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Monitor Audio Apex A10 Speaker Review

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 108 62.1%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 60 34.5%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 3 1.7%

  • Total voters
    174
Thanks for pointing it out. It's great that Amir's measurements can bring attention to these things. I'm surprised, however, there was no attempt to apply comprehensive (not just the bass) EQ in Amir's review. It would be interesting to hear how well the speaker responds to EQ. Overall, I think the final rating was a bit harsh - the speaker has a colored sound profile and a distortion peak around 2khz, is it really so bad? I understand we should expect better from these audio companies already, but I commend Monitor Audio for bringing such a unique/innovative product to market in a sea of boxy passive speakers that take up half your desk.
As @thewas pointed out directivity is not ideal, so EQ is not going to be able to address the issues in midrange and treble without other tradeoffs due to the poorly integrated midrange/tweeter.

The bass tuning is EQ'able depending on use (desktop, wall-mount, in-room, etc.), but why? The answer is they have caved into the showroom sound in order to sell. This from a company with a reputation that I hoped would allow them to rise above the showroom sound requirement. It's doubly unfortunate since the bass response they did target isn't even deep enough to integrate well with a subwoofer in most situations.

The speaker is moderately broken in enough areas to prevent it from being very useful. It's not intrinsically good against a wall. It's even worse on desktop. Desktop + wall or corner is worse again. A sub won't integrate well for most uses. Plus that bat shaped FR!

Agree that small and good are hard to come by. But an 8010A (as one example) has a smaller footprint, with amps and DSP built in, certainly measures worlds apart, at half the cost. Plus has EQ settings for use on a desktop and/or near walls!
 
Overall, I think the final rating was a bit harsh - the speaker has a colored sound profile and a distortion peak around 2khz, is it really so bad?
When you can do a lot better for a lot less money? Yeah, I don't think it was harsh at all. If anything, I think the criticism was a bit more muted than it probably deserved.

Of course, if you prioritize the looks and size over performance and value, then that's your decision to make.
 
Poor showing for a brand that used to sound better. If you compare with similar offers from Neumann and Genelec, thanks to Amir’s reviews, we can now choose intelligently quality and substance over brand name.

If you compare to that Polk ES20 speaker Amir measured a while back, better and costs far less, let alone the higher priced stuff you mention!
 
I voted fine as it is easily "fixable" with some EQ and a sub, creating a very respectable spinorama score of 8.

IMO a speaker of this size should always be supplemented with a sub.
 
I voted fine as it is easily "fixable" with some EQ and a sub, creating a very respectable spinorama score of 8.

IMO a speaker of this size should always be supplemented with a sub.

And the cost does not bother you, and the distortion, which can be bettered with some couple hundred dollar speakers?

These are $1,500 a pair, I just feel you can do a lot better with several much lower priced speakers.
 
I should have noted that this speaker was released in 2012. It is still on sale so it must be a good seller.
Wow, could be.
Or MA massively over-egged the manufacturing quantity and dealers and distributors are left with stock that was probably stuffed into them. UK sellers are offering them as low as £330 each.
 
Terrible out of the box. Somewhat eq-able. but I don't see what can be done to treat those resonances at 1-2khz, which is the heart of the midrange. Them throw in its $1500 pr, and it's obvious far better performers can be had for the same money or less.

Thanks for your review, Amir.
 
@amirm Is the predicted in room response accurate in the bass region for wall-mounted speakers?
 
And i thought its hard to F-up a speaker like this. I mean a 5inch with a dome. Espacially in this price range. But yes you can do it.
 
It would be more useful if Amir reviewed any of their actually reportedly good speakers, such as the Silver 7G series and above rather than some crap lifestyle product that clearly doesn't match Monitor's reputation. I'm certainly not interpreting this review as indicative of the quality of the Monitor brand on the whole.

A review is about a product not about a brand always.
 
It would be more useful if Amir reviewed any of their actually reportedly good speakers, such as the Silver 7G series and above rather than some crap lifestyle product that clearly doesn't match Monitor's reputation. I'm certainly not interpreting this review as indicative of the quality of the Monitor brand on the whole.

It’s tricky because people tend to ship cheaper and smaller speakers for convenience and cost. The members are the suppliers of the speakers…
 
Terrible out of the box. Somewhat eq-able. but I don't see what can be done to treat those resonances at 1-2khz, which is the heart of the midrange. Them throw in its $1500 pr, and it's obvious far better performers can be had for the same money or less.

Thanks for your review, Amir.

I think the messy area of peaks and dips from about 800Hz to 1.6kHz is due to diffraction effects, mostly from the top and bottom but also from the sides.

The cabinet for this speaker was clearly designed to prioritize looks over acoustical performance.
 
Accept for this one though...
I've had a few in the bronze series that I didn't like at all. Usually their bigger floorstanders tend to be better.
 
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