Monitor Audio Silver 500 7g

[Will3]

OK. I have had mine for a year and I can assure you that they sound exactly the same. What has changed is that I have dialed in my room corrrection and that has made a huge difference. What is nice about these speakers is that they are efficient and have excellent bass extension. So, there is room for EQ and I can get away with a single sub because these speakers can go low enough to fill in a bass room mode.

Adaptation to speakers is a real thing. But it happens to the person, not the speakers.

............

 

[Penelinfi]

Break-in happens in your brain. How on earth would you prove that the materials are changing, and changing enough to be audible. Break-in/burn-in is not a thing, it doesn't matter if you owned and listened to the speakers, your brain was along for the ride and was ALWAYS governing and responsible for the perception. Why do people have such a hard time understanding and accepting reality? It isn't up for debate either, this is well known psychoacoustic science. Embrace science and stop with the fairy-tales.

Speaker suspension can change slightly with use. Especially if you give it a good stretch

 

[HooStat]

There is PLENTY on this site about break-in -- there is no need to waste more bandwidth on audiophile myths.

This is the canonical thread on the subject: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/do-audio-speakers-break-in.11898/

 

[Penelinfi]

There is PLENTY on this site about break-in -- there is no need to waste more bandwidth on audiophile myths.

This is the canonical thread on the subject: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/do-audio-speakers-break-in.11898/

It's not a myth when you can measure the Fs change.
Whether that accounts for people's accounts of "huge changes" is another story.

 

[HooStat]

It's not a myth when you can measure the Fs change.
Whether that accounts for people's accounts of "huge changes" is another story.

We are talking about audible changes. But please read the 100 page link I cite above. There is recognition that there are small "changes" but nothing that would approach anything meaningfully audible, or require 70 hours of break-in.

Adaptation of people to new speakers is a very real thing. And there is nothing wrong with needing 70 hours to really get tuned into a speaker. It just doesn't need to be attributed to "break-in". There are too many audio myths that get in the way of people enjoying their music.

 

[A Surfer]

Speaker suspension can change slightly with use. Especially if you give it a good stretch

Yes, but is this audible?

 

[Taralius]

I see some pictures of the speakers having a kind of a triangular shaped 'hat' on top of them(see attached photo), while this isn't there on other photos I find online.
Does anybody knows what is this thing? Is it a kind of a removable aesthetic accessory? Thank you.

 

[8bits]

I see some pictures of the speakers having a kind of a triangular shaped 'hat' on top of them(see attached photo), while this isn't there on other photos I find online.
Does anybody knows what is this thing? Is it a kind of a removable aesthetic accessory? Thank you.

Usually that's an additional speaker for Atmos home theater setups.

 

[Penelinfi]

 

[Taralius]

I found a kind of a deal on these and they will cost me more or less the same as a pair of R3 Meta.
Shall I prefer them over the Kef's for a 35m2/85m3 open living room?
Which would be their advantages in theory?
(subwoofers will be added on both scenarios)

 

[AlexanderM]

You should try and listen to both, I would go for the Silver 500s but others may have a different opinion.

 

[skyfly]

Nice measurements today from Soundstage hifi…someone get Amir the 100 7g

SoundStageNetwork.com | SoundStage.com - NRC Measurements: Monitor Audio Silver 500 7G Loudspeakers

www.soundstagenetwork.com

Sorry. My feeling is that, by Chart B, we should say that this speaker is flawed, if we follow ASR standards.

 

[CyBorek]

A little upgrade on the topic. I have traded SABAJ A30a for new Arcam SA30 and it was good step forward. G class makes difference when listening on low volume. Even my father in law has heared difference instantly he visit me.firdt.time after.the upgrade, and aksed me what did I changed becouse the sound is more full now. Unfortunetly the only upgrade in sound threatment are: new couch, new carpet, a cat and his playhouse.

Also what is a shame of me is the fact, that I have it since November and still had no time to make DIRAC tunning.

 

[fadetoblackbs]

So for those using the 500 combined with a Sub, at what frequency did you set the crossover?
I am using standard 80Hz but will try lowering the setting the upcoming days.

 

[fadetoblackbs]

A little upgrade on the topic. I have traded SABAJ A30a for new Arcam SA30 and it was good step forward. G class makes difference when listening on low volume. Even my father in law has heared difference instantly he visit me.firdt.time after.the upgrade, and aksed me what did I changed becouse the sound is more full now. Unfortunetly the only upgrade in sound threatment are: new couch, new carpet, a cat and his playhouse.

Also what is a shame of me is the fact, that I have it since November and still had no time to make DIRAC tunning.

Nice.
So you chose the Arcam just because it has class G?
Interesting, I did not know or heard any class G products so far as they are not so mainstream.

 

[kolestonin]

I recently bought a pair of Monitor Audio Silver 500 7G, which replaced a pair of KEF R3 Meta.
I will share my thoughts and eventually some measurements in the near future. I will now only say that, while I miss some few things of my METAs, I undoubtedly and clearly consider my new speakers as an upgrade.

For the moment I will kindly ask for your help/opinions on something specific.

I had my METAs paired with 2 SVS SB-1000pro subs.
My first impression, after not many hours of critical listening to be honest, is that the monitor audio's sound better without sub(s).
I have a feeling that there is somehow an excess of energy in my 35sqm living room when the sub(s) come in to play. But I am in a kind of a denial state as subs were always making an improvement with all my previous(non tower) speakers. And I am not sure if there is such thing as a sub 'harming' the sound, no matter the speakers or the room.
But I tried with one sub, with two, different combinations of crossover and gains, and the result was always more or less the same: at best the sub(s) are making no change, but most of the times they alter the sound in a negative way.
Everything sounds louder(that's expected I guess). Bass become more evident but not so clear if not boomy. Mid-range, which is supposed to 'breath' and open when adding a sub, is missing details. Highs become more bright and even flirting with harshness in certain songs.

Yes, the sound has maybe more depth with the sub(s). You can tell that something is missing when they are off, but the global outcome is better(as I already described). It is like a painting having more vivid colours but not pleasing your eyes in the same way at the end of the day.

My questions to you are:

- Is there such thing as a sub 'harming' the sound under specific conditions(room, speakers etc)? Or a properly integrated sub will be beneficial at 100% of the cases?

- My speakers have 2+2 8'' woofers and a nominal frequency response of 27Hz(-6db). I know that each speakers/room combination is unique and we can't have a rule of thumb regarding the crossover. But what would be a 'logic' crossover for my speaker's? I read that towers digging so low need to be also crossed low(around 40hz - 50hz). Would you agree with that approach? I think I achieve the best results with sub(s) crossed at 90hz during my so far experimentation. Can this lead to any useful conclusions? Again in theory, what should be the approach? Low hz with high gain and high hz with low gain? Or the opposite?

- Can the subtle sound quality degradation I hear with the subs be reflected in REW measurements? Do you think you will be able to identify any differences if I provide you with no sub, 1 sub and 2 subs measurement's?

Feel of course free to share any thoughts

 

[Penelinfi]

If subs aren't properly integrated / bass it turned up too much, I guess it can overwhelm slightly. Maybe your ear has IMD from it ;p

If you're running speakers full range then perhaps low crossover is good.

If you filter speakers it may work better with higher crossover. I feel that phase change with bass ports may have an effect if you're trying to line stuff up at the frequencies those are active?