Upgrade Monitor 70 Series II or add external power instead ?

Sarge72

Current system used 85% for music with movies the other 15%

Monitor 70 Series II (purchased back in 2011 for $199 each from newegg)
CS 2 Center
Outlaw LFM-1 Sub
Denon X3500
AT-LP120 x Turntable
FLACs loaded to thumb drive in front panel
AppleTV 4K

Room is 24x13 and system is on the left side of one of the long walls


Looking for some options that will be a nice step up musically… the monitors sound good but is there “much better” for an investment of $1-2k?

I’ve heard the Denon may not drive them as much as they need and my normal listening volume is about 75 db so not crazy

Thoughts ?

PSOVLSK

I’d look for a two-channel amp to drive the mains. That will allow you to get the most out of the Monitor 70.

Also, when you decide to upgrade the 70’s down the road, your power needs are already met. You’ve got lots of choices with your budget, especially if you look at used. Don’t forget to budget for cables as well.

I’ve had Adcom, Emotiva, Carver, and Parasound amps (maybe a couple of others) and I prefer Parasound,

boston1450

You could also upgrade your center speaker for your HT. As it's the most important speaker for movies if you got space

ChrisD06

I'm gonna go with upgrade the speakers (crossover rebuild) first. My M5JR+, even on my Onkyo AVR listed in my signature, sounded leaps and bounds better with just a crossover rebuild. The amp upgrade will be probably more noticeable with a better crossover.

Jetmaker737

From the little bit I read about your Denon, it seems to be no slouch musically and has decent wattage. Eventually for 2 ch you're going to need a dedicated 2 ch amp or integrated. But for the moment I would replace the Monitor II's. I had those speakers for a few years. Picked them up about the same time you did, also from Newegg and cheap, too. Had them in a separate system for awhile powered by a Rotel receiver. They did OK for rock music, loud parties, background music, etc. Later I moved them to my living room as dedicated HT speakers hooked up to my AVR. They were side by side with my dedicated 2 Ch setup. They did well for HT but not super awesome for critical music listening. Since music is 85% of your listening I'm thinking best bang for your buck right now is a more well-rounded set of speakers. For 1-2K there is a lot to choose from looking at USAudiomart.

Geoff4rfc

I'll throw in my 2cents here. I also got my Monitor 70 series II from new egg in 2011. Was driving them on an Emotiva XPA3, a three channel 200wpc amp and they sounded.......okay to pretty good.

Fast forward to upgrading to A9's and now an XPA2, two channel 300wpc amp, it's time to sell my M70's.

A perspective buyer comes over for a demo, I now run the M70's off the different amp. I did the kill box scene from Iron Man II.....whoa, I heard bass I'd never heard before. I played Pink Floyd Animals and Lynyrd Skynyrd and heard highs and mids I'd never heard before in fact I started having second thoughts of even selling them while giving this demo.

Now, I'll tell you this, after the demo, the buyer didn't hesitate, didn't even bother to haggle, anxiously gave me my asking price, which I had already made room for haggling, so I feel like I did good on that sale.

What I found out, the M70's love the extra power and respond well to it. Now I did give the kid a disclaimer by telling him they might sound different due to room, driving power and set up, he didn't care, he loved what he heard (i did too) and he made off with my M70's, 40's, 30's and a CSI II, what ever the larger center channel was.

So, food for thought there.

PSOVLSK

Geoff4rfc wrote: »

I'll throw in my 2cents here. I also got my Monitor 70 series II from new egg in 2011. Was driving them on an Emotiva XPA3, a three channel 200wpc amp and they sounded.......okay to pretty good.

Fast forward to upgrading to A9's and now an XPA2, two channel 300wpc amp, it's time to sell my M70's.

A perspective buyer comes over for a demo, I now run the M70's off the different amp. I did the kill box scene from Iron Man II.....whoa, I heard bass I'd never heard before. I played Pink Floyd Animals and Lynyrd Skynyrd and heard highs and mids I'd never heard before in fact I started having second thoughts of even selling them while giving this demo.

Now, I'll tell you this, after the demo, the buyer didn't hesitate, didn't even bother to haggle, anxiously gave me my asking price, which I had already made room for haggling, so I feel like I did good on that sale.

What I found out, the M70's love the extra power and respond well to it. Now I did give the kid a disclaimer by telling him they might sound different due to room, driving power and set up, he didn't care, he loved what he heard (i did too) and he made off with my M70's, 40's, 30's and a CSI II, what ever the larger center channel was.

So, food for thought there.

This was my experience with a pair of R50. Couldn’t believe how much better they sounded with good clean power. It can honestly be like getting new speakers.

tn2036

I have some good news: I've done some of your testing for you.

I have the same speakers (Monitor 70 Series II) connected to a similar receiver (Denon AVR-X3400H). I also have a solid state amplifier (Rotel RB-1080), and was powering the Monitor 70s with it for a time (class AB amplifier plus slightly more WPC).

The increased power will round out the sound and make it more powerful, but it will not significantly improve the sound stage, imaging, bass, or crispness of treble. You will definitely notice a difference at louder listening levels, where the sound is not merely loud but is also "moving." It also seemed like the speakers "finished breaking in" when connected to the stronger amplifier. This is my "not an audio professional" subjective opinion.

If I had a $1K-$2K budget, I would definitely upgrade the front three channels and then I would try to pick up a solid state amplifier for those same three channels with what was left. I just did exactly this (stayed in the Polk family), and even without the Rotel the sound improvement from the new speakers is staggering.

I don't think there is a way to accomplish this significant of an improvement via curve tweaking or power changes.

rooftop59

Sarge72 wrote: »

Current system used 85% for music with movies the other 15%

Monitor 70 Series II (purchased back in 2011 for $199 each from newegg)
CS 2 Center
Outlaw LFM-1 Sub
Denon X3500
AT-LP120 x Turntable
FLACs loaded to thumb drive in front panel
AppleTV 4K

Room is 24x13 and system is on the left side of one of the long walls


Looking for some options that will be a nice step up musically… the monitors sound good but is there “much better” for an investment of $1-2k?

I’ve heard the Denon may not drive them as much as they need and my normal listening volume is about 75 db so not crazy

Thoughts ?

Get the amp first. If you don't get the improvement you want from it, save up for better speakers. Better speakers will also benefit from an external amp...