When will you test the Monitor Audio Radius HD speakers and AW-12 subwoofer??

[bigboss]

Dear What Hi-Fi Team,

I was just wondering if you had any plans to test the new Monitor Audio Radius HD range, and the new AW-12 subwoofer in the near future. I'm planning to buy the R225HD for front and centre, R90HD rears and AW-12 subwoofer to go with Yamaha RX-V1900 receiver.

What do you think of this combination?

Any advice will be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[John Duncan]

There's always this, which along with the review of the '90 set, might give a clue as to what they're like, and you could go and listen and decide on the back of that?

 

[bigboss]

Thanks for that, JohnDuncan! Actually, I have already read the review. The Radius HD series claim to be better than the older Radius series, & I was wondering if there's any truth in that. Also, the new AW-12 subwoofer has not been reviewed by anyone so far.

Will the speakers pair ideally with the Yamaha RX-V1900 receiver? The review is with the R270 floorstanders, but I'm getting the R225HD speakers instead. what's the difference in quality between the two?

 

[Anonymous]

Maybe I can provide with a few helpful details? Two months ago I bought the older version of MonitorAudio Radius. The system is: Front 270 (floorstanding), rear speakers Radius 250, center Radius 250 and the new SW called 360HD. It was an offer with 50% off the price as to sell out before introducing the HD serie. Due to some problems with items not in stock as persumed I actually got the center 250 instead of the 225 and the 360HD SubWoofer instead of the old one.

To me itïs an excellent system both for home cinema and for music. Some peope would find it a bit weak speaking of bass-response used as a two way stereo (analog direct to the frontspeakers). Combined with the SubWoofer its perfect. Clear sound, very pure and you hear no distorsion at all even when forced to the maximum. It wil go just fine with your Yamaha RX-V1900 reciever (RMS 130W) and the speakers 100-150W depending on the type. My experience is that the Radius speakers need a little more volume to make the best of it.

Donït really know if the new HD series are much better. The dynamic range is increased to 55/50/48Hz-35KHz (old ones: 55/50/50Hz-25KHz) concerning Radius 225, 250 and 270. The Radius 90 likewise 80Hz-35KHz from earlier 85Hz-25KHz. I need someone to tell me if this has any significant impact on listening. Your reciever only manages 20Hz-20KHz and the human ear has a limit around 20KHZ, decreasing when getting older.

The R90 speakers are probably very good but lacks a little in bass. Depending on how to use them ( in my case also playing 2xstereo front and rear) you will get most from the 250 set. I know nothing about the AW 12, but would say that its close to an overkill with 500 W continous Digital drive in this set-up?

 

[Anonymous]

Oh! I forgot to answer to the difference between the R225 and the R270. The floorstanding R270 has a front ported bass refex (like the R225) but longer, giving it a more powerfull bass. Another obvious advantage is the possibility to put them on spikes and make a perfect stereo perspective by toe-in. Choosing the R250 over the R225 will give you a speaker with double front ported bass reflex and a very close run to the R270. And notice that the R250 is 150 mm longer than R225 (610/760 mm)

 

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I am very happy with my Radius HD set up, now they are nicely run in they sound superb with movies and 2 channel music is impressive as well. I use REL subs and connect by LFE for movies and use their Neutrik Speakon connectivity to augment bass direct from the amp's main speaker outputs. Just make sure that speaker sizes are set to large, which to be fair most auto callibration system will do automatically.

I have not heard the dedicated sub so cannot comment on that, but you will not go wrong the speakers.

Cheers,

 

[bigboss]

Thanks for the info, Edwich and Soulton!! Monitor Audio uses the same driver configuration for R225HD and R250HD. The enhanced bass performance in the R250HD is because of the longer cabinet, but that can be compensated easily as Soulton pointed out.

 

[bigboss]

Actually, this has got me into some thinking. Am I compromising on the quality by choosing the R225HD over R250HD, & R9HD over R180HD? My understanding is that I may lose out on the extra bass, but the sub will make up for it. Am I right in thinking this way?

 

[Anonymous]

All I would say is that the R180 HD's are very easy to site and look / sound great in their own right.

As for the R250 HD's, they may give a little extra in base depth but, in my opinion the 225's are more than capable and look great either side of my 42" display. The 250's are taller (longer) and would look over bearing - again in my opinion.

If you have a 50" screen then they might be alright, but as you mentioned your sub will more than make up for any base requirements. Even in 2 channel stereo they sound impressive to my ears, and I have / have had various systems from floor standers to sattelites over the years and what I have now I am sticking with for a good while.

Hope this is of help to you bigboss.

 

[bigboss]

soulton:

All I would say is that the R180 HD's are very easy to site and look / sound great in their own right.

As for the R250 HD's, they may give a little extra in base depth but, in my opinion the 225's are more than capable and look great either side of my 42" display. The 250's are taller (longer) and would look over bearing - again in my opinion.

If you have a 50" screen then they might be alright, but as you mentioned your sub will more than make up for any base requirements. Even in 2 channel stereo they sound impressive to my ears, and I have / have had various systems from floor standers to sattelites over the years and what I have now I am sticking with for a good while.

Hope this is of help to you bigboss.

Thanks for the helpful info soulton! Actually, mine is a 50" plasma (Pioneer KRP 500A), but the speakers are going to be housed in a cabinet with a black cloth grill to match the height of the TV, so I decided on the R225HD to save £75 (it's going to be hidden in any case!)

I'll have a look at the R180HD for the rears, & compare it with the R90HD. Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi again

If the choice is between R90HD and R180HD then I would go for R180. Two things to concider is first, the R90 has a rear ported bass-reflex which means that you canït mount it flat to the wall. Youïll need a special bracket or a stand. Second, the R180 has better dynamic range in low end - 60Hz vs. 80Hz - and thatïs a significant improvement for not cutting out the deep tones from instruments. I think this is important even if your reciever and/or subwoofer does make smooth cutting LFE. But of course thats just my favour, I donït like a subwoofer overdoing things in music where itïs ok with movieeffects.

Whatever you choose take soultons (and mine) words for real that the MA Radius speakers are most satisfying in both appearance and sound.

By the way. Did you notice that MonitorAudio offers a cd called De-Tox CD. Hope Iïm not offending forumrules by quoting:

MonitorAudio:Custom-developed for Monitor Audioïs loudspeakers and utilising technology similar to that found on IsoTekïs acclaimed ïFull System Enhancerï disk, the new De-Tox CD will help you to burn-in your speakers in less time and more comprehensively than is possible with music or other burn-in signals.

I ordered one today! £10 and giving it a try.

 

[Anonymous]

Glad you found it of use Big Boss.

Edwich,

Reference the De-Tox disc, it is very good but read the instructions as they recommend not using track 1 with anything other than 'small' satelites, then track 2 is for 2 way speakers and (surprise surprise) track 3 is for 3 way speakers. You then have a track 4 (only 5 mins) which is just a general De- Tox (demag' etc) system refresher.

I simply burned (for my own personal use) tracks 3 and 4 onto a disc, the reason for this is that the disc plays automatically in my player so now I have just what I need.

Also remember for surround systems you need to play it in a surround format - I used Dolby ProLogic 2.

Hope this is of help.

 

[Alec]

I'm thinking of the Monitor Audio R90HDs just to boost my TV's sound. Them or a pair of the bigger Kef "eggs" at the moment. They would just be used with a stereo amp. Any thoughts? Whichever speakers i use need to be small and sit right by the TV without obscuring the picture.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

al7478:I'm thinking of the Monitor Audio R90HDs just to boost my TV's sound. Them or a pair of the bigger Kef "eggs" at the moment. They would just be used with a stereo amp. Any thoughts? Whichever speakers i use need to be small and sit right by the TV without obscuring the picture.

Hi al7478

I use the Monitor Audio R90HD with the mighty Yamaha DSP-Z11 AV amplifier and they sound superb with movies or music soundtracks.

Thanks

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Alec]

It sounds good with just the two fronts then?

 

[Messiah]

They are good. Very similar in sound to the Silver RS range. The bass is quite light though as you would expect from a speaker of this size.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

al7478:It sounds good with just the two fronts then?

Hi al7478

Thanks for your post.

Yes, i think the R90HD's give a perfectly good stereo performance for their size/design concept.

Thanks

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Alec]

Thanks gents.

EDIT - just one more thing. Well, 2.

When you see them with the grey bits, is this just the covers?

Also, MA's site states that the sub in the range is only a 10cm cube...is that right?

 

[bigboss]

First of all, the link you've posted is of the Radius series, not Radius HD.

Radius HD is lacquered black. You can get them in white or wooden finish as well.

Which sub are they talking about? The subs you can match are R360HD, R370HD, RSW-12 & AW-12.

 

[Alec]

Ah, thanks for the correction.

The sub is the R45HD, tho it says it is really intended to "dovetail" with one of the bigger ones.

 

[bigboss]

R45HD is a satellite speaker, not a sub, though it is designed to dovetail the R360HD sub. You'll never get the real 'sub' effect with these teeny weeny ones.

http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/products/radius-hd/r45-hd/your-speaker

 

[Alec]

bigboss:

R45HD is a satellite speaker, not a sub...

Ahem. Good point well made.