Monitor Audio Bronze B2

Very good for the price.Recommended indeed! Fast and tight bass, good treble extension. The low frequencies are in controle and right for this size of speaker. Very detailed sound for a speaker in this price category.

First I all I should explain that I am no 'Audiophile' by any stretch and these speakers are only my second set of 'separates' speakers I have owned. I feel this is perhaps important on the basis that I, and people like me, will be the majority of the market that these B2s are aimed at.

I own only one separates system consisting of (at present) a Cambridge Audio amplifier and a Marantz CD player.

Since I bought the two units above I was looking to replace my two current drivers (Sony APMs) with something a bit more up to date, better 'lounge appeal' and of course with better quality sound.

I looked long and hard in all the obvious and less obvious places, I read a lot of reviews and it came down to two options within my budget of £150-180: Mordaunt Short 902i or the Monitor Audio Bronze B2.

I went with the Monitor Audio on the basis of the brand, the specs and the looks.

So to the speakers themselves:

They are rated at 100w (rms) with a sensitivity of 90db with 6ohm impedance so suit a wide range of audio equipment. The weight of the units just oozes quality in both the cabinets themselves and the drivers.

These are a good size for bookshelf speakers and come in black, beech or cherry effect with front mounted bass ports. The beech ones do look very sleek on black stands with or without the black covers.

Connections are via high quality connectors at the rear which will take proper speaker plugs or screw down to clamp directly onto cable. These can be bi-wired although I haven't done this as yet.

Sound Quality

Out of the box these things set up in no time and sound amazing! Monitor Audio recommend you 'run in' the drivers over around 50-100 hours and having listened to a lot of music since I got these in December I can say they are sounding even better. The bass is developing more and more each listening session and it is hard to fault the sound that seems to effortlessly flow from the cabinets. I read a review where one reviewer described the sound quality as though the band were playing in your room - I can concur with that in the sense that vocals and instruments sound as clear and as full as if you were actually there. I don't really understand the jargon used in most speaker reviews but I guess this might be called the soundstage???

The treble (high) notes are delivered with perfect clarity and although I had read that metal tweeters can be a little harsh- these bronze beauties have no such problems to my ears!

The bass seems very well balanced and although they aren't as 'bassy' as the Mordaunt Shorts, they can certainly pack a punch on the tracks that command it. The bass port sits below the bass driver at the front of the cabinet and this means I have no trouble placing these next to the wall in my small dining room (approx 3x6 meters). It could be a placebo effect but I'm sure that the bass has deepened as I have spent more hours running them in. I will just add that my amp has the bass set to its neutral position so a bigger could be had from adjusting your amp if req'd but I suppose that is really down to your own preferences as opposed to being necessary.

The biggest impact these speakers have had on my listening experience is the volume. I have found that the B2s simply excel at any volume. Contrary to my girlfriends initial predictions, I have been listening to music at lower volumes than I did on my Sony APMs and I think this is purely down to the quality of the output. The reproduction of sound at lower levels is as good as it is at any level, keeping the bass and treble balanced to deliver the correct ambiance - whatever the volume.

Lifting the lid

I want to say a little about my experiences with these speakers (and my set up) with digitally compressed music files - I am of course referring to the popular MP3 and AAC formats along with other compressive music formats. I own an Ipod (other brands of music player of course available, cheaper and more reliable!!) and so I keep MP3 and AAC compressed versions of all my CD albums. My files are saved at 196kb/s in either format and I believed this to be an adequate file size/quality compromise. The Bronze B2s show exactly how faithful their sound reproduction is when you play these files through them as they do show up the 'tinny' nature and I would go as far to say that even poor quality CD productions are revealed by these speakers! I'm sure that 'Audiophiles' will not find this a novel concept but I was shocked to find the differences in CD quality.

Conclusion

I can be nothing but happy with these speakers and I picked them up for £149 delivered from small online retailer based in Lancashire who was a great help in my buying decision as well as giving great service.

These speakers have literally transformed my music experience and despite my cynicism about separates systems, I have found that these speakers and my setup have shown me what I have been missing out on all these years.

At this price level I will stick my neck out (for what its worth) and say you will be hard pressed to beat these. Hope this was helpful