Monitor Audio fills a Platinum gap with the PL200

Hot on the heels of Monitor Audio's big PL300 floorstanding speaker comes the more compact PL200, designed for use in a wider range of rooms or, should you really want, as the rear speakers in a multichannel system built around PL300s!

The cabinet volume may only be about a third of that of the PL300, but the new model has been designed to only give away a little in terms of bass extension, sound pressure level and power handling.

The speaker uses the same tweeter and midrange unit as the PL300, but with smaller bass drivers: 16.5cm instead of the larger speakers' 20cm units. The tweeter is Monitor Audio's own C-CAM ribbon driver, and the 10cm midrange and the twin bass drivers use the company's Rapid Diaphragm Technology.

Sandwiched between skins of the Ceramic Coated Aluminium /Magnesium material, the RDT drivers have a core of honyecomb Nomex, the total construction creating an ultra-light laminate which is as rigid as a steel plate.

The speakers also make extensive use of Anti-Resonace Composite materials, have a Tapered Line Enclosure behind the midrange driver and employ the company's rifled HiVe II high velocity port for the bass.

Selling for £4750 a pair, the PL200s come with a stabilising plinth, and stand just under a metre tall. The shaped, braced cabinet comes in a choice of lacquered Santos Rosewood and Ebony real wood veneers, or black piano lacquer. with the front baffles upholstered in leather.