenge preconceptions; you can go considerably further with electronics and at every step you’ll be able to easily hear the improvements made. While it may seem counterintuitive when the subject of this article is a new speaker, the quality of sound going into a speaker is a major determining factor in what you’ll hear. Because the Monitor Audios offer such great performance for so little you’ll be able use the savings to build a better system.
“For a speaker at this price level, the Bronze 7G are unusually precise and controlled. They are really clear, fast and detailed, and grab you right from the start with a front-footed, vibrant presentation that can’t be ignored.” What HiFi.
If the 50 7Gs are so good, is there still a case for wanting even more? The answer 300 7Gs – these are the full floor standing option that build on the smaller model when you have the room and the desire for more of everything – bass, efficiency and power handling. But most importantly the larger model offers another step forward in terms of midrange resolution. The frontal profile and driver sizes are identical to the smaller speaker so there are no losses in terms of the precision of imaging. When writing this page we were just a couple of weeks out from the world wide release of the new Bronze 7G series – happily there are already three great reviews of the 300s here –
It’s worth knowing why we choose to be Monitor Audio partners – over the years we’ve sold many brands of speakers, especially New Zealand made. It was the production of a new range of what have become the Silver series that prompted us to listen to the entry level model – in many ways a predecessor to the latest 50 7G. It was readily apparent that this was simply a better speaker than anything we had at this level – the finish, sound and value all came together and we’ve never looked backwards since. But more importantly, it’s the continual improvements made by Monitor Audio over their entire range that have kept us on board. This is the sound of progress.
- New Bronze 50 7G shelf/stand mount speaker. White, black or walnut – NZ$1100 the pair inclusive.
- New Bronze 300 7G floor standing speaker system NZ$2300
- Centre 7G $850 each
- Slimline on wall 7G $650 each
- Atmos AMS units – fit on either 50 or 3007G $1000 the pair
- 5 year warranty
Want to know more about the Bronze 50 7Gs – why not just drop us a line and we’ll answer any questions as we’ve made a point of listening to these in several systems over a number of weeks prior to doing this write up – we’re still listening now!
