Monitor Audio "tweeters"

They aren't kidding when they say, "everyone hears things differently." Polk's titanium dome tweeters are the absolute worst metal dome tweeters I've heard in modern speakers.

 

While I would agree that Monitor speakers are on the bright side by BBC-voicing standards, if they are sounding shrill as you say, something is very wrong. Have you checked all connections? Are you using the supplied bridge at the terminals if not bi-wired.

 

Gotta admit that I'm not an MA fan including the Platinums. I've always found them insufferably bright and absolutely unlistenable at volume. Nice cabinets, though.
You can change amps 'till the cows come home - they is what they is. And unless you're going to run them in until you're eighty and have no high-end hearing left, it's not a break-in issue, either. That's what they sound like and you're either in or you're out. I'm out.

D.D.

 

I happen to like the tonality of Sony receivers. They are on the "bright" side (In fact, they are accurate, but most people like sound that has rolled-off high frequencies). My opinion is that if you want to keep the speakers, try to get an amp that people say are "warm" or "musical" such as NAD. Arcam or Marantz.

 

No doubt they are! I share no fondness for metal dome speakers in general.

That's why I don't own any Polk's with metal dome tweeters.

Among others, I have commercial P.A. speakers, with metal horn and JBL super-tweeters and they, nor any other speakers that I own, sound harsh. Noting that I use tube amplification on the A7's.

Countless individuals has been in my listening room and listened to both stereo and HT, through a variety of sources and not one ever commented on them being harsh.

If I audition any audio component I listen to, exhibits any any degree of harshness (with normal music), I drop kick it.

The Zu, Omen Definitions, can sound bright, but I only listen to them with sources that tend not to be harsh and where it is desirable to have more detail and a live "forward" sound. I have an A/B switch on my front speakers and I will usually have them on the Polk LSiM707's, which are full and sweet sounding, but W/O harshness.

From other members comments, I don't seem to have the minority opinion here, on the MA's (even if I did, my opinions would still stand).

As you comment:

They may well be the "Cat's Meow", just not the ones I have heard.

 

Seems the body count does indicate otherwise.

 

We seem to count differently.

By my count, it is six, who appear to share my opinion and five who share your opinion, not counting you or me.

Others appear to simply be offering suggestions as to what the issues might be, without saying yea or nay.

 

I counted the guy who said they can reveal bad recordings and the guy who said they're brighter than the typical BBC voicing. I agree with both of those opinions, which I don't take to be negative criticisms.

No big deal though, we all hear differently, as we're often reminded on this forum.

 

At the risk of over simplifying to the point of me losing all credibility... Perhaps try turning the treble down on your receiver?

For what it's worth, I have MA speakers with ribbon tweeters and they are magnificent. Hey, I even turn the treble UP on my receiver!

 

I’ve had MA Platinums Pl100s small shelf speakers for years now and liked them so much I bought another pair for my country house.

Over the years I’ve tried to upgrade with different brands such as Klipsch, Herberths, Keffs and some others. I’ve listened, tested, paid dealers to let me have them in my system and then always returned them. After MA Platinums everything else just sounds dull and unexciting to my ears.

The Platinums’ ribbon twitters fill the air around your ears with unbelievably sweet sounds. They’re transparent to the point of being 3D and the sound stage is so unbelievably real you think you can walk around individual instruments. The bass is tight and well defined and they’re especially good with vinyl via tube amplification.

This is of course my personal impression and I know lots of people who just can’t stand MA (some of them never heard them properly though in their systems). A lot of course is system and room dependent.

 

Can we see a photo of the set up?

 

I would not confuse these with BBC Monitors ala LS3/5a. They are not built, nor do they sound anything alike.
-Bill

 

I've heard the MA speakers of recent years can be very unforgiving with the wrong gear.

 

I've been using a pair of MA Bronze BX 5 for the past 3 years.

Amp is a Mission Cyrus II.

Almost exclusively vinyl playback, Thorens TD 160 (Inspire HiFi upgraded), SME 3009 Series II arm and Ortofon 2M Black.

I live in a small apartment with a less than ideal listening environment, I use Rothwell in line attenuators.

I really like the sound of the MAs in my modest set up. The treble is definitely not as you describe, to my ageing ears at any rate.

Hope you get it sorted,

 

My advice, speaker to the retailer immediately, any worthwhile trader should be happy to allow you to return and choose a different speaker. I've always found that a good retailer would encourage a home dem, before purchase. Their primary goal should always be customer satisfaction.

 

I've listened only to the Silver 6 and 8. They weren't for me, but they did remind me of the current range from B&W as far as tonal balance, on the bright side to my ears, but still nicely sorted out. Certainly, nothing shrill, as the OP is a experiencing. But, I agree, the impression, as with the B&W (which in the D range are far better than the Monitors), is quite distinct from the very understated sonic signature of the venerable Rogers or Spendor BBC monitors of the 60s and 70s. I suppose Harbeth has stayed closest to the BBC tradition of "studio monitors," which is why I own Harbeths; but, even Harbeth has intelligently rethought and updated the "BBC monitor" sound to something far more revealing and open. Still, I'm a bit surprised to hear such negativity about Monitor from some of the folks here. But, as I should have noted, I have not auditioned the OP's model.

 

Thanks for all of your comments, greatly received.

The 14 days return window closed on Monday, so sending them back was probably going to be a tough fight. Nevertheless I am determined to persevere with them for now.

I've fitted the spikes onto them and put them into some proper spike shoes on the floor now. Port bungs are out and I have been running them in today at medium volume using the following tracks

David Bowie "Blackstar" and "Sue..." - its got a lot of middle and bass, not too much high end
Prince and the Revolution "Take me with U" - quite a bright track
and this test tone...


on repeat from about 10am until about 3pm.

I am currently spinning Talk Talk's "Colour of spring" album on vinyl at the moment. To my ears I reckon it is already sounding better.

It wasn't until I played that YouTube video (above) that it occurred to me that the horrible buzz I was experiencing in my ears could in-fact be the mid-driver at some certain frequencies. If this is the case then I reckon it does hold out hope that it'll loosen up a lot over the coming hours

I am going to run-in for a full 100 hours. I reset the clock at 0 at the start of today and I'll continue to run those 4 test tracks on-repeat over the coming days and weeks, and report back. Already the Talk Talk album (a fairly bright recording) already sounds a lot better than it did when I played it last weekend, so my confidence is growing that it might turn out alright. It would be good to get a bit more movement in that mid-range driver further, as well as the bass ones.

In the meantime, if anyone has any recommended audio tracks from running in, like that YouTube video above, let me know

Thank you again.

 

The dealer might still be willing to do an exchange despite being past the 14 day window, just a thought.

Also, did you make sure to check the driver attachment bolts at the back of the cabinet? They could very well be loose and causing resonance. They need to be snug, about a 1/8 turn past sharp rise in torque. They should be checked again after the break-in period, or whenever the speakers are moved around.

 

Running test tones on new speakers is a bad idea,

 

Try to exchange for something else. If that doesn't work sell them for whatever you can get and don't look back.

 

why?

 

I've just upgraded from RS1's and the last word I'd use to describe them is bright. I remember testing the RS6's which sadly I couldn't afford and they never struck me as bright either.

 

My comments were based on an audition 6-years ago, my first audition in almost 25-years that I had been away from audio. At the time, they only had SS equipment. I was looking to buy a pair of their moderately priced bronze or silver towers, as I was impressed with their obvious build quality.

I feel, I have move greatly forward in audio over the last 6-years, both in education and hands on experience. As another member mentioned, they have made changes over the intervening years.

One thing that I can definitely say, they would audition far better, with the benefit of tube amplification, rather than the receivers (with questionable DAC quality) that they were using in their "mid-fi" room. They now have Prima-Luna and other tube amps and more and better TT's. Back then they only had an entry level carbon on display.

In their high end room, they featured the Platinum MA's. I remember seeing a MA center channel speaker that looked almost the size of a Volkswagen (with almost the price of a Volkswagen), sitting on an impressive MA center channel stand. If as that weren't enough, this center channel speaker, was about 2-3 times more expensive than the average 5.1 tower systems, most people were buying.

Then, I noticed another price tag hanging from the stand itself. Appears that the center channel price, was exclusive of the stand. The stand alone was more expensive than any pair of main speakers that I had ever purchased to date. The last pair of speakers, I purchased for my Pro-Logic HT, Klipsch KG 5.5's, almost a decade earlier.

Actually, I was thinking about my initial encounter with the MA's. I had the urge to stop in and listen to them again, from a fresher, more experienced perspective. The only reason that I would not do that is because they pay their salesman on commission and I, having been in their shoes, would not be comfortable doing so.

I do note, that we both feature an ape in our respective avatar's. Perhaps our tastes are not so different after all.

 

I can tell what he his hearing because I have experienced the same thing with my old PSB speakers that had similar measurements and the same distortion in the critical upper midrange area. I've compared published measurements to actual listening many times including years doing DIY speaker projects and testing as well as dealer demos and the speakers I have owned. I have measuring equipment and have set up car systems and home systems including subwoofer integration and speaker positioning for the smoothest frequency response.
I learned a lot from the site "Zaph Audio" about how different speaker drivers have varying levels of distortion and how critical it is to be as distortion free as possible for a quality, fatigue free sound.
The distortion in the MAs is not surprising because aluminum woofers are notorious for breakup mode distortion where the response rises sharply after a certain frequency and sounds quite ragged. You have to control the breakup from becoming audible by crossing over at a very low frequency and using notch or steep crossover filters. The MA design has the crossover at 2,500 Hz, just where the distortion peaks occur. This means that the aluminum woofers are playing material up to 2500 hz because it is a 2-way design and the tweeter cannot take the "hand off" any lower than that. At those frequencies those woofers are likely the cause of the distortion measurements. It is a textbook case of a compromised design at a price point. Typically clean, clear distortion free"brightness" does not cause listening fatigue the way upper midrange harmonic distortion does. And again, midband distortion is often mistaken for an overly bright or "bad" tweeter.
look at the response plot for a seas aluminum woofer from madisound in the second link- note the huge response spike just after 2000 Hz. That is one mother of a breakup peak and is quite difficult and expensive to control to the point of not being audible.
http://www.zaphaudio.com/6.5test/
SEAS Prestige L16RN-SL (H1480) 6" Aluminum Cone Woofer

 

Concerning tweeters, for the younger listener they will sound harsh, but as you get older louder tweets are a welcome addition, but i tell you something with speakers, dont fall for the "most expensive is best" BS, because it certainly is not always the case, i bought a pair of wharfedale diamond 9.1 bookshelf speakers, they sound absolutely amazing and were only £99, before that my speakers were Bose and cost over twice as much, the bose dont hold a candle to the wharfedales, theyre so much better in build and sound quality. The wharfedales have a solid metal front and a inch thick cabinet, the bose were all plastic and you could actually hear the difference the cabinet makes to the sound. bose are highly overrated, i can hear sounds on these little wharfs i couldnt before. And for a 5.25" woofer the bass is incredible hits as low as 32Hz with ease.