Monitor Audio Silver 500 Speakers (Pair)

Monitor Audio Silver 500

Germany's Audio Test magazine recently reviewed the Silver 500 floorstanding speakers and were blown away by their sound quality.

"If a floorstanding speaker should sound like anything, then please sound like this. In comparison, many competitors sound like kitchen radios."

The 500 has all the elements of an audiophile loudspeaker; their scale and nuanced sound is first-rate, they're easy to drive, build quality is on the money, and they look the part, too. 

Monitor Audio recognise that the first thing our brain latches on to is the high frequencies - and they brought their expensive ceramic aluminum tweeter to this series. The result is a suave rendition. For the most part there are no rough edges here. This is a carefully-honed pair of speakers that brim with refinement

A specially developed 4-inch mid-range driver with ‘under hung’ voice coil and high powered magnet is used, so the voice coil is always in the magnetic gap, ensuring a low distortion and greater dynamic range from the softest ambience to the power that real instruments require.

There’s texture to instruments, and space within the mix for the reverbs that dictate much of the atmosphere. While nailing a recording’s ambience is high on the Silvers’ 'to-do' list, at no point do we feel we’re sacrificing resolution: these are very much the hi-fi speakers Monitor Audio promised.

The two bass drivers operate in separate acoustic chambers within the enclosure to provide differential tuning and to improve bass musicality.

Monitor Audio enlisted the help of the National Physical Laboratory (based in Teddington) to design the handcrafted cabinets.

A precision laser scanner from the NPL was used to identify cabinet resonances, and then help position internal bracings more accurately to ensure rigidity and minimise any colorations.

Powerful magnets in the nimble Silver 500 stand-mount loudspeaker drive large, 32 mm voice coils to ensure impressive power handling,  incredibly low distortion and clean, punchy bass. You will only hear well-balanced, pure mid-range without ever a hint of box coloration.

Strategic cabinet bracing and Monitor Audio’s bolt-through technology creates an amazingly solid speaker. Not only can it play louder and cleaner than its size suggests, it delivers an incredibly well balanced, pure mid-range for a gloriously natural sound.