Monitor Audio Gold 5.1

hccbestbuybadgev3David Vivian is smitten by the looks, build quality and sonic delivery of this premium 5.1 combo

Monitor Audio isn't a speaker maker catering chiefly to music lovers that does pretty well with home cinema all things considered. Nor is it a company packing multichannel cred that nevertheless makes a decent enough fist of hi-fi. If you can detect the slightest hint of compromise in either direction, MA reckons it hasn't done its job.

You might think these obvious ground rules for any operation wanting to sell a lot of speakers, but it's surprising how many display a bias one way or the other.

It isn't simply a matter of ensuring your drive unit integration is seamless and tonal character consistent in the round but, more tellingly, a question of presentational personality. And it's here the Essex-based company frequently seems to steal a march on its rivals.

The Monitor Audio 'house sound' is geared to please a lot of people a lot of the time by giving them what they want and not some notion of 'correct' concocted by a bunch of technicians in white lab coats. This means deep bass of good quality and plenty of it; the kind of clarity that allows listeners to separate what's going on and hear every detail effortlessly; refined treble with air and definition;

the ability to go loud and hit hard yet resolve a pin drop; a spacious soundstage with solid and stable imaging; ease of drive and, to top things off, a luxurious standard of build, finish and engineering. It can't be a matter of luck that these assets appeal just as powerfully to music purists and film fanatics alike. Along with mainstream competitors Bowers & Wilkins and KEF, Monitor Audio has evolved a sonic profile designed to compete and seduce. It's as simple as that.

Metal Mayhem
We're probably all familiar with Monitor Audio's Bronze/Silver/Gold/Platinum model hierarchy so, with this Gold 5.1 package, we're surfing close to the company's best game. Revised for a fifth generation (it was previously retooled in 2014), the new Gold lineup has slimmed down to just one centre speaker (the £1,100 Gold C250) rather than two in the superseded range. This is joined by the £1,700 Gold FX bipole/dipole surrounds, the £2,100 Gold W12 subwoofer and, for this setup, the £4,000 Gold 300, which is the larger of two three-way floorstanders.

The 300s are substantial items and pack plenty of trickle-down driver technology from the company's premium Platinum II lineup. Subtly modified for the Gold 300, the brace of 8in Rigid Diaphragm Technology (RDT II) bass drivers are wired in series, and work in conjunction with the two airflow-smoothing, rear-facing HiVe II bass reflex ports, a partnership that helps the Gold 300 go seriously deep (down to a claimed 30Hz at -6dB), and is said additionally to benefit both bass tautness and transient response.

Dedicated to the midrange is a smaller (2.5in) C-CAM driver that's fast and responsive enough to team seamlessly with MA's Micro Pleated Diaphragm (MPD) ribbon-style tweeter. Again lifted from the Platinum II series (step down to the company's Silver products and more traditional dome tweeters are used), this is claimed to have a 50kHz (-6dB) frequency ceiling and, because it doesn't suffer the kind of audible range break-up that afflicts dome tweeters, aims to marry smoothness and attack in a more convincing fashion.

The Gold 300 blends its high-spec drivers with a sumptuous, classic design (available in Dark Walnut, Satin White, Piano Ebony and the Piano Gloss Black finish seen here). But what you can't see is MA's single-bolt-through tech, which effectively locks together the main drivers and the rear of the cabinet for increased bracing strength and rigidity and, at the same time, decouple the drivers from the front baffle. With the anodised metal outrigger feet bolted on, the speakers feel wonderfully solid, too.

Centre Of Excellence
It never does to underestimate the amount of heavy lifting the centre speaker has to cope with in any home cinema system, so it's reassuring to see that Monitor Audio hasn't gone all demure and dainty for aesthetic kudos with the Gold C250. While far from a behemoth, it is sturdy and weighty enough for the task, and packs in two 6.5in RDT II bass drivers flanking the same combination of 2.5in C-CAM midrange and MPD tweeter found in the Gold 300 floorstander.

Deeper bass duties fall to the Gold W12 subwoofer which, with its front-firing 12in long-throw driver, pair of 8in (side-mounted) passive radiators and 600W Class D Hypex power plant, should have the minerals to hit low and hard – all the way down to a carpet-warping 20Hz, suggests MA.

Finally, the Gold FX speakers aren't just dedicated surrounds but can switch between bi- and dipole operation at the flick of a switch. On the two angled baffles are a 4in C-CAM midbass and MPD tweeter. The speaker looks neat, and thanks to the recessed binding posts, flush wall-mounting is an option. Neater still.

Monitor Audio