Construction... Sound..Tight bass, bright highs... Love it...(Like the old disco days)

NONE

I have listened to many loudspeakers for my Home Theater Room.. I owned Polks, Klipch, and Paradigm.. These Monitor Audios 5is Kick Butt.. They are small. But their sound is OUTSTANDING!!! Having the mathcing Center and surrounds... Who could ask for anything else.. I love a bright sounding loudspeaker with tight bass and this is it....It is GREAT... I have listened to speakers costing two to three times as much... and well,,, they sounded Plain...These EXCELL and for the price..... Are the bargain of a lifetime...

Strong Bass Wide Soundstage

Muddy Midrange

I Auditioned these (MA Silver 5i) next to a pair of B&W 603 S3. These speakers charge through simple bass heavy tracks with ease. But play them with rock with the likes of Rage Against The Machine and the midrange loses composure and becomes muddied. Vocals are drowned out and becomes less impressive. These speakers posess the "wow factor" with great first impressions but a little more critical listening and it becomes aparent that they will become all so tiring to listen to. Put these up against simalarly priced speakers such as the B&W 603 S3 and it becomes aparent that these speakers lack what it takes in this price bracket.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 603 S3 Kef Q5

Balance, Soundstage, Imaging

Lack luster low end

The 5's are truly a value. Comparable with speakers in the 2k+ range. One of the true "no-brainers" out there - just buy-em! I have a few tweaks that will better them even more!

1) Order VIBRAPODS (vibrapod.com), Place them under the speakers and above the base. Assuming that you have filled with lead shot - Look out! The sonic image just became twice as large. You loose the position of the speaker in the soundfield. At $24/speaker well worth it!

2) Silver solder your internal speaker connections! Take the drivers out (use the utmost care not to drip solder on your speakers.) Clip the cheap quick connects, strip, place wire and solder away. Mark the wires so you know which is which.
the speakers just got louder!

3) Go to a gunshop/range. Buy lead shot to fill the speakers (approx 3 bags 25lb each). Fill the speaker. In addition, buy 2 more bags. Place on top of your speakers. Much More Solid Bass! You could be fancy and fill a vase or something decrative with the lead shot. - let your wife/girlfriend pick these out as we can often exclude our loved ones in our attempt to tweak! This will let her feel like she is involved and give you some points for later! - Oh la la!

4) If your preamp/recev will let you, Do not let any signals below 40 hz go to the 5's. This will really clean up the mid-bass and make vocals/music much cleaner! Send those 40 hz and below signals to the sub.

Associated equip:
Theta Casa Nova preamp
ATI 1505 amp
Toshiba 3109 dvd as transport
MIT Dig reference coax cable
MIT 330 s3 interconnects
MIT 750-MH Bi-wire speaker cables
Monster HTS-2000 line conditioner

clarity, flat response

??

I've had these hooked up to my Denon 3300 for a few months now, and they sound great. The biggest complaint I see below is lack of bass. But playing the Matrix I could feel the bass, it almost shook the apartment. If you really need to shake the house, add a sub for HT. These speakers are rear ported, so I placed them fairly close to the rear wall to improve the bass, and its fine, without loading. The positioning and room shape mean a lot. They sound very accurate though, very good for music where you don't need

Similar Products Used:

listened to them all

Packs a real punch for such a compact system, dynamic and crystal clear.

None

There is nothing available at this price point in the U.K to touch the Silver 5 for value. I tried every product under the sun before I was blown away by the 5'S. The silver 5 seems to capture and audiophile clarity and musical approach nicely, however it packs hell of punch for A.V. I use this system with a Denon 3300 receiver/amp, a fantastic combination. I would recommend the silver 5 to anyone and everyone.

Similar Products Used:

Mission 773
B&W P4

Detail, Imaging, Build quality, Appearance and WAF.

None in my view after a lengthy break in period.

I spent approximtely one year auditioning speakers and was impressed when I first auditioned the 5is. At first I was apprehensive as I had limited knowledge of Monitor Audio products. I auditioned them twice more in the following weeks, spending nearly two hours with them on the final approach.

It is simply a speaker which simply accurately reproduces music and are a pleasure to listen to. Vocals are impressive as is the tight bass reproduction. The soundstage and imaging of these speakers is also excellent specially when one considers their small size.

I will also comment on the Center 10i which is excellent (again in my opinion) and reproduces diologue with impressive clarity without any hint of distotion at volumes.

In conclusion, an excellent speaker package that is as pleasant on the ears as they are on the eyes. The purchase price was also easy on the wallet compared to the competition which make these speakers a difficult value to duplicate.

Similar Products Used:

Auditioned too many to list.

Soundstage, depth, detail, dynamics, smoothness, build quality, styling

None so far

Wow. Waited a long time to buy these puppies. They replace a pair of Energy C-s's which I was extremely fond of. The Energy's excelled at soundstage and three-dimensionality, but I have to say, they are completely outclassed by the Monitor 5i's. Music and home theater sound as though a dirty film has been removed. Everything sounds clearer, crisper, more three dimensional and lifelike.

Dynamics are frightening. Quick transitions like gunshots are handled with stunning clarity and intensity. The speakers seem to disappear when combined with the 10i center channel, into a wall of sound. I auditioned these speakers with ten thousand dollars of Proceed gear and they took it all without ever sounding outclassed. Try the opening scene of "Heat" when De Niro walks through the emergency room. My God! I have never felt that kind of realism. It is as if you are really there. You hear every footstep and clink of glass and metal.

Bass is also outstanding and will leave you wondering how they got that kind of response out of such a tiny package. I have yet to mass load them, so I'm sure it will only get better.

Music is also excellent, although I would agree with a previous reviewer that rock is not their strong point. Jazz, vocals, ambient, almost anything else and you're loving life.

I try to look for gear that, in order to improve upon, you must spend SIGNIFICANTLY more. The Monitor's are a perfect example of this philosophy. I really believe you'd have to move up to Hales or Linns or Revels to really kick these speaker's ass in Home Theater.

The more juice you give these speakers, the better.I'm using a Pioneer Elite 027tx and the smooth mellow sound is a great match.

And a word has to be said about the look and feel of these speakers. First rate! I almost bought the M&K 750 THX, but they are so f**king ugly and cheap looking. I don't care what piece of equipment you buy, it should look elegant. It's going in your living room for God's sake.

Anyway, can't imagine beeing happier...

Similar Products Used:

NHT VT 1.2, M&K 750 THX, Energy AC-300, C-2, Dunlavy SC-1AV.

small footprint, sharp looking

bass extension, brightness

I took the 5is home for 5 days and gave them a good listening to. I was first pretty impressed with them, but they were the first speakers I'd listened to in years other than some Bose 901s that I got for nothing. I then proceeded to get some Paradigm ref 60s, PSB silvers, and B&W CDM7ses next to them and they were really outdone. This may not be a fair comparison due to the fact that the others cost a little more, but I thought I should post because I do NOT feel that people should "just go out and buy them" thinking that they are the cat's meow. What they are is a decent sounding speaker for their price. I don't think it's a big mistake to buy them, just do yourself a favor and listen to others.

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm, B&W, PSB

Excellent value, very tweakable ...

This post is in addition to my previous one. I just got a pair of Teknasonic c-10 vibration panels and placed them on the backs of the 5i's. The difference is not small, but HUGE! If you do not try these cheap tweaks then you will never hear how good these speakers really are. These speakers are dynamite on their own, but with the panels they sound as good as speakers costing 2x as much or more. I kid you not. Definition & clarity are improved from the bass all they way up to the top, especially in the lower mids and upper bass. Everything just sounds more right. I might even buy another pair and see if they make even more improvement! In this price range not even the Paradigm Ref 60's (an excellent speaker, especially bass power) can come close to the 5i's with teknasonic panels. Best of class and then some!

Clarity,clarity,clarity!
Fast response
Beautiful, even in black oak. The cherry is gorgeous.
Small footprint

None so far

I previously had speakers that I could not imagine a better sound was possible. However I read Home Theater's review and went to listen to these speakers at a local "high end
electronics" store. I was awestruck by the clarity.
The sales rep at the store was a true audiophle who
owned a pair of $6,000 per pair Thiel speakers for his home. He admitted that he comes to his store on Saturdays to listen to the Monitors! He feels the difference between the Thiels and the Monitor 5is is negligible.
I bought these speakers and was initially slightly disappointed with the bass. After reading the Monitor
Speaker insructions, I moved the speakers from eight inches from my back wall to seven inches. I also adjusted my
subwoofer crossover. I am now completely satisfied with
these speakers. Even my son,who likes heavy,heavy bass, is
incredibly impressed by these speakers. The sound is simply outstanding in stereo or in home theater mode.

As one previous reviewer stated, you would need a very large increase in dollars spent to achieve a noticeable
improvement in sound quality.
Don't buy without listening, but if you listen, you will surely be tempted to buy!