I have had 7i's for 12 years now. I use them with music and movies through a Yamaha DSP A2 amp and Arcam 7se CD player (smooth trebble). I also have the Silver 12i centre and S3i rear with bipole bronze front fill-in with sub. The 7i are fantastic speakers when set up, bi wired and toe in slightly. Front ported so you can place them closer to walls than rear ported speakers without generating a booming base.

Music is crystal clear and voices have great realism and sound stage is also great. Best vocals I have heard of any speaker. Playing Clanad staging and focus is first rate. Centre 12i needs to be placed at same level as main speakers to deliver its best. Will be upgrading amp hopefully this year.

I read some find the 7i's fatiguing and too bright. I suggest that these listeners have had speakers which are not as clear and precise as the 7i's hence their partnering amps and music sources needed to be 'bright' in order to compensate for the less acomplished speakers. Thus when they place the 7i's in their 'bright' system the speaker faithfully transmits the 'bright' sound fed to them. Just a theory!

I bought this loadspeaker at ebay for 200 euro. It was a bargin. before I had Linn helix but this ones are so much better. Ok it has less bass but everything else is so much better. it works well with my 30 watts tube aplifier. but you need at least 39watts aplifier to use them. It has a sensitivity for 88 DB so they are not so easydriven ones.
If you find them second hand buy them. Then they are burned in.

But I guess it will be difficult to find them for just 200 Euro. I had a lucky day.

Vocals - particularly female - shine through
Epic soundstage
A speaker that would not be out of place in a hi-fi system costing several thousand pounds... I found the more I upgraded the rest of my system the more these speakers revealed about themselves.

Deep bass lacks punch - although sand filling did help in this respect. In a home cinema system one would pair these speakers with a sub and so this wouldn't be an issue. For most home music needs, there is plenty of bass.

Incredibly clear, open, detailed speaker for the money

Customer Service

Not tested

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At the time of purchase I auditioned Aegis, B&W and several others and found the MA the be the clear favourite.

Great at first. Very nice build.

Fatiguing. You'll rip your ears off after 6 months. Crossover looked cheap. Perhaps that was the main problem?

Very late review. These speakers were incredible when I first got them. Everything you would ever want in a speaker was here. Then time passed and I found myself listening less, and less eventually getting to the point where I couldn't stand to listen to them. They were fatiguing. Very fatiguing. I was lucky I was able to sell them, though at a reduced price.

Similar Products Used:

Revel, Klipsch, B&W and others.

Clear and precise.Suits people who like digital sounds rather than a warm analogue sound Rosemah finish is superb. A fine piece of furniture

Bass notes are short and clipped. The 7i is not for rockers

The 7i gives a detailed and precise, almost analytical, sound. Very clear with acoustic sets, vocals, folk, electronic, jazz and classical.Sand fill and take off the tweeter protectors and the cloth-grills for improved sound.

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Tannoy Revolution R3, Castle Splendor

Good music reproduction. good high and mid ranges. small foot print.

inadequate bass.

the Monitor fit in the middle of thsi group of three that I ausditioned at home. they were very close to the B&W's and in i a higher class than the Polk's. good crips clean and clear but lack deep bass. Expensive at $1400US. I understand the Silver 5's have better bass and are a lot cheaper, however i was already tired of lugging speakers around to try them as well.

Similar Products Used:

B&W CDM 7, Polkaudio RT2000p

Very accurate.
Good imaging.

A bit forward.
1 month break-in period.

I got a pair of Silver 7's on sale for $1000. I have owned them for a month now and they are fairly broken-in. Out of the box, they sounded very harsh. Now they sound smoother. These speakers image very well and are fairly accurate. The sound is a tad forward, but that suits my liking. I use these speakers along with the Velodyne HGS-12. The Velodyne subwoofer integrates very well with these speakers, better than the Monitor Audio ASW110 and ASW210.

Similar Products Used:

None

Transparency and clarity.

Maybe a bit on the "soft" side with some of the more "fuller" sounding rock. Put on some simpler blues and there is no problem at all

I've spent the past 12 months doing the rounds of KL and Singapore testing everything in this price range. Mission, System Audio, Cabasse to name but a few. I first heard the Silver Fives which were far cheaper than what I'd been listening to and were pretty comparable so when the Sevens came on it was a complete revelation.
Back home they keep on getting better.
These speakers are a class above anything in the price range.
Now the problem is to upgrade the CD and obtain a power amp to really let them loose.
Currently using
NAD CDP
Arcam Alpha 8 Intergrated Amp
Nordost Flatline Gold MkII (bi wired)
Nordost Solarwind

Incredible clarity

None so far

I currently own 2 pairs of Silver 7's -front and rears- and I could not be happier with their performance. I listened to MANY speakers in this price range including Canton, Jamo, NHT, Def Tech, Klipsh, B&W, Paradigm, and several others manufacturers - and Monitor Audio beat all hands down. It seemed to my ear that the MA's were ultra clear - the best analogy that I can use to describe their sound in comparison to all the others is the following: MA is natural conversation with no hinderances, while the others seem like listening to someone speak with their hands over their mouths.

I use these speakers 80%/20% (Home Theater/Music). On jazz cuts, they perform extremely well, saxophones sound like saxophones (I was a former saxophone player), David Sanborn would dump his Jamo contract if he listened to these speakers. For home theater, these speakers are incredible performers. Very clear dialogue, ability handle dynamic ranges very well with no distortion - at some very high volume levels, particularly impressive reproduction of explosions and the like...I can listen to the scene in Bugs Life where the bird is about to get Dot and the lady bug...when the bird pecks at the ground - each peck is articulated and POWERFUL.

I listened to the Silver 7's and the Silver 9's side by side multiple times before I purchased the 7's. In my opinion the 7's were CLEARLY more impressive...9's still sounded good, but seemed a bit muddier.

Again, I am very pleased with my purchase of these speakers and would (and have) strongly recommend their purchase.

Current set up:

Toshiba TW65H80 RPTV
Toshiba 3109 DVD
Denon AVR 3300
Monitor Audio Silver 7's (fronts and rears)
Monitor Audio Silver 12 (center)
Monitor Audio ASW 110 (PSW) - see review
Straight Wire (Encore)

Excellent detail.

I was searching for a set of speakers that would satisfy my tastes for listening as well as future use for home theater. I had been looking at B&W and was about to purchase a pair from a local dealer when I read a review of the Silver 5 in HTM. I went on Monitor Audio's web site and found a dealer near me and I'm glad I did. I listened to the Silver 5 and really liked it, but, I ask the dealer if he had any larger models in the line and he pointed to the model 7 in another room. I simply fell in love with them. They were exactly what I was looking for in a speaker, great detail, very open and transparent, and I loved the styling. I use them without grills for sound, but also because they look so cool! Definitly worth a listen to.