Monitor Audio S1's arrived

[blackraven]

My Monitor Audio S1 bookshelf speakers arrived today. So far I'm satisfied. Fit and finish is excellent and it has a real beechwood veneer with rounded corners and excellent binding posts for bannana's or bare wire and biwire capability. Paid $399 from saturdayaudio.com and they arrived in 3 days. They retail for over $600. They were marked down because the new RS1 version is available now.

They are a demanding little speaker and they require 30wpc minimum per the manufacturer. I did have to turn up the volume to get them to play loud on my 120wpc JVC AVR. ( I hope to be able to use my vintage technics integrated at 41wpc or my vintage yamaha integrated at 40wpc).

Now for the sound. They are a warmer sounding speaker. Not as warm as the NHT Classics but warmer than the B&W 685's. Bass was very punchy and deep for a small speaker. They are rated as 45Hz at +/- 3dB. No boom or muddiness. Treble was clear and just a smidge muted but I was using my Denon 1910 DVDP and I will be using my Music Hall CDP. At very loud volumes they became edgy and the sound started to fall apart as was stated in reviews I have read. But at moderately loud levels they sounded very good and composed. They actually sounded larger than they should for a small bookshelf just like the B&W 686 and the NHT Classic's did.

They come with tuning plugs for the rear ports. I'll have to play around with them and see if they make any difference. They will also need some breaking in. I read some where that the company stated that they need about 60hrs of breakin.

So far I would have to rate them just below the NHT Classic 3, and the B&W 685's but above the NHT 2's and B&W 686's. The NHT Classic 3's and B&W 685's were my favorites and more than I was willing to spend. But for the $399 price tag the MA's were a better bargain than any of those speakers and perfect for the occasional listening in my bedroom. I'll post again when they breakin.

Other speakers considered were Paradigm Monitors, PSB Image 25's, Infinity Beta 20's, Monitor Audio B2's and Silver S2's.