MONITOR AUDIO SILVER 300 SPEAKER SYSTEM
IN 2020 many of us will get to witness the summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan— on TV at least. Why do I mention that in the first line of a speaker review? Because, like the medals handed out to Olympian champs, speaker lines from Monitor Audio tend to come with names like Gold, Silver, and Bronze. To take home an Olympic silver medal, you’d have to be an amazing athlete. Along those same lines, a speaker would need to provide impressive performance to merit a “Silver” moniker, which is why I unpacked this system based around Monitor Audio’s Silver 300 tower speakers with great anticipation.
Sound & Vision’s Thomas J. Norton reviewed the fifth generation of Monitor Audio’s Silver series for the magazine back in 2014. There have been several updates to the line since that time, a key one being the addition of a larger center speaker, the C350, with a vertically aligned tweeter/midrange driver. This configuration in a center channel model allows for a better timbre match with the front left-right speakers, and it also improves offaxis performance to benefit viewers seated at either end of the couch.
According to Monitor Audio, the other changes found in its Gen 6 Silver Series include new drivers throughout the line and a groundup tweeter redesign where the focus was on dramatically lowering distortion. Crossover networks have also been optimized to make the series compatible with a wider range of amplifiers and receivers (the new line is 8-ohm compatible, compared with the 6-ohm compatibility spec of Gen 5 Silvers).
The 300 ($2,200/pair) is a slim three-way tower that uses dual 6-inch C-CAM RST woofers. Wondering about all those acronyms? C-CAM stands for CeramicCoated Aluminium/magnesium, a driver formulation that uses a lightweight alloy cone anodized with a pure ceramic layer to increase rigidity. The cone’s dimpled RST (Rigid Surface Technology) profile further serves to increase rigidity while simultaneously reducing distortion. In the 300, these are paired with a 4-inch C-CAM RST midrange driver and a gold-hued 1-inch C-CAM dome tweeter.
The 300’s midrange and tweeter are linked by an ovoid plate on the speaker’s front with an array of perforations to cover and protect the tweeter. Grilles that attach magnetically to the speaker’s front baffle are provided, though I didn’t use them for this review. Each drive unit in the Silver series is fixed by an adjustable bolt that runs from the front to the back of the cabinet and gets tightened with a hex key after installation. Separate tuned ports are provided for both of the 300’s woofers, and Monitor Audio includes foam plugs to limit bass output for installations in a small room or up close to a wall.
All Silver series speakers provide two sets of gold-plated multiway connectors with jumpers that can be removed for bi-amping. Outrigger feet located at the bottom of the 300 (another new Gen 6 feature) provide the towers with a stable footing, and both carpet spikes and feet are provided that can be adjusted to level the speaker on an uneven floor. Build quality throughout the Silver series is substantial—these are solid and exceptionally attractive speakers. The system I reviewed came in a Satin White finish, though Black Oak, Walnut, Rosenut, Natural Oak, and High Gloss Black finishes are also available.
The C350 center speaker ($975) features two 6-inch C-CAM RST woofers flanking a 4-inch C-CAM RST midrange driver and 1-inch C-CAM dome tweeter. As mentioned above, the C350’s midrange and tweeter are aligned in a vertical array that matches the rest of the system’s speakers, while its sealed box design allows for placement inside a cabinet. For surround use Monitor Audio also sent along its Silver 50 ($975/pair) bookshelf speaker, an “ultra-compact” ported model standing around 10 inches high that features a 5.25inch C-CAM RST woofer and 1-inch C-CAM dome tweeter.
While much of the Silver series has received an overhaul, one carryover from the past is the Silver W-12 Subwoofer ($1,825). This compact model, which we reviewed in 2014, uses a 12-inch driver powered by a 500-watt (continuous) class-d amplifier and features plentiful input/output connections along with variable crossover and 0/180 degrees phase adjustments. It’s also available with the same finish options offered for other Silver series models. Notably, the W-12 features Monitor Audio’s APC (Automatic Position Correction), an auto-eq system that uses DSP to create filters that correct for room placement issues. It also has three EQ modes: Movies, Music, and Impact.
SETUP
I started off testing in my living room/listening room, first with the 300 towers alone, and then with the W-12 subwoofer added to the mix. The towers were placed about 9 feet apart and 1.5 feet out from the back wall of the 16 x 20 x 9-foot space and angled in slightly toward the listening position, while the sub sat in the room’s front left corner. To carry out the sub’s APC room correction, I plugged in the included calibration microphone and set it up on a tripod at the main listening position, pressed a button on the sub’s top control panel, and waited as it emitted a series of test tones. Following Monitor Audio’s owner’s manual, I repeated the process at two additional positions and that was it— calibration complete.
The next phase of the evaluation took place in my 12 x 16 x 9-foot home theater room with the towers place at either side of a 92-inch diagonal projection screen and the 350C center speaker situated between them on a low stand angled up slightly toward the viewing area. Silver 50 surrounds sat on stands with the tweeters at ear height slightly behind and angled in at my couch, while the subwoofer was placed in the room’s right front corner and subjected to the same
APC room correction steps
I had previously executed. Associated gear used for the review included a NAD C 658 streaming Dac/preamplifier and Hegel Music Systems H190 integrated amplifier (stereo evaluation) and Anthem AVM 50v preamp-processor and Legacy Audio iv7 sevenchannel amplifier (multichannel evaluation). In both setups, I used the sub’s Movie EQ setting, which provided a slight bass kick that I found worked well with movies and music.
PERFORMANCE
Starting out with the Silver 300 towers solo after a few days break-in, my initial impression of the speaker was that it had a slightly forward sound. Playing with placement— mainly by pushing the speakers a few inches toward the back wall—
helped in this regard in my room, though I would still characterize the Silver 300's overall signature as leaning toward the crisp end of the spectrum. Test tones indicated solid bass extension into the sub-40hz range (Monitor Audio’s specs cite response as - 6db at 32 Hz).
Streaming the track “Broken Sleep” (Tidal, high-res FLAC) by the Danish singer/songwriter Agnes Obel, the 300s served up plenty of detail in the vocals and effectively conveyed the subtle stereo ping-pong effect used to widen their presence in the mix. The pizzicato-played
strings had a clean, dynamic sound that also served to enhance the sense of 3D space, while loose swirls of piano and cello extended well beyond the physical locations of the speakers.
Any questions I had regarding bass extension of the 300 towers was put to rest when I next listened to Grimes’ “So Heavy I Fell to the Earth (Art Mix)” via Tidal. Same as with Agnes Obel, I experienced a dramatically wide presentation, but it was the 300’s clean delivery of this track’s deep electronic bass that really grabbed my attention. For a relatively slim tower, performance here was unexpectedly powerful.
Switching over to Qobuz and changing genres to jazz, I listened to a high-res stream of “Alabama” from the album In Movement by Jack Dejohnette, Ravi Coltrane, and Matthew Garrison. The Silver 300 towers’ crisp, detailed delivery shined on this track: Dejohnette’s cymbals displayed plenty of shimmer and “air” while not sounding edgy and Coltrane’s angrily soaring saxophone came across as completely unrestrained. At the same time, Garrison’s mix of standup bass and electronics provided a solid foundation that the 300s conveyed with ample power.
Although I was happy with the bass I was getting in my near-3,000 cubic-foot listening room, more bass is better, so I listened to the same suite of tracks with the W-12 subwoofer plugged in and the NAD preamp set for a 60-Hz sub crossover. Unsurprisingly, the biggest impact could be heard on the Grimes track, the throbbing electronic beats now punching through with even better extension and power. “Alabama” also benefitted to a degree, though the comparison mainly served to drive home with how well the sub-less 300 towers held up with most music.
The Silver speakers continued to impress when I moved them into my home theater room. Listening to the track “The Space Between” from a multichannel SACD of Roxy Music’s Avalon, the guitar and keyboards had a clean, effortless presentation, while Bryan Ferry’s silky vocals came across as notably lush. Bass guitar sounded dynamic and extended, and I heard clear differentiation between it and the low-pitched kick drum.
During setup of the full 5.1 system, test tones revealed an excellent match between the front left/right and center speakers. And as anticipated, the C350 center with its vertically aligned tweeter/midrange sounded clear and uniform from off-axis seats. This was most evident when I watched a scene in John Wick: Chapter
3 – Parabellum where John (Keanu Reeves) and Sofia (Halle Berry) have a nostalgic chat in her living room after she first shoots him (that’s how folks say “howdy” in John Wick-world). Wick’s voice retained its fullness from different positions on my couch, and the C350’s detailed presentation revealed the authentic, cracked quality of a man dealing with physical pain.
A first W-12 sample failed early on in testing, so I spent some time watching movies with a subwoofer-less Silver system. When the replacement W-12 arrived and I plugged it in, I took note of the powerful low-end kick it added to action films like John Wick: Chapter
3. In an early fight scene in an antiques warehouse, the W-12’s tight, powerful delivery lent a dynamic quality to kicks, punches, gunshots, and stabs as Wick took out all who would
oppose him. And in a subsequent scene where he is chased on horseback through city streets, ambient sounds like rain and thunder came across as dense and detailed, and the impact of the pursuing motorcycles smashing into cars was genuinely frightening.
Turning to less-actionpacked (but no less intense) material, I next watched the Playboy Mansion scene from Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. As Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate’s car speeds through the Hollywood Hills with Deep Purple’s “Hush” playing on the soundtrack, the Silver 50 surrounds delivered a good sense of immersion, with music drifting subtly into the surround channels. And when the action shifted to the party, I experienced an even more dramatic sense of being “inside” the scene. A story told by the Steve Mcqueen character at the party gave the C350 center another chance to strut its stuff, with dialogue sounding clear and natural amidst the lively party ambience.
CONCLUSION
Monitor Audio’s sleek Silver 300-based system delivers a level of performance to equal its good looks. I found myself won over by its crisp, dynamic sound on both music and movies, and was particularly impressed with the C350 center speaker, which allows for seamless sound across the three front channels by perfectly matching the 300 towers. The Silver W-12 subwoofer also commanded my attention via its contribution to the already solid bass provided by the 300s on music, and by adding oomph to action movies. The one caveat I have about the W-12 is its value since there are other subwoofers on the market that provide equal performance at a lower price while offering features like wireless connectivity and appbased control.
Taking this system’s elegant looks, immaculate build quality, and great sound into account, I’d say that Monitor Audio overdelivers. If there happened to be an audio Olympics, it would easily earn its Silver status.