Speaker Asylum

Posted by airtime (A) on May 21, 2012 at 12:37:34

I usually post in the vintage forum, but posting here seemed more relevant.

I purchased a pair of Monitor Audio's RX-2 speakers about six months ago. Wanting something with more bass I found a monitor style speaker with an 8" woofer - GREAT! However having mostly vintage all my life I was nervous. But this speaker was going to pair with a new Marantz PM8004 or NAD C326BEE integrated amp.

So after a VERY long break in here's what I found. This is one heck of a fine speaker. It has the usual good qualies you would expect from any good speaker. Good clarity, clean, crisp, images well, easy to place in the room, not picky about the room setup, a surprisingly good strong bass, no ringing or dips or spikes I can notice, etc...

The woofer is a metalized poly so I was also nervous about spikes and ringing. The rolloff between the drivers is silky smooth!!!! Also I found the woofer to have a nice smooth quality. Not harsh and ringy like some stiff material cones. But smooth and very musical like a high quality paper cone.

Looks are fantastic. I think the web site hired a really cheap photographer. Because in person there speakers are very attractive and have a lot of cone detail.

They do take on the sound of what ever amp it is hooked up too. So you can really hear a difference when listening to a Marantz or a NAD amp. So the speakers are not "in the way" making their own sound.

I also tried them with my vintage stereos. Wow - these speakers have great bass !!!! Many times I just turn off my subwoofer. That's how much bass they have.

Highly recommended

charles

• http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/monitoraudio/rx2_2.html   (Open in New Window)