Monitor Audio Bronze BX5

Recently bought a pair of MA BX5's to replace a much loved pair of Linn Index 2's...after 30 years they were still performing well but I knew it was time for a serious change....I've not regretted this one bit.

         Upon opening the boxes I knew that  I had made the right choice ...They are beautifully made and well constructed and I decided on fitting the plinths instead of spiking the cabinet itself directly.. If I have one slight gripe is the plastic logo at the top, but mine tend to blend in due to me choosing the light Oak ones for asthetic purposes.

         I was still a little apprehensive of the first firing up after such a long time in change...but on hearing the first few notes of some of my favorite Jazz pieces I knew I had made the right choice... Yes they were tight....very tight... but even so, the soundstaging and delivery of the instruments were spot on...I'm 40 hours into running them in and they are starting to sound that much richer and fuller...The clarity of these speakers are sublime,especially at this price.. 

         I just wanted to write a small review on these speakers because I'm over the moon with them.. and tell someone MY main objectives for having these speakers... Some 30 years ago I delved into the realms of Home Cinema (an expensive route back then)..and AV amps cost a fortune.. I chose the Yamaha AVX700 after winning the Best Amp by What Hi-Fi back then... this cost £400, but was well underpriced for what it did....But I also wanted to delve into Hi-Fi,, and after many a read (no internet back then) I had myself a fully fledged Hi-Fi set up ..albiet a Home cinema set up at the same time... I'm still on that route and have since changed all my equipment...hence the new speakers... They work seamlesly into my home cinema and yet ( by switching to straight stereo) give me my own personal performance with artists playing various instruments and singing... I  close my eyes and they are there in front of me performing for ME... The amp I have now is the Yamaha RX-V373 and this controls the MA's perfectly...But take heed.. Placing the speakers correctly (as with ANY speaker) is paramount  to achieving the sound you want..My room is 21' by 13'.. they are either side of the TV around 5" away from the rear wall slightly toed in and the stereo dispersion is quite wide to..but I can pick out where every musician is standing at any time...they are very precise..

         SO... if you have any doubts about buying these..Don't.. they should make a big smile come across your face no matter what type of music you play... although I expect Classical may be too polite for some...But with Jazz and any well sourced sound they will deliver music with aplomb..

            Happy listening...Cheers.

Judgements are largely subjective but I don't think the MX5s are very good with classical music.  The sound is just muddled and individual instruments are not clearly identified.  They also don't reproduce solo piano very well, the notes sounding slightly "cracked" to me.  With contemporary music they are fine, rocking along nicely.

Their big brothers, the RX6s, are much better with classical music as well as being great (and materially better than the BX5s) with contemporary music.  I would save my pennies!

Chris

I have a pair of BX5s with the matching centre and a pair of old MS floorstanders with a REL T1 sub (bought later at a very reasonble ex-demo price) hooked up to a Pioneer AV amp.

Initally the sound was pretty bright, but as the speakers have run in over the past 6 months they have become even more excellent speakers (although in stereo mode I have to use the direct mode on the amp otherwise the sound is a little forced, but that's down to the amp).

In short the BX5s are a highly capable pair of speakers with impressive range, integration and tonality - wonderfully balanced and expressive with bags of insight to boot!

Worth so much more than the £500 monitor audio are asking for them.

The sub just adds a little more bass extension music that I like, and seamlessly too!

Would definately recommend!

GOOD SPEAKERS - WHEN RUN IN.

Having read all the reviews I could find, I listened to these at a local Hi-Fi shop, was impressed, so I bought a pair.

 As new, I was surprised how "rough" they sounded, but after 3 weeks of running in, they were suddenly much better. Since then, they have continued to improve. Now after 2 months, I think they are great, and would strongly recommend them.

I could go into a lot more detail, but I believe the WHAT HIFI review, says everything. The bottom line, is that they do everything I wanted, and more!

Am breaking these in with a Creek Evo 2 amp and 24/96 downloads via HRT Streamer II (plan to use later in a 5.1 MA system)  "Downgraded" from Paradigm Studio 20s and I must say that the sound of these is truly high end. Very clean and dynamic, neutral sound with good bass extension for a compact floorstander.  Maybe I just got lucky with the Creek but these speakers don't seem all that fussy with electronics or placement.

Please review the DLS 55 MkII. Its a great loudspeaker!

Definitely NOT worth £500, £50 at MAX. and £45 of the fifty is for design. The sound is pure distorted garbage... Stay away from these, there are a lot better speakers out there for a whole lot less.

Have had these speakers for over 6 months now and I am very happy with there performance. Have read that MA speakers tend to be on the birght side. These speakers from my opinon are very neutral and the bass extension is very good. They also look pretty fetching with the grills off.

probably best asked in the Forums, hortensio

Superb review, new life for the old horse (BR5 >> BX5).

Very good speakers indeed. Low coloration, good resolution. Lacks a little detail and "meat" compared to speakers costing far more, but I am very impressed with these, and I have owned speakers that cost 8 times as much. Very good with jazz and such. Mates well with Yamaha AVRs.

Had mine a week now,there paired up to a Yamaha 1065 on first impressions they sound quite base heavy,I've played a lot of music through the pure direct facility and they sound awesome but i do  think they need time to settle in

Which is better: this BX 5 or MS Aviano 6?Anyone has demoed them both?

how loud do these speakers go?

@peterc123 that would depend entirely on the amp that you're using as these are PASSIVE speakers.

Just had these.

at their price bracket they are housed nicely as some of speakers around below 500 look decidedly rough. it doesnt look cheap put it that way.

i have matched them with audiolab 8200CD / 8200A combination and they seem very balanced tonally. i would imagine with a poorer CD/Amp they would end up being base emphasis too much. but they succeed in presenting the recording as it is. vibration in the bass notes is there in detail and the high frequencies are not grating.

they are not hard to drive as the 8200A succeeded in getting all the low/mid/high frequencies thru at low volumes.

its probably up competing in 500 plus speaker range.

it seems theres three manufacturers currently vogue B&W, Spendour and monitor audio. virtually all of the monitor audio range is getting good reviews so they must be doing something right.