Zise, quality sound, construction, material and design, biwiring and biamp options... An excelent speaker. Very good looking.

none... the clothes on mask te highs and make the sound closed and harsh, but this happend in most of speakers.

I bough a pair of new b2, and i think this are the best speakers on this price range in Argentina. Are very good, similar to B&W 601.s3, but cost te half. Very good quality sound and construction. I design electroacustically instalations and i have a good ears. But, one thing is very important to obtain te best sound, you hace to remove te grills, if you do that, you'll have an opneness in higs and mids, and te bass is deeper, because the grills blocs the front port, and the clotes aren't acustically transparent for highs and mids. I run this speakers with a Marantz sr 5400 av receiver as stereo mode and a pioneer dv 578 ando a Monitor Audio ASW 100 Subwoofer. Te wires are mosnter cables, god, but don't costs a fortune. The clothes are not good for speakers anda remove them make a terrible difference, do that anda judge for yourselves. If you don't have a subwoofer dont't worry, because the b2 go very deep for be a bookshelf speakers, anda have very good punch, but if you can add a sub going to sound better. I recomend them.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 601 s3

good finishing sweet & warm tight bass

none.

got a pair of used speaker from a owner who used it for a year. the build of this speaker rather classic & rather heavy compared to its size. this speaker delivered a sweet mid & beautiful high. the bass is quite tight & well control & can be boomy if the placement is not right. the vocal produced by this speaker is awesome; clear, powerful, smooth & warm. in order to bring out the fullest of this speaker, you need a amplifer that has a power handling of 80w/ch min. good speaker.

Similar Products Used:

tannoy m2. mission 780. rotel pre-amp, rc980. old kinergetics power, kba 75. rotel, rcd 970. audiolab 8000a.

all round speakers good value

none at the price

I listened to these speakers at the shop and it sounded quite good. Its an all round speakers that does not do anything wrong. And it doesn't do anything too good also, which may be excellent for some. But then again you should not expect too much for the price you'd pay for these speakers. When i compared these to the MA Studio 10 and the new Gold Reference 10 speakers, both standmounts, I was quite surprised. The GF 10 sounded too forward and bright for my liking and the soundstage was small, other than that everything else was pretty good. The Studio 10 were excellent, wide soundstage, deep bass, full-bodied sound, stunning clarity and transparency. Absolutely no weakness at all, and they were slightly cheaper than the GF 10 they were replacing though the studio 10 were almost at half their original price. So i forked out a 'little' extra to purchase these. But for those on a tight budget the Monitor Audio Monitor 2 will be a good buy. Although i strongly urge you to take along your own cds to listen before you buy them to see whether it fits your ears.

Similar Products Used:

primare A20 primare D20

Classy Good looks with grills off Really nice wood cabinet Beautiful midrange for classical music

Don''t buy these if you listen to dance, or pop, the bass is very gentle.

Great for classical and folk. Really sweet midrange and smooth treble Precise sound but not for the bass conscious. Needs a ggod amp and needs a bit of driving, sensitivity is high at 90db. I used it with a Teac ref. 300 micro seperate amp. Not a good combination.

Similar Products Used:

B & W 601 s3 Acoustic Research AR18s Celestion F10 Spendor Preludes Spendor SP2/2

A good sounding speaker that does the job with high levels of resolution yet still maintains it's musicality. And at US$250 in Singapore it's a steal! No questions asked. I even used my $3,800 Luxman SQ38 Signature amplifier and it sounded grate. Tested with Rotel RCD 971 CD Player and RA971 Amplifier. Also used a Copland 289 CD Player and Luxman SQ38 Signature. Third combo used was EAR834L Pre-Amp and Cary SLA-70 MkII tube amp. Yeah I have a lot of gear and all I can say is if your system is a little sluggish sounding go for the Monitor Audio Monitor 2 speakers. If your looking more musicality than go for the more expensive Monitor Audio Studio 2 or 10. Alternatively, go for the Vienna Acoustics Hayden (at Music By Design in Singapore). The Tannoy R2 is also not bad but like the VA and Studio series, cost more.

At US$250 (S$450), NONE. Use good speaker stands and position at 1- 2 feet away with slight toe in. Long run in time - almost 100 hours.

First off I can't understand the so-called "reviewer" Peck below. He obviously has a system that doesn't gel with these speakers. He then blames everyone including What Hi-Fi magazine and the sales person at Precision Audio at Adelphi. Yet he labels himself an audio enthusiast!!?? The way he conducted his audition shows his lack of understanding. NO ONE in his right mind would buy a product blind - and that's just what he did. Sorry for being so upset but in my 25 years music listening and buying equipment you should always listen to equipment as a system. What HI-Fi clearly states that in every issue. And, a showroom sales staff would be out of his/her mind if they refuse to sell to a customer who obviously buys based solely on reviews. I have bought several products from Precision Audio over the past five years and the sales manager only brings out the magazine review when a customer asks the silly question "Any Reviews?"

Similar Products Used:

Mission 780, Castle Tay, Tannoy R1

Beautiful treble, clean midrange

Lack of bass

System:

Marantz CD6000 KI Signature
Arcam Alpha 7 & Alpha 9P in bi-amp arrangement
Gale T60 speaker stands
Monitor Audio Monitor 2 loudspeakers
JBL TLX SUB175 active subwoofer

Initially, I tried the Monitor 2s driven simply by the Alpha 7 and found that whilst they had a captivating treble and midrange, there was no real bass to speak of. Addition of the JBL subwoofer filled in the bottom 1 1/2 to 2 octaves quite nicely. Biamping, with the Alpha 7 driving the HF units and the Alpha 9P driving the mid/bass units, tightened the bass up and improved the imaging, especially the depth of the soundstage; strangely, the treble seemed to become slightly less prominent and a little smoother.

Listening to classical singing voice such as Janet Baker (Elgar's Sea Pictures on EMI) or Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (Strauss's Four Last Songs on EMI) shows similar strengths to the old Audiomaster MLS1s (once described as a 'poor man's LS3/5a'), with completely believeable vocal tone. In this respect, these speakers are far superior to the Linn Index.

Orchestral music (e.g., Mahler, Sibelius, and Beethoven symphonies (various recordings), and Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra (Reiner/CSO on RCA Victor Living Stereo) shows the lack of bass unless reinforced with the JBL subwoofer. Imaging is good, but not exceptional. Instrumental tone is good, with perhaps a slight amount of nasality. Highly overengineered CBS/Sony recordings sound a little grey and lacking in tonal colour (I blame the multi-microphone technique used).

Mediaeval music (the Clemencic Consort's recording of the Carmina Burana -- NOT the Orff travesty -- on Harmonia Mundi, and the Martin Best Mediaeval Ensemble on Nimbus) is very well handled, again with excellent tratment of the human voice from soprano to bass, plus superb treatment of percussion instruments ranging from bells to pottery nakers and bass drums (turning off the subwoofer again shows how intriniscally bass-light the Monitor 2s are, however).

Folk music, e.g., Northumbrian small pipes and Irish uillean pipes, is well-handled and believable.

A very limited amount of rock programme, principally Can (e.g., Future Days) shows good separation of instruments/sound effects and well-handled rhythm.

In all, I'm perfectly happy with the Monitor 2s when combined with the JBL subwoofer. However, without the sub they are too bass-light for my taste. These speakers definitely improve with better amplification, but whether the cost of such amplification can be justified for speakers in this price range is open to discussion. I also have a feeling that the Monitor 2s are better suited to classical than rock programme.

Similar Products Used:

Audiomaster MLS1, Linn Index

Real wood veneer and Made in England

Way too bright, very messy mid and lack in Bass

System Summary:

Cyrus II Integrated Amp
NAD 310 Amp
Rega Planet CD Player
Rotel RT-955 Tuner
Onkyo T401 Tuner
Castle Tay Speakers
Monitor Audio Monitor 2
Esoteric Audio Interconnect
Soniclink Interconnect
Qudos speaker Cable
Cable Talk 3.1 Speaker Cable

I have been living with the very poor sounding NAD 310 driving the MX2 for almost a year before replacing it with Cyrus II used. I can hear the very distinct improvement the moment I pluck in the Cyrus. Despite this, the system with MX2 still sound way too dull, a great different from even the entry level HI-FI.

Then I saw a pair of Monitor 2 displayed at the showcase of Precision stating a 50% price cut from S$800 to S$400 and those catchy 5-stars ratings and reviews from WhatHIFI. It was interesting and I thought was within my means, so I went to audition. The setup was Linn amp and CD Player with some in-house brand cable called the AudioSpec.

The sale person was busy showing me the reviews from Whathifi stating that it was the best speaker at that price without any weakness. I did not have any CDs I was familiar with and Celin Dion was played briefly before I paid up and go. I even bought a pair of their in house brand cable for the price higher than that for Cable Talk 3.1.

When I started listening to them at home, it did not sound right. Although it reveals more detail than the MX2, Its too harsh, I had to keep the volume low in order to hurt my ears.

So I thought that I needed to let it run-in for a few days before it would sound good. After almost a month, tt does improve but the highs are still too much, the vocal didn't sound right and the bass just don't seem to kick in sufficiently. Its just musically incorrect.

Then I started to search the web to see what others say about this and what went wrong, unfortunately there is none except for this and the official website of Monitor Audio under the "Previous models" presenting just the brief technical specification.

Desprate to find out more, I dug out the older WhatHIFI issues dated back to 1997. In 1997, these were rated five stars but was downgraded to only two in 1999. The best buy rating was given in end 1997.

After that I bought a pair of Castle Tay used from a Lawyer. When I compare them, all the weakness in Monitor 2 just shows up clearly. I did not notice the distortion from Rotel Tuner until I connect to the former, it was obious. That is how much detail the Monitor 2 has been missing.

Those guys from WhatHIFI can be very inconsistent, word of advise, trust WhatHIFI? at your own risk!

I really suspect that the previous two guys from Singapore who gave good rating to these speakers are the SAME guy who sold me the speakers. Email me if you are not.

In conclusion, there are just too many S$400 speakers that deliver good sound, for example, my friend just bought a pair of Dyaudio Audience 50 for S$410 used in mint condition. Don't waste money on this.

Similar Products Used:

Tannoy MX2, Castle Tay and Pioneer

This are good speakers though a little bright. The bass is awesome in view of its size. Positioning is crucial and hold them down with some weights !!!

Monitor 2 GOLD:Beautiful finish,good construction,gold plated bi-wirable terminals,easy to drive,not fussy....the list goes on....small in size BIG in sound...GET THEM>>

Sound big even with it small size

none

It has sounded big. Bass is very good. It sounds better than most speakers double it price.

If you were to close your eyes and listen. You can hear that the sound is produced from a very much bigger speakers than this. Impressive!!!

Similar Products Used:

Mission, B&W