Monitor 4 vs Monitor 5

curiousgeorge

I have a pair of monitor 4's that I had bought for rear channels. Never really used them for that (much) and for the last decade plus, they've been the front channels for my TV. I'm running a simple left/right stereo setup.

I just bought another pair of monitor 4s so I could pursue a home theater setup. I plugged them to test them when I got home and dropped in a music CD. I almost cried. It was painful to listen to music on these - there's no low end and the mid-range drops off fast. It's like listening to 1/2 of a speaker. (I have a much better setup for my music elsewhere in my house!)

I think I'll just wait until my subwoofer arrives and see if that fills in the low-end. If not, I'm going to have to do something about these weak Monitor 4s.

I see a lot of fans of the monitor 5 in this forum. When I read the specs it looks a lot like the same speaker as the monitor 4 but with a larger cabinet and a passive radiator. Since I can't audition them, does anybody have direct experience with both monitor 4 and monitor 5 who can speak to whether or not the mid-range down to bass is SUBSTANTIALLY better on the monitor 5s?

Thanks,

C.G.

engtaz

Monitor 5's bass is better. Sounds like it a floorstanding speaker. Great full sound. That is one of the reasons I did not get M4's or M5jr's.

MillerLiteScott

I just hoked up my Monitor 5's for the first time in a couple of months and they sound sweet. Powered with 25 watt tube mono blocks they have a very well rounded sound with plenty of bass considering their size and configuration.

Very nice speaker for very little cash if you are looking for more bass you might want to look into the Monitor 7 also.

Scott

mhardy6647

The original Monitor 4's (ca. 1979 or 80) sounded pretty good.

curiousgeorge

Thanks for the replies.

I just may have to try the Monitor 5s if to comes down to it. The price is right and it looks like I can turn the purchase around easily if they don't suit my needs.

With regards to mhardy6647's reply that the Monitor 4s sound "pretty good", well.... They do sound better than the built-in speakers in the TV. The monitor 4's work okay for listening to news broadcasts, Mythbusters, and most TV dramas. I'm hoping that with some support for the midrange and bass coming from the center channel speaker and the subwoofer, the 4's can still be used in a home theater setup.

In a musical application they simply cannot render bass or percussion. Male vocals are butchered by the monitor 4s as they have trouble reaching down into the tenor/baritone range. They lack warmth and depth of tone. My taste in music runs along these lines (The list dates back when we actually bought CDs - the medium has changed but the song remains the same!).

I think it's just a matter of physics - the drivers are small and the cabinet probably does the best it can to reinforce the low-end but there's only so much you can do to improve low-end in a situation like this. I also don't think it matters much as to the year they were made or the variations in components between the different generations. My original set are monitor 4s, the set I just purchased are Monitor 4, Series II - there is very little difference between them sonically.

C.G.

curiousgeorge

opps, the list:
http://www.castwide.net/cds.html

C.G.

mhardy6647

To clarify: The original 4's were more than adequate for full-range hi-fi listening.
The Monitor 5's have quite respectable LF given their modest cabinet size.

nik_martinov

curiousgeorge wrote: »

opps, the list:
http://www.castwide.net/cds.html

C.G.

Would you like to try Monitor 7's?
Nik

specialidiot

I'd say there is something wrong with the 4s. They shouldn't make you cry.

curiousgeorge

Well, not cry, but there is no joy in listening to music on these.

My new/used pair sound very close to the old/used pair. Nothing is "wrong" with them except that the lack range. And I expect that. They are small monitor speakers. And I'm willing to replace them with something else. I was just wondering how much better the 5s were at covering mid-range to low.

It's just that I don't listen to music on the 4s ever and when I put on Les McCann to give them a listen, they fell so short of my old Infinity 6Kappas that I shut it down after confirming that they worked. The 6Kappas are bigger than the 4s by a fair bit. I was hoping that if I needed to go larger than the 4s that the 5s would suffice. The cabinet size is more suited to the room in which they'd go.

Thanks though. Any experience with 4s vs 5s?

JB