I just bought a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 300s and have been really impressed by the knife-edge balance that they achieve between detail, speed, dynamics and relative lack of harshness. I auditioned 11 speakers before choosing the Silver 300s. My listening preferences are:
- I listen to all types of music. Rock, Classical, Jazz, Acoustic music, vocals, Blues
- Speed and agility: Understanding the interaction between musicians is enjoyable to me so I value the ability of a speaker to start and stop quickly. In audiophile terms, that might be called speed on transients.
- Dynamics & clarity at low listening levels (along with ability to maintain coherence at moderate listening level). I can’t always play my music loudly due to my wife’s preferences, so sounding good at low volumes is a valuable characteristic for me.
- Good coherence from low to high frequencies. Some speakers I heard (i.e., Goldenear Triton Five) had a low end response that overwhelmed the clarity of the mid range.
- Focus on mid range rather than low end or high end extension.
Essentially I was looking for a speaker with the clarity of a stand mounted monitor with a bit more low end presence. And, be able to move away from metal stands as this would be going into our bedroom.
I’ve not listened to recent versions of the Vandersteen 2Ce speakers so please do take my comments with a grain of salt, but what I remember of them is that they sounded really sweet and harmonious. From what I remember that is how Vandersteens got the nickname ’Vandersweet’. The Vandersteens were indeed really pleasant sounding speakers. They reproduced the sense of space really well and acoustic instruments and voices sounded very natural to me. The newer speaker designs I’ve been auditioning do seem to sound faster and more upfront than what I remembered of the Vandersteen 2Ce but with the harshness tuned out. It would be worth listening to some current Vandersteens as they did sound really pleasant.
My audition summary is attached below (ranked in order of my preference). I’m happy to attached my detailed listening notes on any of these speakers or to discuss in more detail.
1. Monitor Audio Gold 200 (previous-gen): These were a real WOW. All of the dynamics and musicality of the Silver 300s but with an additional level of detail and insight into my music. These made easy-to-reproduce music sound even better and difficult-to-reproduce music sound good in a way that my lower ranked speakers did not (all of the speakers ranked lower than the Audio Physic Spark).
2. Monitor Audio Silver 300: Though not inexpensive, it seems that quite a few publications are right on the mark when they describe this speaker as a great value. These have the clarity and quickness in the mid-range and treble that my Linn Index speakers had with the addition of a tuneful and rhythmic low end. These are a LOT of fun to listen to and can really boogie when presented with interesting rhythms in music.
3 (tied): Paradigm Prestige 95F: The tonal quality of these speakers is really pleasant to listen to. They are less clear in the midrange than both of the Monitor Audio speakers and the B&W 704 S2 and a little slower in pace than those speakers as well. The pace issue seems like it can be somewhat resolved by quicker sounding amplification.
3 (tied): Bowers & Wilkins 704 S2: Has a similar level of clarity, quickness, detail as the Silver 300s. (Close enough that I need to hear the Monitor Audio speakers again to figure out which is better) But is $1000 more expensive than the Silver 300s. The Silver 300s also have a smoother top end while not yielding any clarity or quickness to the 704. My impressions independent of price is that the Silver 300 is a better speaker as it does everything the 704 does with with more high end smoothness.
5. Audio Physic Spark: Very musical sounding, but less low end punch than the Silver 300s.
6. Triangle Esprit Gaia EZ: These sounded fairly precise and had a nice fullness of tone, but was lacking in pace and timing compared to my higher ranked speakers.
7. Totem Sky Tower: These sounded quick and provided good definition to the leading edge of notes, but I would have difficulty listening to these for an extended period due to their aggressiveness in the high end.
8. Dynaudio X34 Excite: The sound felt a little loose and not so well controlled, but worked great for rock and metal.
9. Goldenear Audio Triton 5: This would probably be a better choice for a home theater speaker as they had a "big" sound though not as articulate for reproducing music.
10. Rega RX-3: It played music okay, but lacked precision.
11. Bowers & Wilkins 603: These speakers were a bit of mess. Their sound seems to be the result in trying to design a speaker that can play lower in the low end and higher in the high end without sorting out the fundamentals of how to play music first. Kind of boring to listen to since it fails to reproduce so much of the music captured in recordings and fails to play rhythms well.
