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Monitor Audio Platinum 3G

Recluse-Animator

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That's not a bad thing in my book actually. Lower chances of man made mistakes as it happens with hand built speakers in the UK; and I saw a few unfortunately
As they're made in China and priced similarly to UK made ones they could have possible made the price lower and by doing so get more sales.
That could possible be a bad thing from a business point of view, but then again the same could be said about all products in all markets.
 

Jukebox

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Comparig some measurements on Soundstage, usually the lower priced Silver series measures better than Gold or older Platinum.
The dome tweeters in Silver have better measured performances in every aspect than the ribbon.
Let's see how the new Micro Pleated Diaphragm (MPD III) high-frequency transducer will behave
 

Dougey_Jones

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:rolleyes:
...But certainly not at any listening angle... There is no consensus for narrower directivity. That's about it. Not everyone likes KEF's dual concentric drivers. I don't.
I've never heard a pair of KEF's that I liked, real talk.
 

Recluse-Animator

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Comparig some measurements on Soundstage, usually the lower priced Silver series measures better than Gold or older Platinum.
The dome tweeters in Silver have better measured performances in every aspect than the ribbon.
Let's see how the new Micro Pleated Diaphragm (MPD III) high-frequency transducer will behave
I Don't understand a manufacturer that produces products that an increase in price doesn't come with increased performance.
That's why I would never buy their products.
 

Recluse-Animator

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I've never heard a pair of KEF's that I liked, real talk.
I've never heard Kef's. I was just going by measurements. And yes I know measurements aren't everything as some people like certain manufacturers house curves.
My point was that if someone is shopping for passives they should always audition Kef's if they don't know what they sound like.
 

Adi777

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I was listening to the MA PL500 II, it wasn't bad.
 

HarmonicTHD

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I've never heard Kef's. I was just going by measurements. And yes I know measurements aren't everything as some people like certain manufacturers house curves.
My point was that if someone is shopping for passives they should always audition Kef's if they don't know what they sound like.
I did. In 2017 we auditioned the Monitor Audio Silver and Gold the KEF R700 (later R7), the Reference 3 and 5. Monitor Audio sounded bright and fatiguing. All three Kef models won over the Monitor Audio one’s. We bought the KEFs.

Disclaimer. Yes sighted test and subjective impressions other people’s preferences might of course differ.
 

Bozon

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I Don't understand a manufacturer that produces products that an increase in price doesn't come with increased performance.
That's why I would never buy their products.
You are absolutely wrong about this. Measurements don't tell the real story regarding those.

I have heard the new 7G Silver Series (owned the Silver 6G too), Gold, Platinum, had the Kefs LS50 and Metas, auditioned R3, R7, Reference 3. Also owned Q Concept 500 and Sonus Faber Sonetto V. Currently using Canton Reference on my daily main system.

I can tell you there is a incredible difference on sound quality between the Silver 7 G and the PL100 II. The Platinums are in another league in everything sound wise. They are incredible sounding spakers. Probably one of the best I have heard.

Silver series 7G are ok price-wise, similar level than the Kef's R (a little less boring slow than the R's) but no even close on how a high end loudspeaker like the Platinum sound. Kef's Reference are on a similar level than Platinums. I really liked the bass on those Platinums and the treble is very smooth and natural.

Price/performance-wise. To me, the best speakers so far have been the Canton's Reference . They sound almost as good as the Kefs Reference and MA Platinum but are about 60% of their price. Q Acoustics Concept 500 are very good price/performance too (they have an amazing sound stage).

So, NO, the Silver 7G measure well but they sound like a speaker on their price range does. They are a competitive product but no even close from what you are expecting from measurements on the reviews suggest. They use low to mid-tier quality drivers.

This is the more accurate review I have seen so far:

 
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MarcT

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You are absolutely wrong about this. Measurements don't tell the real story regarding those.

I have heard the new 7G Silver Series (owned the Silver 6G too), Gold, Platinum, had the Kefs LS50 and Metas, auditioned R3, R7, Reference 3. Also owned Q Concept 500 and Sonus Faber Sonetto V. Currently using Canton Reference on my daily main system.

I can tell you there is a incredible difference on sound quality between the Silver 7 G and the PL100 II. The Platinums are in another league in everything sound wise. They are incredible sounding spakers. Probably one of the best I have heard.

Silver series 7G are ok price-wise, similar level than the Kef's R (a little less boring slow than the R's) but no even close on how a high end loudspeaker like the Platinum sound. Kef's Reference are on a similar level than Platinums. I really liked the bass on those Platinums and the treble is very smooth and natural.

Price/performance-wise. To me, the best speakers so far have been the Canton's Reference . They sound almost as good as the Kefs Reference and MA Platinum but are about 60% of their price. Q Acoustics Concept 500 are very good price/performance too (they have an amazing sound stage).

So, NO, the Silver 7G measure well but they sound like a speaker on their price range does. They are a competitive product but no even close from what you are expecting from measurements on the reviews suggest. They use low to mid-tier quality drivers.

This is the more accurate review I have seen so far:

Yes, I'm not sure how well you can measure subjective perceptions like bass slam, transient attack, placement of voices and/or instruments in a sound stage, and sense of scale. At some point, you just have to listen to different speakers playing on the same exact system. I too have heard the MA Platinum II and I thought the sound was very good.
 

retro

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Back in the 90's, I had Monitor Audio Studio 20SE for many years..excellent speakers..
But I always lusted for an upgrade to Studio 50..
Back then, they were truly great speakers.
Anyone remember these models..?
 

Recluse-Animator

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Yes, I'm not sure how well you can measure subjective perceptions like bass slam, transient attack, placement of voices and/or instruments in a sound stage, and sense of scale. At some point, you just have to listen to different speakers playing on the same exact system. I too have heard the MA Platinum II and I thought the sound was very good.
First of all "bass slam", "transient attack" and so on can mean different things to different people.
Secondly sound stage has more to do with the room than the speakers.

Almost always a more expensive model from the same manufacturer will have more bass and that alone contributes immensely to the perceived sound quality.
Most of the time it will yield a positive perception, but in some cases it can also yield a negative one by introducing room modes.

Then there's bias and placebo when a more expensive model has a bigger price tag, fancier looking drivers and cabinet.

And of course not all people like speakers that measure flat.

In the end all that matters is that you like what your hearing and can afford it.
 

Bozon

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First of all "bass slam", "transient attack" and so on can mean different things to different people.
Secondly sound stage has more to do with the room than the speakers.

Almost always a more expensive model from the same manufacturer will have more bass and that alone contributes immensely to the perceived sound quality.
Most of the time it will yield a positive perception, but in some cases it can also yield a negative one by introducing room modes.

Then there's bias and placebo when a more expensive model has a bigger price tag, fancier looking drivers and cabinet.

And of course not all people like speakers that measure flat.

In the end all that matters is that you like what your hearing and can afford it.
Clearly you have very poor real experience with speakers and you base all your judgement on data you can find online.

In a normal living room environment. The sound stage that you get from the speakers is mostly influenced by the speakers and the electronic that feeds them. I can easily differentiate on my home one speaker soundstage from another and, also, the same happens with different pre/power amplifiers with the same speakers.

Regarding that more bass produced on high end speakers as "artificial" and misleading. You are again wrong on this. Seasoned audiophiles can detect that kind of FR unbalance very, very easily. On my case, when there is too much bass, or room resonances, that's very easy to fix just by using sponges on the Bass Reflex ports or bass traps in the room. So, is not a mayor problem for me. The difference regards on bass quality not bass quantity. A.k.a How natural sounds the instruments reproduced by the system. For example. Current Kef's R line sounds artificial. Guitars sound out of tone. However those speakers measure very, very good. They are also sound "slow" and lack of rhythm precision. Measurements don't tell the real story. Kef's Reference line is much, much better than R line. You can easily see (hear) why they are so much more expensive when you compare them side by side. The same happens with the Platinums.

Cheap low tier drivers used on budget speakers tipically sounds "hard", "metallic", and colored. You can hear that on piano and guitar notes, If you have experience with real instruments. Most measurements relative to FR are conducted by reproducing pure frequency sweeps. That is not music!!! You can have a very neutral sweep FR response but, is the speaker able to reproduce the combined instruments, voices and harmonics with the same fidelity?. How do you measure for example, "congestion" (or hardness or lack of instrument separation and resolution). Some would say "resonances" on the speaker box. That's is also not true. Resonances tend to color the sound, congestion is tipically derived from driver's quality and distortion vs power figures.

I would say that, mostly, FR curves tell a very easy part of the story. Yes! there are some speakers intentionally EQed to be bright (B&W, SF and others) or bass heavy (Paradigm for example). I immediately remove them from my purchase list.
 

kemmler3D

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the same happens with different pre/power amplifiers with the same speakers.

Possible if the amps aren't powerful enough for your speakers, otherwise...? Probably placebo.

They are also sound "slow" and lack of rhythm precision.

How might you measure "slowness"?

How do you measure for example, "congestion" (or hardness or lack of instrument separation and resolution).

IMO the sound of "congestion" will typically come from excessive THD and IMD in the 400-2.5 khz range, a slow transient response, and/or the driver suffering from compression. All straightforward to measure...
 

BrokenEnglishGuy

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Price/performance-wise. To me, the best speakers so far have been the Canton's Reference . They sound almost as good as the Kefs Reference and MA Platinum but are about 60% of their price. Q Acoustics Concept 500 are very good price/performance too (they have an amazing sound stage).
Canton reference frist need to measure on par of Kef reference if you want to compare. Even the monitor 7G have less distortion in the mid range vs Canton reference 7K, they are a better contender. For now Canton need to work a lot in their directivity, cabinet and distortion if they want to be comparable with Kefs.

Kef reference are one of the best measure speaker, while the canton references not, even the new vento 100's have a little bit better distortion and bit better directivity than these canton reference, the current Reference from Canton are not even near of that kef level. Maybe their measurements are in par with Q series.

Sorry but having high distortion, bad directivity and high Q resonances in the cabinet is not what Kefs are.
 
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Recluse-Animator

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In a normal living room environment. The sound stage that you get from the speakers is mostly influenced by the speakers and the electronic that feeds them. I can easily differentiate on my home one speaker soundstage from another and, also, the same happens with different pre/power amplifiers with the same speakers.
Ridiculous statements on all accounts.
Ask Kal Rubinson, any other experienced reviewer or anyone who have heard the same speaker in different rooms and they will tell you that how the speaker interacts with room is why it sounds the way it sounds.
Not a single person has ever heard a difference between amps, DACs, CD players and cables in a third party double blind ABX test.
Regarding that more bass produced on high end speakers as "artificial" and misleading.
I never wrote anything of the sort.
Cheap low tier drivers used on budget speakers tipically sounds "hard", "metallic", and colored.
Again not a single person ever has been able to distinguish cheap drivers from expensive ones in any listening test.
It's all about the whole speaker design with crossovers and cabinets and not just drivers.
Many cheap drivers measure better than expensive ones and you'd be surprised how cheap drivers some expensive speakers have in them.
Of course driver types at least at their extreme have their own sound signature. Electrostatic, ribbon, AMT, compression driver, metal, ceramic, fabric and so on.
What I mean by "their extreme" is that there's metal drivers that sound like fabric drivers and vice versa, but the most "metallic" sounding metal driver won't sound the same as the most "fabric" sounding fabric driver. But that's just one driver and most speakers have at least two and then there's crossovers and the cabinet all of which contributes to the sound at least as much if not more.
 

Recluse-Animator

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Canton reference frist need to measure on par of Kef reference if you want to compare. Even the monitor 7G have less distortion in the mid range vs Canton reference 7K, they are a better contender. For now Canton need to work a lot in their directivity, cabinet and distortion if they want to be comparable with Kefs.

Kef reference are one of the best measure speaker, while the canton references not, even the new vento 100's have a little bit better distortion and bit better directivity than these canton reference, the current Reference from Canton are not even near of that kef level. Maybe their measurements are in par with Q series.

Sorry but having high distortion, bad directivity and high Q resonances in the cabinet is not what Kefs are.
Well he did write "They sound almost as good as the Kefs Reference and MA Platinum but are about 60% of their price" and if they sound good to him and that was his budget limit and he's happy with them then who are we to judge.

I do agree that Canton needs to step up their game and it wouldn't require a lot.
 

VintageFlanker

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Measurements don't tell the real story regarding those.
... But Andrew Robinson does?... What kind of joke is that?

Seriously, another new guy coming from nowhere, explaining how wrong we all are and how "measurements (that he doesn't understand one bit) don't tell the real story". The way I see it: either a conscious troll, or another unconscious Dunning Kruger effect victim.
 
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kemmler3D

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... But Andrew Robinson does?... What kind of joke is that?

Seriously, another new guy coming from nowhere, explaining how wrong we all are and how "measurements (that he doesn't understand one bit) don't tell the real story". The way I see it: either a conscious troll, or another unconscious Dunning Kruger effect victim.

Of course listening is always "the real story", but I think measurements tell a lot (and a lot more than bozon seems to believe) about this story, and also provide a DVD-commentary-like insight on how the story takes shape. :D To abuse the metaphor further, measurements help us avoid misinterpreting plot points in the story by giving us a quick, readable synopsis.
 

BrokenEnglishGuy

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Of course listening is always "the real story", but I think measurements tell a lot (and a lot more than bozon seems to believe) about this story, and also provide a DVD-commentary-like insight on how the story takes shape. :D
The problem is when people listening a speaker, there is a highly possibility that the listening room didn't had professional acoustic treatment in that room.
 
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