Price Paid:  $1000.00 from Sound City

Summary:
Excellent speaker. Very transparent. Suprisingly good bass--not the last word in tightness/definition, but very good nonetheless. Outstanding mids and clean, transparant highs. Leans towards the bright side. Improves with break-in. Superbwith female voice, as well as male.

Wonderful match with tube amps. Quite efficient and well-behaved impedence curve.

They look very nice and are high quality. Cabinets not braced that well--however--sound great nonetheless. Quite precise. Many feel have an electrostatic character. I can say they excell in transparancy amd have a swell soundstage laterally and decent depth.

Angle them in so you can just still see side finish. Try and sit low so you just can't see the tops of speakers. VERY sensitive to toe in--even the smallest toe in-out will have a big impact. Keep about a-1.5 feet from wall and away from corners.

Best given air and space. Will sound boomy in a cramped space or room.

Highly recomended with tube or neutral amps. May not fare as well with mass-market SS electronics. Reveals all in chain.

Cal Icon II/Delta (XLR) > Cal ALpha 24/96> Luminous Audio Axiom (passive) > CJ-MV52, MA 9i. Decent cables all around.

All in all, impressive job, MA.

Strengths:
Transparancy, neutrality, soundstage, good look, great WAF. Super in midband and vocals. VERY revelaing to all upstream components. This is a precise transducer that does not lie, or even fib.

Weaknesses:
Bass not the tightest, though extension and volume are there. Overloads on upstream equipment with prodigious bass (e.g., PS Audio Ultralink. Might help if I shot-loaded as others.

Similar Products Used:
B&W CDM7SE, Celestion SL6si, VSA-VR3.5, Meadowlark Kestels, B&W CDM1-SE

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Most high end speakers have something that they are really good at. Most high end speakers also have something that they're not good at. The 9i's are good at everthing - high volume, low volume, TV, home theatre, DTS, rock, vocal, jazz - everything sounds great on these. Match them to a 12i, a sub, full size surrounds, and a good DTS/DVD-A recording and just the sound quality alone evokes an emotional response.

Like someone else said, I can't go to movies any more. I just can't see paying $12 to sit in a theatre when it sounds better at home.

MA 9i mains
MA 12i centre
PSB 70R surround (my old mains)
cheapo sub
Denon 2802 receiver
Toshiba DVD
Denon CD, Technics 100 CD Changer

Strengths:
Good high end w well controlled sibilance.
Tight, fast midrange.
Nice bass, flat to 30hz, good to 20.
Great aesthetics.

Weaknesses:
The mass loading hole could be bigger (well, I had to say something).

Similar Products Used:
Compared to JMLab Cobalt, PSB Bronze, Tannoy, various B&W, Definitive, Mirage, MartinLogan, KEF, and Klipsch.

Price Paid:  $0.00 from Vickers Hi-Fi, UK

Summary:
I bought these after reading many reviews, I was initially after the 8is thinking the 9is would be overkill in my living room (7m x 3.5m). Sitting here looking at them they actually look quite small! My original speakers were Mission 753s and I though they were fantastic until I wired these babies up!! Wow, the difference is incredible, the bass goes far lower and has so much more control, the mid-range is seamlessly smooth and the treble is just right. In my opinion if you want to hear these speakers at their best then hook ‘em up to some British electronics. I have an all Arcam setup i.e. A85 amp, P85 power amp and the CD82T, all wired up with Van Den Hul interconnects. I now find myself digging out old CDs I haven’t heard for years, spinning them up and thoroughly enjoying what bursts forth from these magnificent boxes. An absolute bargain at £500, well worth the money.
My hat off to Monitor Audio.

Strengths:
Everything.

Weaknesses:
Careful partnering required and running in is an absolute must.

Price Paid:  $1100.00 from Pacific Sales

Summary:
I purchased the Monitor Audio 9i,12i,fb210,and silver surrounds at Pacific Sales in Orange County Ca. The owners manual suggests a sixty hour break in period. Out of the box these speakers are quite harsh sounding, but after about eighty hours of use the cones loosen a bit and the harshness is gone. The clarity of these speakers from cymbals to bass drum is excellent. Vocals and accoustic instuments are a strong point, although they have plenty of punch for rock as well. I called David Solomen at Monitor Audio to confirm some of the suggested tweaks. He advised me to remove the metal tweeter covers,which really smoothed out the treble. I filled the empty chamber at the back of the speakers with sand, which tightened up the bass noticeably. These are great sounding speakers. They retail for $2,000. I recommend purchasing them from Pacific Sales in Orange County Ca. They matched the lowest internet price I could find, and are an authorised dealer with full warrenty. Ask for Christopher, he will take good care of you.

Strengths:
Soundstage,tight bass,treble clarity.

Weaknesses:
Need to tweak to get best sound,but worth it.

Similar Products Used:
Klipsch,Infinity,Paradigm,many others.

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from The Netherlands

Summary:
Een pracht van een luidspreker, die eigenlijk te goed is voor zijn geld. Ik heb hem deze week in huis gehaald en ben nu al weg van deze luidspreker.
Hier kun je zeker geen buil aan vallen!

Strengths:
Mooie vormgeving!! zeer gedetaileerd geluid, helder en sprankelend

Weaknesses:
geen

Similar Products Used:
dynaudio contour en tannoy saturn series