Some loudspeaker companies like to use exotic-sounding names for their various ranges. Some like to use a numerical system, as if they were some business-like and severe manufacturer of cars. And then there’s Monitor Audio, which with admirable clarity calls its ranges ‘Bronze’, ‘Silver’, ‘Gold’ and ‘Platinum’. (I’m ignoring its Studio and Hyphn loudspeakers, because a) they are single models rather than complete ranges, and b) it spoils my introduction.)
There are six models in the Monitor Audio Gold line-up, including a couple of pairs of standmounters – and the Gold 100 6G is the larger of those two.
At 448 x 230 x 357mm (HxWxD) they’re on the large side by prevailing fashions, and at 14kg they’re no flyweights either. Just as well, then, that each of the available finishes - high-gloss black, satin white and a man-made ‘Macassar’ wood veneer - are decently contemporary and good-looking. The quality of construction and of finish, too, is impressive - although ‘impressive’ is a minimum requirement when you’re asking £3000 a per pair, let’s not pretend otherwise.
This is a three-way loudspeaker with a significant ‘HiVE II’ bass-reflex port that vents at the rear of the cabinet and is tuned to 38Hz. The driver array is a dramatic-looking line-up, and - as is often the way with Monitor Audio - with more than a few technical highlights.
The top of the front panel, for instance, features a ‘mid-pod’ that contains a high-frequency transducer and a 76mm midrange driver. Beneath it there’s a 203mm bass driver. The ‘mid-pod’ is a steel enclosure behind an aluminium baffle, while the big bass driver sits in a brushed aluminium surround. The overall look is reasonably assertive, especially when you take into account the fact that the ‘mid-pod’ sits slightly proud of the top of the cabinet and births a strip of die-cast aluminium that runs much of the length of the top panel. If it’s too assertive, there are a couple of magnetic grilles per speaker to calm the look a little.
The high-frequency transducer sitting at the top of that ‘mid-pod’ is the latest version of Monitor Audio’s ‘MPD III’ design, and is closely based on the transducer fitted to both the ‘Platinum’ series and to the uber-flagship ‘Hyphn’. A micro-pleated diaphragm tuned for fearsome high-end extension (Monitor Audio suggests it’s good for 60kHz), it features a square radiating area that’s designed to deliver equal response in both the vertical and horizontal planes. This ought to result in more open, more defined soundstaging. The rear volume of the MPD III arrangement has been designed to create minimal ‘ripple’ in the audible frequency range, and the waveguide ahead of it is intended to deliver even better control of directivity and, in theory at least, further improvements in soundstaging.
The 76mm midrange driver that’s the other member of the ‘mid-pod’ club and the 203mm bass driver positioned below it are both of a new ‘HDT’ design. This ‘hexagonal diaphragm technology’ builds on the RDT III (‘rigid diaphragm technology’) Monitor Audio uses in the Platinum and Hyphn loudspeakers, but it also nods quite strongly to the metal driver technology the company has been preoccupied with for decades now.
Monitor Audio has been honing its ‘C-CAM’ (ceramic-coated aluminium magnesium) cone material since the early 90s. For its rebirth as HDT, the company has employed an asymmetrical hexagonal pattern on the driver surface - the intention is to overcome the breakup characteristics inherent in a symmetrical cone design. Quite aside from its sonic efficacy, it makes for an individual and quite striking look, especially when surrounded by some brushed aluminium as the bass driver is here.
The company has been just as busy behind the scenes, too. Each HDT driver enjoys a revised spider design, newly optimised driver surrounds, increased voice-coil lengths and larger, beefier motor systems. In addition, the 76mm midrange driver has a high-strength neodymium bucking magnet for increased control and more effective power-handling, along with increased voice-coil venting designed to improve sensitivity. All of these amendments, reckons Monitor Audio, make HDT the strongest, most piston-like cone it’s ever developed. And by way of an encore, the crossover network also has come in for some attention - Monitor Audio has fitted pricier, high-performance capacitors, and positioned the crossover points at 700Hz and 2.6kHz where they shouldn’t be obvious.
Sound quality
It won’t have escaped your notice that these speakers are quite large for current standmounters, and they sound even bigger than they look. A little breathing space in every direction is required, and any room smaller than ‘medium-sized’ might find the Gold 100 6G to be too much of a good thing. Take care of these requirements, though, and the rest of the news is almost entirely positive.
The soundstage the Monitor Audios create is gratifyingly large, impressively organised and ever-so-easy to follow. The layout is explicit, even for recordings that feature a lot of individual elements, and elbow-room is sufficient for every element to operate without seeming cramped or marginalised. And yet this is not at the expense of unity or singularity - this three-way speaker creates a strong impression of togetherness, and its time-alignment is never less than convincing.
That relatively large bass driver makes good on its promise of deep, impactful low-frequency presence - but, again, the Gold 100 6G is deft as it does so. The low end is punchy, for sure, but it’s also packed with detail both broad and fine, and there’s plenty of variation to go along with the straightforward wallop. And the same is true at the opposite end of the frequency range, inasmuch as the treble reproduction is substantial, varied and alive with detail. That complex transducer arrangement offers a proper sensation of space and air at the top end, but it can sink its teeth in too if your music demands it.
A dedicated midrange driver seems to promise uncompromised midrange fidelity - and to a great extent that’s what the Gold 100 6G offers. Detail levels are stratospheric, and the speakers serve up vocalists of all types with absolute positivity - they’re secure in a little pocket of space, from where they can express their character and attitude directly.
The fact that there’s a fairly complex crossover network involved, and two points of handover, is never an issue - the frequency response, from the top of the range to the bottom, is smooth in the manner of warm butter. The sensation of unruffled confidence and control is only bolstered by tonality that’s as naturalistic and convincing as it gets.
About the only area in which the Monitor Audio Gold 100 6G is anything less than profoundly accomplished is dynamic response. The speakers are alert to smaller dynamic variations, the harmonic fluctuations apparent in an acapella recording or a solo instrument, but they’re less adept at tracking the big shifts in volume or intensity that some recordings indulge in. They’re a reasonably forceful and assertive listen even when a recording is quite mild, but they don’t leave themselves quite as much space to ramp up the intensity as is sometimes required.
Living with
The Monitor Audio Gold 100 6G is a three-way loudspeaker bolstered by that ‘HiVE II’ reflex port, with a claimed frequency response of 32Hz - 60kHz, nominal impedance of 4ohms and sensitivity of an unremarkable 86.5dB. Which means they don’t present an especially tricky load, and any amplifier with a genuine power output of 100 watts or better should have no difficulty getting a tune out of them.
They are strapping lads, the Gold 100 6Gs, and you’ll need some sturdy fit-for-purpose speaker stands to get the best out of them. Monitor Audio will sell you a pair of its ST-2 stands for £550, but they’re by no means your only choice.
Their physical size is reflected in the scale of sound they’re capable of delivering, too. It’s not that they’re a complete non-starter in a small listening space, but the more room (within reason) you can give them the happier the Gold 100 6G will be. And that rear-firing bass reflex port means that you’ll ideally have at least half a metre between the back of the speaker and a wall or other reflective surface.
Conclusion
The three-way standmounter is becoming an endangered species - but the Monitor Audio Gold 100 6G demonstrates that it’s an excellent configuration if properly implemented. If you have the space in your home and the headroom in your bank account, these loudspeakers are well worth an audition.
Listening notes
Portishead Roads
The command these speakers have over low-frequency activity gets a proper examination here. Roads is built on a foundation of reverb-laden Fender Rhodes piano and desert-dry kick-drum - and when the bass guitar takes what passes for a solo, things get even more testing.
Diana Ross Love Hangover
Ultimately Love Hangover evolves into a disco banger for the ages, with plenty for a speaker’s sense of rhythmic expression to chew on. Before it all kicks off, though, it’s a considerable test of midrange fidelity as La Ross gives it lots of what she’s famous for.
Alan Sparhawk Get Still
Queasy electronics, the cheapest and most rattling drum sounds, analogue squelch and grind, outrageously AutoTuned vocals… if this isn’t a stern examination of tonality and texture at every part of the frequency range, I don’t know what is.
You enjoy a full-scale, faithful and invigorating rendition of your favourite music, and you have the electronics with the talent to let the Gold 100 6G fulfil its potential. And you have the space in which to let it happen…
