Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsTough to post an appropriate headline for this review -- Read it.
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2017
I purchased these speakers in January of 2017. I’ve spent a great deal of time trying to figure out how to properly evaluate them in a review. So, here’s my rather long two cents.
First off, I purchased the entire Monitor Audio Bronze seven speaker setup (minus the subwoofer); that would include these, the center, the Bronze 1 bookshelves, and the FX bipolars. Due to the way my room was laid out, I chose not to get the Bronze towers, instead choosing to use these Bronze 2s as fronts. Aesthetically, the Bronze speakers are very, very attractive and amongst the best-looking speakers I’ve ever seen.
Secondly, while I obviously use this seven speaker set for tv/movie watching, I also use the Bronze 2s (the fronts) for two-channel music with a separate two-channel amplifier. For tv/movie watching, I have the Denon x2300w 7.2 channel home theater receiver. This receiver is equipped with Dolby Atmos, which provides an immersive overhead effect (I mounted the Bronze 1s near the ceiling for this). Pairing the Denon with the Bronze speakers produces very good results with respect to surround sound – definitely no complaints there. However, the results of pairing the Bronze 2s with the Denon in Pure Direct mode for two-channel music was quite poor. The treble literally hurt my ears, like a thousand cymbals clanging together. This was even worse when playing female vocalists; Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey albums (CDs, Vinyl and streaming) were nearly unlistenable – like nails on a chalkboard. This was not due to a lack of power from the amplifier; the Denon puts out 90 watts per channel (when two channels are driven), and the Bronzes need anywhere from 30 to 100 watts according to the Monitor Audio specs. In addition, the What Hifi review raved about these speakers, indicating that the bass was off the charts for bookshelf speakers, and this was not the case during my initial listening sessions. I was extremely distraught. I had spent $500 on this pair of speakers, and three times that on the seven speaker set. Obviously, I should not have made these purchases without having personally listened to these speakers – that’s on me.
For months, I simply didn’t use the Bronze 2s for two-channel music, I used my other setups for that. But, fast-forward to April, and I purchased a NAD c352 integrated two-channel amplifier, which was released in 2004. This particular NAD is rated at 80 watts per channel. After hooking up the Bronze 2s to the NAD for two-channel music, the sound quality was much better. The bass was significantly improved and the treble, while not perfect, was not near as harsh. Male vocalists came through sounding quite good, but female vocalists still sounded a bit overbearing, exhibiting slightly too much sibilance. This did make wonder if the Bronze 2 speakers were simply much more sensitive to pairing. So, I used the NAD with these for a couple of months, with results that for the most part, pleased my ears.
Months later, I decided to move the NAD to my theater room for two-channel music. So again, I went back to avoiding two-channel music produced by the Denon/Bronze pairing. Then, a friend convinced me to consider vintage amplifiers. I was extremely skeptical. I have always had a hard time believing that anything old simply can’t perform the way something new does, given the advances in technology. However, after hearing a vintage Kenwood amp he had paired with his Acoustic Research towers, I took a step back because that pairing sounded amazing to my ears. I ended up finding a Kenwood KA-7300 on ebay for a great price, and pulled the trigger. Upon receiving it, I took it to a local audio shop and had it serviced, lubed and restored (this amp was released over 40 years ago). The Kenwood is rated at 65 watts per channel. Once I got it back and tested it with the Bronze 2s, my jaw literally dropped. No more harsh treble, regardless of the listening source. And the bass coming from these… it was unreal. With the Kenwood, these bookshelves hit like a pair of 10-12 inch woofers, no lie. The overall soundstage was (and is) simply incredible when paired with the vintage Kenwood. Finally, my buyer’s remorse turned into just the opposite – I have never heard bookshelf speakers sound this good, regardless of price range.
So, what should a person take away from my review? Well, in my opinion, these speakers are very sensitive to amp-pairing. In addition, while these speakers have front ports, they need room to breathe and greatly benefit from good speaker stands. If you only plan to pair these with a new surround sound receiver, I’d go another route unless you simply have money to burn and want the most attractive speakers you can find for your living room. If you do plan to purchase these for two-channel music, be prepared to buy a newer high-quality two-channel amp (gonna cost you $1k+), or a vintage amp like I did.
Even though it took me nearly a year to issue an honest review of these, I have no choice but to give these five stars given the way that they sound with my vintage Kenwood. Just be careful, these aren’t for everyone.
