Beautiful to listen to and look at. Very nice mid and highs. Low is good for its size.

Little short for a (mini) tower, but the angle of the speakers can be adjusted with the included spikes.

I am no expert and my previous speakers were Energy Take 5s. I was also influenced by the HT magazine's "Just buy it" article. Having said that I am happy with my purchase. I'm working around the clock to break in these babies. Out of box, the sound was very bright. Day by day, the sound is becoming richer and pleasing to listen to. I have to add that wife acceptance factor is pretty high for they are beautiful to look at. With these speakers, I'm noticing that I'm listening to more music. With the Energy's, I did not like the sound of music. I'm no audiophile but I know a good sound when I hear one. I strongly recommend these in both value and quality.

My set up:

Nakamichi AV-10 (I love this receiver)
MA Silver 5i
MA Silver 3i
MA Silver Center 10i
MA ASW 110
Sony DVD S-530D

Similar Products Used:

Klipsh, Energy, Infinity

Good reproduction of vocals. Good Bass
Good Finish, excellent value(price/performance)

Imaging is good,however height is low.

I am a first time of good quality speakers.
When I began my search 3 months back, I was ignorant in the
audiophile domain. But, thanks to your site as well as hometheater.com, webaudio.com, I was able to learn the how and why of speaker selection and it helped me a lot.

Regarding the 5i series front speakers, all the reviews come out close to what I feel, that is excellent value for money.

I auditioned all the above mentioned speakers using a cd with a lot of Indian Classical Music vocals. The voices seemed very natural no coloration no shrill female voices the percussions were very life like.

I must mention I had them weighted with 25 lbs of lead shots
this is how I had heard them in the shop.
I also listened to the 9 series which sounded quite the same but they had excellent imaging.
They cost about a $1000/- more. But I felt imaging could be corrected in the 5's by adding short rigid stands.

Other details:
AVR = Denon-3300
Sony 650 dvd/cd changer
Room Size = 15 x 20
Price Paid: 700/- pair

Similar Products Used:

B&W CDS 7, M&K, Definitive, JBL, PSB's

Wonderful Sound, Great looking

Electrolytic cap in x-over, Small size

Interesting about the fuss people are making about the cap in the x-over, and build quality. I've listened to speakers with better build quality that didn't sound as good as these do.

BTW did anyone see this months Stereophile guide to Home Theater? They took a tour of Revel's (Revel makes some very highly regaurded and very expensive speakers. I believe the Salons sell for over 10k) facility and there is a picture of some of their x-over's. Sure looks like electrolytic caps to me and the resistors a plain sandcast and plain cheap inductors.

If all you had to do to make a good sounding speaker was throw some good parts into a box using t/s parameters why would anyone ever buy a speaker? Speaker designers will tell you that it is as much of an artform as it is a science. My point is that a good design has as much or more to do with sound than parts quality. Not that parts quality is unimportant.

I own the Silver 7i's now and had an in home audition of the 5i's before I purchased the 7i's. I thought that they sounded wonderful. Thin and boxy they were not. I didn't think I could ever enjoy another speaker like my Magnepans but there are definetly things I like better about these Monitors. They have a huge soundstage and I think they sound great. Especially compared to some(haven't heard everything out there) of the competition. I will say that when I first played my new 7i's it did sound thin but after a while and some placement they opened up quite a bit.

In Short these are nice speakers that have caught quick attention because of a very enthusiastic review in Hometheater. Obviously you should listen to them before you just buy them because so many people vary in what they think is good sound, hence the many approaches to speaker design and many companies that are successful. For instance a person who loves Cerwin Vega's will not like them, so listen first.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity, Polk, Magnepan, Silver 7's. Auditioned everything from Wilson Maxx, B&W Nautilus 801, Martin Logan, Legacy, Joseph audio, Magnepan, many others.

Attrativr finish.

Questionable build quality for a $1K speaker.

I owned the 5is for a little over six months. During that time I had a heck of a time properly positioning these speakers in my room. Other speakers I have owned were not nearly as fussy as the Silvers. They seemed to sound somewhat thin to my ears regardless of where positioned.

Another characteritic of the 5is, is an anoying mid bass hump when used without a sub. Since I prefer to listen to music without one, this represented a problem in my view. I believe MA did this to provide a feeling of greater bass output from the small drivers, but I disagree with their execution. This is not much of a concern for HT use as the sub will handle the lower frequencies.

What troubled me the most is when I used a flashlight to inspect the internals of the 5is. I was surprised (shocked) to find absolutely no internal cabinet bracing. I am not aware of any other manufacturer that would do this, specially in a floor standing model. The internal wiring used was also on the thin side. The back of the tweeter is made of some plastic which I did not find comforting but other manufacturers may do the same. In all, several corners were obviously cut in the manufacturing process. Perhaps a few too many for a speaker that retails for $1K.

As you may conclude from the above, I would encourage shoppers to look and listen hard to other makes and models. I have always respected MA but I believe after this experience, that their new management may be too concerned with profit margins. I have sold the MAs and I'm currently researching offerings from small speaker manufacturers that do deliver high build quality and sound for the buck.

Similar Products Used:

A few over the years.

Sharp, beautiful, detailed, sound

Slightly Muddy bass with some recordings.

I've owned these for 4 months. I like them more
and more each time I listen to them. I use them
only for music.

Vocalist performances are stunning, I can
actually visualize the vocalist. Instrumentals
also are outstanding. Can precisely
hear each guitar string.

I have not done any tweaks other than properly
positioning them and installing the spikes or
pliths. They are not mass loaded
and not bi-wired. I don't think any of that
is necessary.

I auditioned many different brands: KEF, Mission,
PSB, Padigam, B&W. They were all very good
(truthfully,some were not all that great). They
all had their strenghts and weaknesses or coloration.
I liked the MA best.

Some of the writers below allege that these are
poorly built with cheap components. That's
merely conjecture on their part. They provide
no proof for these statements and therefor they
can't be deemed creditable.

All I know is that the Silver 5s are playing now
and I love the way they sound. If your shopping
for speakers, listen to them and decide for
yourself. One more thing you should be able to
get them for under $800 from an authorized dealer.
If you can't, go elsewhere to buy them.

Similar Products Used:

See review.

Nice looking little unit. Metal cones.

Where's the Bass !

Good looking little guys. Cranked them up with good Rock and Roll and they just couldn't keep up. They did a little better with home theater, but the midrange just didn't have any kick.

Had to throw these back.

Similar Products Used:

JBL, Infinity, Cerwin Vega