Monitor Audio GS 60 in the house!

jayman_1975

Well after a whole 2 weeks of waiting, my new(to me) Monitor Audio GS60 and gslcr are in their new home. They are absolutely stunning speakers. Talk about bringing sexy back! I have only had a little listening time but so far they are great. A little brighter than my Revolver Audio Music 5's (which are also awesome) but i will be doing some more in depth comparisons soon. The Revolvers are pulling surround duty right now which is a bit of a waste for a $3000 floor stander but they were my first higher end speaker and i have a soft spot for them.

Here's a few pics cause i heard that if there are no pics it didn't happen? lol

coolsax

Nice looking speakers!

audiocr381ve

I've always wanted to hear the GS series. The Monitor Audio RS6's were the finest speakers I've ever owned. I returned my Magnepan 1.7's ($2,200) because they were just getting smoked by my RS6's.

Eventually, I'll work my way up to the owning a pair of GS20's.

Would you mind describing previous speakers you've owned and how they compare with the GS60's?

nhhiep

great speakers, but you definitely need a bigger TV especially next to these speakers

jayman_1975

nhhiep wrote: »

great speakers, but you definitely need a bigger TV especially next to these speakers

I have been thinking that very same thing. Unfortunately the tv will have to wait as i have just ordered 2 Arcam monoblocks and the preamp to match them. Ouch my wallet has taken a serious beating lately.... gonna have to go to AA (audioholics anonymous). The tv is a 42 inch and i only sit 10ft from it so it will do for awhile yet.

As far as speakers i can compare them to... i have only had Polk Audio Monitor 70's and still have my Revolver Audio Music 5.

The Polks were pretty good actually... i had alot of fun upgrading my gear from a cheapo Panasonic receiver and toshiba dvd player to a Denon receiver and then to an Arcam receiver. They were good enough to notice the improvements from one receiver to the next but when i put my Arcam DV27+ in place of the toshiba it was tough to tell the sonic differences between the DV27 and the Arcam receiver doing the decoding. The dv27 was from the FMJ line (top of the Arcam line) and the receiver was from their entry "Diva" line. The player retailed at $2500 and was regarded as a very very good cd player as well as a reference DVD player. I would have thought that the DAC's in the player would have made a very big difference vs the DAC's in the receiver. There were some improvements but not what i expected. This is where i felt my Polks hit the end of their performace level.

Next came the Revolver Audio Music 5. I had never heard these before but took word from a dealer i had bought cables from over the years who was 4 hrs away from me. He was blowing them out at half of the retail of $2800 because he was no longer carrying the brand as they are made in England and are not very well known and therefor hard to sell. He offered me a 1 yr full trade in value on them (and anything he sells for that matter) and promised that for their full retail they are a very competent speaker but for half of retail there is nothing in that price range that will even come close.
I was skeptical but took the plunge.

These Revolvers turned out to be amazing sounding speakers... wow.. clarity and soundstage blew my mind. I have read about guys closing their eyes and the speakers completely disappearing... i know exactly what they meant now. A tad bit forward but nice and smooth with the right cables. There was such a 3 dimensional sense to the music sometimes i couldn't believe that i didn't have surround speakers on. I read a review in what hi-fi before i pulled the trigger on these, they received a 5 star and the reviewer said he preferred these to the Dali Helicon 400 (which are quite well regarded)... now i see why.

The only negatives i have on these is they do not have the high end speaker look. They are plain looking with the grills but don't look too bad with grills off. Also... the cabinets are only MDF which i kindof turned my nose up at first but then realized how great they sounded and got over it pretty quickly.

I was very happy with these but in the true nature of the addiction... i had to know how much better it gets. I found a nice deal on these Monitor Audio GS 60 with the GS center. Even after shipping from MS up to Canada it was still a good price.

The first thing that stands out is their appearance... simply stunning. The wife likes them and she doesn't usually have much to say one way or another. They are a little on the bright side i do have to say. You would not want to pair them with bright gear... it would be hard on the ears im sure. I have Arcam gear which leans to the warm side of neutral and i could even notice the brightness compared to the Revolvers. In all fairness i was using Audio Art cables which are silver wire and once i switched out to my Merlin Chopin the top end smoothed out just enough to take that edge off.

I spent one whole day switching the Monitor Audio and the Revolvers in and out... listening to about 3 songs each time then switching out then listening to the same 3 songs. There were some noticeable differences but not quite what i expected. First the MA had a little better coherency... but not by much. It was so hard to pick out but i think the bass blended just a little better as well as digging just a tad bit deeper... but again.. just by a hair. The Revolvers specs say the lower frequency response is only 38hz but i was shocked at the amount of clean tight powerful bass they had. I always felt the bass was weak and muddy with the Polks and always needed a sub to fill in the low stuff. Not so with the Revolvers, and the Monitor Audio are even better... in that area.

Where the MA do not keep up with is 3 dimensional sound. Although a very nice full soundstage it just doesn't seem to submerse me in the middle of the music quite as much. This is very noticeable when switching back and forth. The MA do a great job at stretching the soundstage way out past the speakers only to be stopped at each side wall but the Revolvers make the sound feel like it's hitting your face like waves... i really can't explain it any other way. I guess it seems like i can reach out and touch the sound as it dances a foot or so away from me. The MA just arent doing that to extent of the Revolvers.

In all fairness to the Monitor Audios they are known to need a couple feet away from the back wall to really shine and i only have them about 10inches away (if the wife had her way they would be pressed right back to the wall).
But the Revolvers can do this sitting that close. One other point is my room is only 16x14 and could be a little small for the MA GS60s. The 20s might do better in this smaller room but the deal i found was on the 60s and soon i will be moving everything to the basement and then i have about 17x22 so they will really be able to breath.

One last comment is i'm doing all this testing with a H/T processor and a H/T amp mind you my AV9 is pretty capable at 2 channel but it's not a dedicated 2 channel rig. When my preamp and monos show up i'll do this test all over again and see what i find. Could be totally different results.

I attached a pic of the Revolver to show what i meant about lacking some asthetics

danz1906

Congrats!