Monitor Audio Silver RX1 and RX6

The newly developed wide bandwidth C-CAM tweeter might run happily up to frequencies only bats can hear, but the pay-off for us is a smoother yet more detailed treble.

Cabinetry has long been regarded as one of Monitor Audio's great strengths. As soon as you pick up the diminutive RX1, you'll be surprised by how solid and well made it is. You might also wonder how they fit together given you'll see no screws holding the drivers in - Monitor Audio employ a system with a strong, long bolt in the rear of the drivers effectively pulling them back into the cabinet - this can easily be tightened with the supplied allen key. By doing this they improve cabinet rigidity and consistently control the coupling of the driver to the front surface allowing then to work together as one. It's serious engineering yet there is nothing rustic about the quality of woodwork - in either clean light oak or a rather sumptuous dark stained walnut, the rounded corners and cleanly rebated drivers and crossovers make other speakers look homemade. The magnetically attached covers offer protection from little fingers but also eliminated the need for black plastic lugs on the front panel.

You can use the RX1s on shelves, but a good pair of speakers stands (from around $300) will make a big improvement to their performance, allowing you to get positioning just right. The bass performance is well balanced and actually better than some highly regarded larger models. Given their reasonable cost, it is likely you'll consider the RX1s with a broad range of amplifiers - the diminutive NuForce Icon series make a great match for little more than the price of stands, but you'll gain more with better models from Rotel, Cambridge, Analogue Audio (our favorite) and Quad. Not to mention many other capable brands.

The RX6 builds on the capability of the RX1, being an elegantly understated floor-standing model. The cabinet of the RX6 has separate chambers, with differently tuned porting front and rear for the two bass-mid drivers (most speakers that have a similar appearance just have both drivers firing into the same space). This extra effort makes for a dramatic improvement in midrange quality and precision as the two drivers no longer interfere with each other. And bass can also be extended and better controlled. This internal cabinet work also reduces resonance.

There is very little the Silver RX6 won't do. With greater extension, efficiency, power handling and midrange resolution over its little brother, the RX6 rivals our best NZ made models and you'd be selling yourself short not to take it seriously - we will admit to being a little one eyed in the past, but there has been a dramatic improvement made by Monitor Audio over their previous ranges - it's progress and we all like that.

Like the RX1s, the majority of RX6s selected will be either dark walnut or light oak timber finishes, but for a little extra you can also order gloss black or white.

Monitor Audio Silver RX1 - NZ$1100 the pair
Monitor Audio Silver RX6 - NZ$2250 the pair

If you visit the Monitor Audio site to learn more about the Silver RX range, you'll see that there is a full array of models within this range covering cinema applications as well as music. These are also available here, so do ask us about them if you'd like to know more.

The Silver RX range is also overlapped both from below and above by the new Bronze BX and Gold GX ranges which are even newer. The NZ$750 a pair BX2 is already hit in the UK - 'For the money, though, the BX2s are stupendously good and give their price rivals much to worry about. WhatHiFi Product of the Year. That said, you'll find the RX1 appreciably better. It's a situation where a very good small one is even better than a highly competent bigger one. The same situation applies if you listen to the Gold series GX50 - it's similar in size to the RX1, yet costs a little more than the RX6. If you like what the RX series does, but want more, it's only a small step...

So, if you have got this far, you will no doubt either want to know more, or hear the Monitor Audios for yourself. That's where we come into the equation. Monitor Audio are a large company by HiFi standards but they are still run by enthusiasts rather than some faceless corporate. So you won't find MA in chain stores. And while it may seem contradictory, you'll actually find that Monitor Audio speakers are more than competitive in their pricing - we like to share our toys and if we can find a way to give you the best sound for less, then we will do it. We challenge you to find a better sounding, better made speaker at the same price. And if you do - well buy it!

So email us, call or just visit and we'll see if the Monitor Audios are right for you.