Just a quick one...

I have been using 4 Monitor B2s and the Bronze Center for the last few years, but have never been able to get that sense of random dispersion that rear effects call for. I have faced them towards me, (2 feet behind my listening position), towards each other, "washing" the rear walls, towards the side walls, even shooting straight up so they would bounce off the ceiling! But I could never get that sense of enveloping sound. So when I saw an ebay listing for $225.00 for the BX-FX surrounds, I jumped at it!

The Good:

Much more than the B-2s, these speakers provide an enveloping experience in the rear of the room...without sacrificing the ability to follow that jet (or bullet, or train, or turtle...don't ask...) that is zooming past me. With one tweeter bouncing off the back wall, the other pointed past me, to the sides, and the woofers pointed at each other behind me, it is a truly immersive experience!

The Bad:

The BX-FX just doesn't have the body (literally AND figuratively) that the B-2s do. It is a much shallower sound and is missing a lot of the impact of the bigger speakers. I realize that this is probably a by-product of having 2 tweeters and a smaller woofer, but I think it also has to do with cabinet size: the B2s have a depth of 10", allowing room for the formation of a more muscular sound. The BX-FX has a cabinet depth of 5", which makes it more practical to wall-mount (I have mine on stands), but it just doesn't have the cabinet volume to do much in the lower end. Factor in that the B2 has a lower limit of 42 hz, while the BX-FX stops at about 80, and the result is that you have two different-sounding speakers. So, while I love the more immersive rear sound stage, I miss the seamless tonal transition from front to back. I just wish that Monitor Audio could have made a surround product with a bigger cabinet and with a woofer that was the same size as the B2s.I have ti say that when I re-calibrated with the Audissey function on my Marantz receiver, it did help...just not enough.