Monitor 70 or 60?

tolkien

Hey everyone,

I'm looking around for some nice L/R speakers for my home setup and I can't decide between the M60s or M70s. I'm under the impression that the M60s + Any Sub > M70's but I'd like an expert opinion on that.

Additionally... I cant seem to find any good deals on either one of these speakers anywhere... A while back the M70s were on newegg for something like 135$ but now they're not on there at all... They have the M60s at 150$.

Is it a good idea to buy a discontinued model?

Thanks

mole'

i had Monitor 50/40 with a PSWi225 sub and it sounded good.

Outfitter03

Newegg still has the monitor 60s available in Cherry only. These are 139 each + 2.99 shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290018

They are coming out with their own custom line of monitor series and that is what is available on the web site now. There is a thread in this section about the new speaker line.

The new monitor 70: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882290209

I have the 70s for fronts and they sound really good, but they sound better with a more powerful amp. Depending on the output of your stereo or avr you may be happier with the monitor 60s.

mole'

i just noticed that the new Monitors II are 275 watts the older Monitor 70s are only 250 watts

lessthanzero

Just got the "new" Monitor 60's for the fronts being driven by a Pioneer Elite 21TXH, and they sound good out of the box, but am in the process of conditioning them now and even after only two days they sound even better. Also use a Polk sub with these. I had the "old" Monitor 50's, which also sounded great, but the new series looks so much better. I just like the sound out of the Monitors............

ZeroCoolPolks

Both 70 an 70 II are 275

Recommended Amplifier Power 20 - 275 w/channel

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/specs/recent/monitor70/

mole'

ZeroCoolPolks wrote: »

Both 70 an 70 II are 275

Recommended Amplifier Power 20 - 275 w/channel

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/specs/recent/monitor70/

for some reason i had it in my head that they were 250

spock 2054

tolkien wrote: »

Hey everyone,

I'm looking around for some nice L/R speakers for my home setup and I can't decide between the M60s or M70s. I'm under the impression that the M60s + Any Sub > M70's but I'd like an expert opinion on that.

Additionally... I cant seem to find any good deals on either one of these speakers anywhere... A while back the M70s were on newegg for something like 135$ but now they're not on there at all... They have the M60s at 150$.

Is it a good idea to buy a discontinued model?

Thanks[/QUOTE

I've had my 70's for a little over a month, and they are some very good sounding speakers. 60's as surrounds. The 70's have a bit better imaging compared to the 60's. The lowest price I saw was 149.99 for the 70's around Fathers Day...Are you looking for playback in stereo or surround? What do you plan to use to drive them? How is your room laid out? Carpet or hardwood floors? What is your budget for speakers? Nothing wrong in buying a product at the end of its cycle. buy.com still has monitor 70's in black in stock for 199.99 each. New. With free shipping. Newegg has the series II 70 for 249.99 - 2.99 shipping.

spock 2054

mole' wrote: »

i just noticed that the new Monitors II are 275 watts the older Monitor 70s are only 250 watts

The difference in peak power handling is identical between the old and new product. The odds that you would be able to listen to speakers at 90db for an extended period of time are slim. More than likely, your ears will fail before the speakers would.

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/specs/recent/monitor70/

snip from:
http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/voltageloudness.html

Let us assume that you are listening to your stereo at a comfortable volume of 8OdB. We will further assume that this level requires 25 peak watts from your amplifier. To just barely increase the volume, we might increase loudness by 3dB. As we can see from the chart, this will require a doubling of power from the amplifier, which will now be churning out 50 peak watts to produce a loudness of 83dB. If we want to double the apparent volume from our original level we will need to create 9OdB of sound pressure, requiring 250 peak watts.

It is obvious from the example above that adequate amplifier power is necessary to provide an accurate portrayal of music. This is especially true when attempting to reproduce realistic levels, or when driving inefficient speakers. However, even small efficient speakers may require copious amounts of power to cleanly reproduce transient peaks. In the final analysis, it is difficult to have too much power. While a small amplifier of only a few watts output can produce surprising average loudness, the dynamic peaks will usually suffer unless the sensitivity of the speaker is very high

tolkien

Thank you everyone for the quick replies.

I'm sorry, excuse my ignorance, but what is an AMP? does it connect to the receiver? What is it's purpose exactly?

Also... Newegg also has the Monitor IIs for the 60s AND 70s. Is it worth getting the 2s? I cant even see a cosmetic difference so is the difference in the playback?

I have yet to pick a receiver to run the 70s/60s, or even a sub, so I'm open to suggestions. Just please try to keep the receiver under 300$. I'd prefer Yamah/Pioneer over Onkyo.

For now I was hoping to do a:
L/R Monitor 60/70...
Center CS2...
Surround (5.1) Monitor 50s...
Any sub thats decently priced off best-buy or something.

This is for my projector setup in my unfinished basement. Floor is concrete, open space.

Thank you!

DefaultGen

If your receiver has pre-outs you can hook your speakers up to amps to drive them with more power than the receiver can. Depending on what speakers you have, if your receiver doesn't give them enough juice, an amp could help your speakers sing. Considering the price range we're talking about, you probably won't need one. Most people here seem to consider an amp really beneficial in the RTi line and almost necessary with the LSi line. Any money you'd have tucked away for an amp would be better spent upgrading the rest of your system right now.

Monitor IIs are just rebranded Monitors with a different price and construction. I'm pretty sure the speakers are exactly the same, and I doubt anyone will tell you one is really better than another. If you find a good price on used Monitor 70s, I'd definitely say pull the trigger on those.

Check out this thread too: http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36112 - There's a lot of discussion of Monitor 70 vs. Monitor 60s + Sub. One of the conclusions drawn was that all your stuff should be in the same quality range, so if you got the 70s, you might want to consider a CS20 and slightly better sub in your upgrade path. Personally, I'd go with the 70s and upgrade my system piecemeal as budget permits it, but I'm also someone who would constantly second guess myself if I went for the 60s.

Any chance you could get to an audio shop and listen for yourself? If they don't have the Monitors, unless I'm mistaken the Tsi500, 400 and 300 are basically the equivalent of the Monitor 70, 60, and 50.