Fried Monitor 7 Opinions

I've been a Fried fan for many years and have always been a proponent of transmission line loading and 1st order series crossovers.

If you can pick up the Monitor 7 at the right price, you won't be disappointed. Very open and detailed but with a slightly warmer tonal balance than previous Fried models. I attribute this to their use of the ring radiator tweeter rather than the 3/4" soft-dome Hiquphon Bud was so fond of.

Fried Products is pretty much out of business so I wouldn't pay any more than 1/2 the original retail price and at that, you'll be getting a very nice speaker you should be able to live with long term.

I can't speak for the Monitor 7, but I bought two pairs of the Compact 7 and I can tell you they are fantastic. Clear, clean and very musical. Plenty of bass without any boominess. My friend was dumbstruck when he heard them. He and I grew up listening to my Fried Betas and Fried Subwoofer system and he said these were the best sounding speakers he's ever heard. I like other speaker more, but they are 10-20 times the price.

You really can't go wrong - they are speakers you can listen to for a lifetime and not get tired of them.

Also,

They are not out of business. Just out of the mass market speaker business. They want to become custom speaker providers, I believe.

As I said, they're basically out of business! Both Jonathan Raines, President and David Finley, former Bud Fried employee, have always had "real jobs" and only did speakers part time.

Bottom line though, the Monitor 7 is still a very good sounding speaker and easy to live with; so is the Compact 7 and Studio 7. I doubt you'd ever have a problem with any of them(I still have a working pair of C/3L's I built over 20 years ago) but don't expect any factory support down the road. That's why I said, if the price is right, go for it.

Well, I waited too long and the Monitor 7's are gone...