The PL100s are the most expensive in the Monitor Audio Range. They are full range standmount stereo speakers. The only other stereo speakers in the range are the floorstanders, the PL300?s. Then there is a center (2 sizes), a sub and surrounds ? that?s it.
Right out of the box these speakers speak ?high-end?. They come packed in a crate, reinforced with supawood. It says ?Needs 2 people to lift? on the packaging, and there?s no way one person can carry it. Speakers with packaging weigh about 36kg. Each speaker is covered in soft cloth reminiscent of Quad speakers, but minus the ?Quad gloves?. Included is a small colour manual and a small tool box with tools to assemble the stands.
The speakers are quite heavy ? about 13kg each. First impressions tell you that MA have put a lot into the Platinum range. The speakers are finished in Real wood veneer, that are hand finished in no less than 11 layers of lacquer. The tops have a machined aluminium trim. The fronts have a black Stratospherey genuine leather finish. The grills are metal grills, charcoal/black in colour and fit in place with magnets embedded in the speaker. Binding posts are solid metal, and have a chrome finish. Interconnect are also a robust solid metal in a chrome finish. These speakers don?t come cheap, but you get a clear sense that you?re getting substantial quality for the money. Sure you have to pay for it, but there is great quality for your money.
I had stands made for them from railway sleepers, professionally finished with a sanding sealer, then 2 coats of matt varnish. The stands have amateur (me) cable management. The cables run along the back of the speaker, down the upright support and out under the base, so that they?re hidden from view from the front.
I elected to not put spikes under the speakers. Instead I placed a 8mm sheet of rubber between the upright post and the stand?s top in an attempt to absorb some energy. Each speaker stand rests on 4 round wooden feet, 70mm in diameter. I played music and could not feel any significant energy running down the speaker stand post. The total weight of each speaker and stand is about 20kg which is enough downward force to prevent movement at the levels I play the speakers at. Spikes can be added later if anyone wants.
Firing them up. I took a while to adjust to them, coming from floorstanders. The beauty of floorstanders is that sound emanates from the top down through to the bottom woofer, so that you hear a larger wall of sound. A challenge with them is that it can difficult to manage their bass. Now moving to the PL100s, the sound was a little bit more localised, as with most standmounts.
I found that the Pl100s are very particular (snobbish) about system matching and placement. They won?t work too well with bright systems. I also had to play around with placement quite a bit as small adjustments make a big difference. I eventually positioned them about 2 meters apart, slightly toed in, and about 30-40cm from the back wall, and about 2-3m from each side wall. Bass can be significantly increased or decreased by moving them forward or backwards. Moving them apart also opens up the soundstage a bit.
They need good partnerings. They are very truthful and I was surprised at how much they exposed music that I thought was well recorded. Good recordings on the other hand will reward no end.
In stereo, they are very transparent. They can go to 100kHz. I initially thought they were bright, but now I realize that they play everything, right up to 100kHz and if there is something at that frequency you will hear it. This may be interpreted as brightness, but is actually frequencies not normally revealed. This gives the PL100 a slightly larger soundstage and great atmosphere to music. I picked this up immediately when watching movies. There was a lot more atmosphere to movies, almost as though I had added a pair of ?front-width? speakers to the HT setup ? great stuff.
Another immediate impression was that they are tight. They stay in firm control of the music. In this sense they are commanding. I sat there hearing their sound and high volumes and wondered that they didn?t seem to be moving. You can?t believe that the level of sound and soundstage is emanating from such a ?small? source. They are definitely not warm, neither are they forward. They?re tight. Instruments are played and then the sound dies, if that?s how the recording has been done. Bass is tight. No flabbiness or overhang. It beats then dies. Yet bass is full and deep. They play down to 42Hz, which is perhaps a little less than they should be capable of. But as mentioned by moving them just 5cm or 10cm towards the back wall and you can dramatically increase bass response. I find that because they expose recordings, you will find yourself moving them back or forth or slightly closer or further apart depending on the album you?re playing. They may be a bit unforgiving in this regard, but it?s hardly their fault is it?
As mentioned bass is tight and full. Perhaps not as much as from a floorstander in their pricerange, but then again what you lose in bass, you gain in other areas, and we can?t all have our cakes and eat it. BTW I heard the B&W805D I think, and despite their reputation, I heard flaws. That?s because of personal preferences and the never-ending search for the illusive audio ideal.
Midrange is great, with percussion of non-electric instruments, e.g. Drums, cellos, etc. are nicely distinguished. They unpack a lot of detail, with impressive separation of instruments.
They need good amplification to respond well. My valve amp at 16/32 watts set at 4ohms (the speakers are 4ohms) coped admirably, but I?ve no doubt more power will open them up a bit more. In this sense the PL100s are brutes. They won?t back off to low power, but feed them well and I?m sure they?ll reward. They may not suite rooms with a lot of hard surfaces or with lots of open spaces such as open-plan lounges. I?d say their ideal maximum space is a room approximately 6m x 9m max. If you like rich sound that is full, and have a listening area that size or smaller, you won?t need anything bigger than these. I must add that all these comments are playing off my valve amp only, no subwoofer added. They are rated as needing amplification of between 50-120watts. They are paired with solid state or valve amps and both work well, the main criteria being that the amps need to have a decent amount of power and that they not be too bright.
Much more can be said, but that?s what other reviewers are there for. I?ve just given some of my impressions and shared my experience with them briefly. Technical specs and other reviews are available.
Equipment: Pl100s, Musical Fidelity A3 CDP, VDH the ultimate the first interconnects, QED XT400 cables (I found the QED silver anniversary cables too revealing) ? for stereo. Onkyo TXNR808 and Sony BDP380 bluray for movies.
Right out of the box these speakers speak ?high-end?. They come packed in a crate, reinforced with supawood. It says ?Needs 2 people to lift? on the packaging, and there?s no way one person can carry it. Speakers with packaging weigh about 36kg. Each speaker is covered in soft cloth reminiscent of Quad speakers, but minus the ?Quad gloves?. Included is a small colour manual and a small tool box with tools to assemble the stands.
The speakers are quite heavy ? about 13kg each. First impressions tell you that MA have put a lot into the Platinum range. The speakers are finished in Real wood veneer, that are hand finished in no less than 11 layers of lacquer. The tops have a machined aluminium trim. The fronts have a black Stratospherey genuine leather finish. The grills are metal grills, charcoal/black in colour and fit in place with magnets embedded in the speaker. Binding posts are solid metal, and have a chrome finish. Interconnect are also a robust solid metal in a chrome finish. These speakers don?t come cheap, but you get a clear sense that you?re getting substantial quality for the money. Sure you have to pay for it, but there is great quality for your money.
I had stands made for them from railway sleepers, professionally finished with a sanding sealer, then 2 coats of matt varnish. The stands have amateur (me) cable management. The cables run along the back of the speaker, down the upright support and out under the base, so that they?re hidden from view from the front.
I elected to not put spikes under the speakers. Instead I placed a 8mm sheet of rubber between the upright post and the stand?s top in an attempt to absorb some energy. Each speaker stand rests on 4 round wooden feet, 70mm in diameter. I played music and could not feel any significant energy running down the speaker stand post. The total weight of each speaker and stand is about 20kg which is enough downward force to prevent movement at the levels I play the speakers at. Spikes can be added later if anyone wants.
Firing them up. I took a while to adjust to them, coming from floorstanders. The beauty of floorstanders is that sound emanates from the top down through to the bottom woofer, so that you hear a larger wall of sound. A challenge with them is that it can difficult to manage their bass. Now moving to the PL100s, the sound was a little bit more localised, as with most standmounts.
I found that the Pl100s are very particular (snobbish) about system matching and placement. They won?t work too well with bright systems. I also had to play around with placement quite a bit as small adjustments make a big difference. I eventually positioned them about 2 meters apart, slightly toed in, and about 30-40cm from the back wall, and about 2-3m from each side wall. Bass can be significantly increased or decreased by moving them forward or backwards. Moving them apart also opens up the soundstage a bit.
They need good partnerings. They are very truthful and I was surprised at how much they exposed music that I thought was well recorded. Good recordings on the other hand will reward no end.
In stereo, they are very transparent. They can go to 100kHz. I initially thought they were bright, but now I realize that they play everything, right up to 100kHz and if there is something at that frequency you will hear it. This may be interpreted as brightness, but is actually frequencies not normally revealed. This gives the PL100 a slightly larger soundstage and great atmosphere to music. I picked this up immediately when watching movies. There was a lot more atmosphere to movies, almost as though I had added a pair of ?front-width? speakers to the HT setup ? great stuff.
Another immediate impression was that they are tight. They stay in firm control of the music. In this sense they are commanding. I sat there hearing their sound and high volumes and wondered that they didn?t seem to be moving. You can?t believe that the level of sound and soundstage is emanating from such a ?small? source. They are definitely not warm, neither are they forward. They?re tight. Instruments are played and then the sound dies, if that?s how the recording has been done. Bass is tight. No flabbiness or overhang. It beats then dies. Yet bass is full and deep. They play down to 42Hz, which is perhaps a little less than they should be capable of. But as mentioned by moving them just 5cm or 10cm towards the back wall and you can dramatically increase bass response. I find that because they expose recordings, you will find yourself moving them back or forth or slightly closer or further apart depending on the album you?re playing. They may be a bit unforgiving in this regard, but it?s hardly their fault is it?
As mentioned bass is tight and full. Perhaps not as much as from a floorstander in their pricerange, but then again what you lose in bass, you gain in other areas, and we can?t all have our cakes and eat it. BTW I heard the B&W805D I think, and despite their reputation, I heard flaws. That?s because of personal preferences and the never-ending search for the illusive audio ideal.
Midrange is great, with percussion of non-electric instruments, e.g. Drums, cellos, etc. are nicely distinguished. They unpack a lot of detail, with impressive separation of instruments.
They need good amplification to respond well. My valve amp at 16/32 watts set at 4ohms (the speakers are 4ohms) coped admirably, but I?ve no doubt more power will open them up a bit more. In this sense the PL100s are brutes. They won?t back off to low power, but feed them well and I?m sure they?ll reward. They may not suite rooms with a lot of hard surfaces or with lots of open spaces such as open-plan lounges. I?d say their ideal maximum space is a room approximately 6m x 9m max. If you like rich sound that is full, and have a listening area that size or smaller, you won?t need anything bigger than these. I must add that all these comments are playing off my valve amp only, no subwoofer added. They are rated as needing amplification of between 50-120watts. They are paired with solid state or valve amps and both work well, the main criteria being that the amps need to have a decent amount of power and that they not be too bright.
Much more can be said, but that?s what other reviewers are there for. I?ve just given some of my impressions and shared my experience with them briefly. Technical specs and other reviews are available.
Equipment: Pl100s, Musical Fidelity A3 CDP, VDH the ultimate the first interconnects, QED XT400 cables (I found the QED silver anniversary cables too revealing) ? for stereo. Onkyo TXNR808 and Sony BDP380 bluray for movies.
