Having quite easily won our hearts and ears before with the previous iteration, Monitor Audio have released their newest incarnation of their outstanding Silver range in a wealth of size choices.
Today, however, we’ll focus on the larger of the standmount speakers, the Silver 100’s.
The term bookshelf and standmount speaker is often used interchangeably for those seeking an alternative to a standmount, be it for space or décor. However, weighing in at 9.3kg, you’d want to make sure your bookshelf is ready for what these speakers can achieve.
Straight out of the box, from the feel and look of the real wood veneer (available in Walnut, Black Oak, Natural Oak, Rosenut and even Gloss Black and Satin White finishes) to the reassuringly hefty weight of the speakers, you know you’ve got a serious speaker on your hands. The fabric speaker grilles are magnetic to avoid unsightly holes on the front and are a neat elliptical shape to fit with the overall design.
Design-wise, there is a surprising amount of difference from their predecessors. The Rigid Surface Technology woofers, inspired by the Japanese art of Origami, which are strengthened by a series of precise dimples and folds to give excellent sonic control, are still present. However, they are now in a subtle grey tone as opposed to the previous ‘golf ball white’. The tweeter waveguide has changed from the previous metal grille to a stylish brushed metal design that belies the gold CCAM tweeter synonymous with the sweet, defined treble Monitor Audio are known for.
Weight and veneer aside, the cabinets are a feat of engineering in themselves. Having been precision engineered with help from the National Physics Laboratory, there is little resonance to be concerned with and the bracing point is ‘pin-point accurate’ this allows for near-total control of the soundscape that the speakers can present.
We decided to hook the speakers up to the Roksan Caspian Series M2 Integrated Amp and M2 CD player to test the capabilities of the Silver 100s whilst mounted on Atacama Moseco 6 Stands.
A luxury standmount speaker with sleek good looks and a big sound – the Monitor Audio Silver 100 packs a smooth punch.
Due to the metal drive units being more rigid than many other materials used in speaker construction, the Silvers can sound a little tight/bright for the first few hours. However, this can be solved by running your speakers in with an appropriate ‘burn-in’ CD. To speed our process along, we used Monitor Audio’s own proprietary disc and faced our speakers towards one another and placed one out of phase. Once we’d run this disc, a series of pops, squeaks and static, we were ready to go!
Starting softly, we kicked the speakers in with Paul Simon’s excellent Graceland album, specifically The Boy In The Bubble and Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes. We expected them to be good, just not as good as they were. Even the accordion, usually a frustrating instrument, at the beginning of The Boy In The Bubble was forward and demanded attention. As the song hit its full, complex stride the soundstage came together, feeling like one of Simon’s concerts, an open spacious feel with clear and defined instruments all placed behind Simon’s voice at the fore. The sparkling guitar from Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes was held with perfect sustain on each strum or pluck whilst perfectly underlined by the grooving African beat. With the size of the speakers as well there is little need for a subwoofer due to their ability to hit an impressive 40Hz, lower than many floorstanding speakers.
By the time the second album was playing, we’d garnered the attention of all the staff in store just in time for Landslide by Fleetwood Mac. Having just come from such an expansive soundscape from Graceland, we were a little apprehensive to see if the speakers could do justice to such an intimate song. We needn’t have worried. The subtlety and intimacy of the song are brought to light and with your eyes closed, you could be hearing the song as a private audience. The control the speakers have is quite simply breathtaking.
Put simply, if you can find room for these speakers, get them. If you can’t find it, make it (or more realistically, buy the baby siblings, the Silver 50‘s and a subwoofer such as the REL T5i to seamlessly integrate your bass).
To say these speakers are versatile is an understatement and we’ve yet to find a genre that they can’t turn their hand to; although I personally find them more suited to the rockier side of the spectrum as opposed to RnB.
If you’re still not convinced, drop into your local Richer Sounds with your favourite tracks and hear these speakers breathe new life into your music.
Click to find out more about the Monitor Audio Silver 100 Speakers.
Author: Steve, Southgate Store
