By Audiophile floorstanding speakers from between $7,000 to $10,000 are among the most contested products in the market these days. Many of the biggest brands in the audiophile world have speakers in this price range. Companies like Revel, Sonus faber, Dali, Focal, and Bowers & Wilkins each have an offering here, which can make picking the right set of speakers for you a real challenge. Monitor Audio, like many of their competitors, has been making speakers for more than 50 years, and they have a history of producing excellent products. The company dates back to 1972 with their first speaker, the Monitor Audio MA1.
The Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G floorstanding speakers have come a long way since the MA1. They feature a three-way design with their latest MPD III high-frequency transducer, alongside an HDT, a C-CAM three-inch mid-driver and a pair of eight-inch bass drivers with a rear-ported design. I reviewed the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G (read my review) floorstanding speakers from Monitor Audio a couple of years back, and I was left thoroughly impressed, so I was very excited to get to review these speakers from the new product line above AKA Monitor Audio Gold. Let’s get into it and give this product a much closer look.
What Makes the Monitor Audio 500 Gold 6G Speakers So Special?
- Monitor Audio takes vibration seriously at the Gold level. The feet that go on floorstanding speakers might not be their most obvious feature, but it is one that the folks at Monitor Audio didn’t skimp on and that is a very good thing. When you are attaching the feet or footers to the speakers, the feet attached to a plinth absorb vibration, and also make it simple to adjust the height of the speakers with a hex/Allen key, which adds to the stability of the speakers. Performance and safety are benefits here.
- High frequencies sound gorgeous on the Monitor Audio 500 Gold 6G speakers. By using what Monitor Audio calls a MPD III, or Micro Pleated Diaphragm transducer, the speakers are able to deliver the higher frequencies with ease and no signs of harshness in the higher-frequency sounds, which really speaks to me.
- You don’t need a huge audiophile power amp to drive these speakers. The Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G speakers are rated at 88.5 dB sensitive, so you’re not going to need hundreds of watts to make these speakers roar.
- The Monitor Audio 500 Gold 6G speakers are comparatively lightweight. Now, you might think I am foolish for calling something that is 58 pounds lightweight, but I can tell you that I have had speakers that are a similar size that were easily 20-plus pounds heavier. Those 20 pounds make a big difference when you’re getting your speakers into place and making adjustments to get the sound right.
- Imaging the Monitor Audio 500 Gold 6G speakers was quite easy. Sometimes it seems like you need to spend a lot of time getting new speakers set up for their best performance. Others are a piece of cake. I found the Monitor Audio 500 Gold 6G pair really easy to get sounding great quickly. I used Monitor Audio’s recommendations, and it only took a couple of small adjustments to get the imaging just right in my room.
Why Should You Care About the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G Loudspeakers?
With these 500 6Gs, Monitor Audio continues to further their legacy of creating beautiful speakers that are quite accurate. Their sound comes across as clean and very neutral. As I noted in the introduction, there is a lot of competition in this price range, and Monitor Audio doesn’t seem to shy away from that with this offering, as they deliver a full-range speaker that provides sound all the way down to 25 Hz, and all the way up to 60 kHz.
The client who is looking for speakers in this range has a taste for the good stuff and what you get from the big boys, but can’t spend deep into five figures.
Some Things You Might Not Like About the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G Speakers
- Some audiophiles might still want to add a subwoofer for a 2.1 setup. Even with (two) eight-inch woofers, and the speakers rated to go down to 25 Hz, in my listening, the bass was clear but lacked the deep punch of a good audiophile subwoofer, so I expect many people will still prefer to have a subwoofer in their setup to take care of the lowest parts of the octave. Do you “need” one? Absolutely not, but when did need ever factor into our extremist hobby?
- Be careful with assembly of the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G. If you can have your audiophile dealer come set up the speakers, I would recommend it. If in-home dealer support isn’t possible, make sure you have a nice soft pad that you can use to turn the speakers over, so you can easily attach the plinth and feet. This is generally good advice, but is more important here, because the tops of these speakers are not flat, so they could be easy to scratch or dent when you take them out of the box and start assembly.
Listening to the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G Speakers …
I tested the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G floorstanding speakers with my Anthem STR Preamplifierand an Anthem MCA 225 Gen 2 amplifier, along with a Bluesound Node (2024) and Music Hall CD 25.3 CD player.
When testing speakers, I love putting on the track “The Way You Look Tonight” (Qobuz 44.1 kHz) from the all-star jazz pairing of Sonny Rollins and Thelonius Monk. This track makes a wonderful test of speakers, as you get the saxophone from Rollins to test the higher frequencies, as well as testing to see how well the speakers can reproduce the sound of the piano. I came away after listening to this track really impressed with the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G speakers. The saxophone sounded fantastic, and the highest notes never sounded harsh or rash (as it can on other speakers). Monk’s piano sounded very natural, as if you were in the studio during the classic historical recording session. The bassline sounded very tight and, overall, everything when put together was easy to place and sounded very tight.
Another track that is great for testing out high-performance speakers is The Who’s “Overture” from their album Live at Hull 1970 (Compact Disc). The album comes from the same group of shows that produced The Who’s legendary concert album Live at Leeds and covers the band’s early hits, as well as them playing Tommy from start to finish. The opening of this track gives you a great feel for just how well the speakers handle dynamics. There are a lot of times where the track goes from quiet to loud and back (publisher’s note – this is known as the dynamic window in music school). The Monitor Audio Gold 500 6Gs were impressive in how well they handled these changes in loudness and/or dynamics. Additionally, with this being a live recording, you get a really good feel for the imaging. You can easily pick up Pete Townshend’s guitar moving from one side to the other, while also being able to easily place the other members in the recording.
The last track I used was “Icky Thump” from The White Stripes (Compact Disc). This track comes from the band’s sixth and final album with the same name. While Jack White is often the star of the show with his guitar, this track is particularly notable for its bass track which largely consists of Meg White banging methodically on the bass drum. This song is musically simple, but it can provide the listener with a good understanding of how well the bass is being reproduced. In the case of the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G speakers, the bass sounded tight and extended, yet never boomy. While you can hear the bass clearly, you don’t feel the bass in the way that you do when you have integrated a subwoofer.
Will the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G Speakers Hold Their Value?
I expect the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G speakers will hold their value well. Monitor Audio is a brand that most audiophiles know very well, thanks to a 50-plus-years of history making very high-performance audiophile speakers. These modern Monitor Audio speakers are well-made and should stand up very well over time in terms of sonic performance, so it would be a surprise if your investment wasn’t pretty safe.
What is the Competition for Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G Speakers?
The Bowers & Wilkins 702 S3 ($7,200 – buy at Crutchfield) fall right into the same price range as the top of Bowers’ 700 series line. The 703s feature the carbon dome tweeter on the top of the speaker cabinet, one six-inch cone for midrange, and three 6.5-inch bass drivers. They will certainly be comparable speakers that are well worthy of your audition. Additionally, Brian Kahn reviewed the Bowers & Wilkins 703 Signatures ($9,000 – read Kahn’s review) and raved about their overall value and unique, next-gen performance tweaks.
You may also consider the Sonus faber Sonetto V G2s ($7,000 – buy at Crutchfield). Our publisher, Jerry Del Colliano, reviewed the Sonus faber Sonetto speakers speakers (read Del Colliano’s review) in 2024 and came away impressed. These Italian-made floorstanding speakers feature a similar set of bass and midrange drivers, but differ with their tweeter. While the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6Gs feature two tweeters to cover the higher frequencies, the Sonus faber users a one-and-1/8-inch silk dome tweeter to handle those frequencies. They are a little less money than these Monitor Audio speakers, but certainly in the price range and worth consideration.
Lastly, the Dali Rubikore 8s ($6,500) are an option worth considering. These speakers are hand-crafted in Denmark and are beautifully made. They offer a similar design to the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6Gs with the dual tweeters, but ultimately use slightly smaller midrange and bass drivers at 6.5 inches instead of eight. These speakers come in at nearly $1,000 per pair less, and that is where you see the difference in drivers, but Dali has a reputation for making quality speakers, so I would want to compare them at this price range. The good news is that a pair are on their way for a review later in the year.
Final Thoughts on the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G Speakers …
This mid-to-higher-end segment of the audiophile loudspeaker market is really exciting, as some of the very best speaker brands in the world are delivering some of their best technologies into their products in this price range. One thing that the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G speakers do so well is not call attention to themselves so that you almost don’t realize they are there, as they make it so easy to focus on the music.
The sound that the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G speakers reproduces feels very balanced and neutral. They do almost everything that an audiophile might want or expect at these prices. The only thing that the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G speakers might lack is a WOW factor, but I think that is actually the design goal. They are much more about accuracy and control than sizzle and flash.
The Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G speakers sound fantastic. I say this after using these speakers for hundreds of hours and playing a wide range of music in that time, from rock, pop and jazz to folk. I played some of the most popular multi-platinum recordings ever made, as well as a healthy helping of pretty obscure music, covering the full spectrum, from great-sounding recordings to some pretty brutal ones. The Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G speakers simply handled their musical challenges with ease. If you’re in the market for full-size floorstanding speakers and $7,500 fits anywhere near your budget, then get the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G speakers on your very, very short list for an audition.
