Monolith by Monoprice THX Certified Satellite Speakers (review by Erin)

[sweetchaos]

Erin has given us an early look at the upcoming review of the Monolith by Monoprice THX Certified Satellite Speakers.

Source

Mfg Link:

Monolith by Monoprice THX Certified Satellite Speakers (Pair) - Monoprice.com

Monolith™ by Monoprice™THX® Certified Compact Satellite SpeakersA truly immersive experience from your home theater or gaming systemsThe Monolith™ THX® Certified Compact Sate

www.monoprice.com

update on Aug 14:
video review

update on Aug 15:
written review https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/monoprice_comp_thx_sat/

 

[geox]

I'd love to see kefs take on this. Come on Kef do an R1 for HT crowd

 

[HighFutility]

They are pretty good for what they are. I wasn't expecting them even to hit 100hz with such a small closed enclosure. I ended up getting Cambridge minx satellites for my needs. Found them used, 5 for 125$.

 

[HighFutility]

I'd love to see kefs take on this. Come on Kef do an R1 for HT crowd

I think they had a small sealed enclosure called the r1 a while back.

Edit: R100

 

[Schollaudio]

Might be a good candidate for DIY crossover tweaking.

 

[CherylJosie]

Overlay on the specsheet

 

[tomtoo]

That looks very good for a coaxial and 250$ a pair. Very interesting.

 

[CherylJosie]

Is it just my eyes or is that like unbelievably good directivity and frequency response for a tiny $125 speaker?

 

[JohnBooty]

This would be fun to cross over to a mini woofer/"subwoofer" or two.

The compact "Micca Voltron" setup (scroll down) with two coaxials and two "subwoofers" was one of my intros to this hobby; I've always wanted to take a crack at an upgraded version but there haven't exactly been a lot of compact coaxials on the market.

Might be a good candidate for DIY crossover tweaking.

Curious as to why you say that. By all indications this seems to be nicely implemented already?

 

[jbattman1016]

That looks very good for a coaxial and 250$ a pair. Very interesting.

Get the 5.1 set for not much more https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=41287

 

[jbattman1016]

Here is a "review" from a few years ago I found as well,

Monolith M518HT 5.1 THX Sub/Satellite System Review

Performance Build Quality Value PRICE $799.99 AT A GLANCE Plus Compact

www.soundandvision.com

 

[HighFutility]

Get the 5.1 set for not much more https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=41287

It might be tricky using a speaker of that size as a center. I do not know how hard you could drive it.

 

[norman bates]

Sitting 10'+ away, I can't see a single 4.5" crossing under 200hz to be satisfying for music.

Maybe for a 5' nearfield setup.

But that dispersion is respectable.

 

[tomtoo]

5 speaker + 8inch sub <410$. Thats realy not bad.

 

[jbattman1016]

Sitting 10'+ away, I can't see a single 4.5" crossing under 200hz to be satisfying for music.

Maybe for a 5' nearfield setup.

But that dispersion is respectable.

Yeah, this would be for a small room (bedroom) setup. $400 is a great price really. I'm tempted to get it to use as a 2.1 lol

 

[sweetchaos]

Video review is live:

 

[SivKiv]

This would be fun to cross over to a mini woofer/"subwoofer" or two.

The compact "Micca Voltron" setup (scroll down) with two coaxials and two "subwoofers" was one of my intros to this hobby; I've always wanted to take a crack at an upgraded version but there haven't exactly been a lot of compact coaxials on the market.

Curious as to why you say that. By all indications this seems to be nicely implemented already?

I'm still a newb in this hobby, but I think it's a possiblility that the 1.7khz dip could be an indication of the crossover using a lower order filter, and Monoprice's site indicates that it's a second order crossover for the low pass and a third order crossover for the high pass. Maybe implementing a fourth order crossover for both may get rid of the dip altogether? If I am wrong though, could you explain why so to me? I'd like to know, since I'm still new and am trying to learn more

 

[JohnBooty]

I'm still a newb in this hobby, but I think it's a possiblility that the 1.7khz dip could be an indication of the crossover using a lower order filter, and Monoprice's site indicates that it's a second order crossover for the low pass and a third order crossover for the high pass. Maybe implementing a fourth order crossover for both may get rid of the dip altogether? If I am wrong though, could you explain why so to me? I'd like to know, since I'm still new and am trying to learn more

I'll start by saying I know zero about crossover design and implementation.

In my uneducated opinion that dip looks a little steep to be a xover issue. But as I said before, I do not rate my opinion highly on this topi.

In the linked video at around 4:30, Erin speculates about the issue here but nobody has a definitive explanation.

 

[SivKiv]

I'll start by saying I know zero about crossover design and implementation.

In my uneducated opinion that dip looks a little steep to be a xover issue. But as I said before, I do not rate my opinion highly on this topi.

In the linked video at around 4:30, Erin speculates about the issue here but nobody has a definitive explanation.

Does Erin not measure the individual responses of each drivers? If he does, maybe it could indicate why the dip exists. It's possible that the dip in the crossovering was intentional too however.

 

[scrubb]

Does Erin not measure the individual responses of each drivers?

I wondered the same thing at first, but then remember that it's probably difficult to measure individual drivers in a coax design.

I'd be buying these right now but I'm concerned about the below average distortion measurements.