The Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G (buy at Crutchfield) is a three-way audiophile floorstanding speaker with an asking price of around $2,850 per pair, about $1,000 more than the Paradigm Premier 700F (read the review) floorstanding loudspeakers I recently reviewed. For someone just starting out on their audiophile journey, it’s natural to ask what an extra $1,000 gets you—or doesn’t get you—so let’s look at how they compare. To start, these Monitor Audio speakers come with a one-inch gold dome tweeter with Uniform Dispersion (UD) Waveguide II technology, a three-inch C-CAM midrange driver with Rigid Surface Technology (RST) II, and two C-CAM six-inch bass drivers, also with RST II. These speakers have reasonable sensitivity, specified at 87.5 dB (2.83v/1 meter), which should allow you to use them with more modest amplifiers.(Monitor Audio recommends 80 to 200 watts of amplification.) For floorstanding tower speakers, each cabinet is relatively light at just 42 pounds, 9 ounces, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble moving them into position in your listening space.
What Makes the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G Loudspeakers Special?
- The first thing that jumps out at me is that these speakers look fantastic. If you’re like me, you don’t love speaker grills and the grills on these speakers are very minimal, just covering the drivers in the top half of the speaker. They also come in five colors: Black Oak, Natural Walnut, Satin White, Ash, and High Gloss Black.
- The feet that Monitor Audio provides are easy to level. It is hard to expect your audiophile bookshelf speakers to sound at their best when the speaker itself isn’t level.
- One of the first things that I noticed with the Silver 300 7G was how clear they sound. I was picking up details and musical elements that I wasn’t able to hear in other speakers in the same price range.
- You get a lot of bass without needing a sub. Monitor Audio has included two bass drivers for a reason, and that is because they wanted you to hear the bass. We always want you to consider an audiophile subwoofer but by no means is it mandatory here.
Why Should You Care About the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G Speakers?
These speakers are more than just a good looking piece of audio room furniture; they really sound great, and you’re still at a mid-level price point that many people can aspire to own. While you can certainly find cheaper floorstanding speakers in this range, I’m not certain you will find a set that sound as clear as these, and you can hear the 50-plus years of speaker experience in these.
Some Things You Might Not Like About the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G Loudspeakers
- The somewhat boxy design won’t be for everyone. We see plenty of floorstanding speakers that are a little more rounded teardrop shaped, but these speakers are very much a rectangular box.
- If you’re someone who is already using a subwoofer, the two bass drivers won’t be overly useful. These speakers were likely intended to be the only speakers in your room, which is why you see the (two) six-inch bass drivers that go down as low as 31Hz. You will still get deeper base from a subwoofer, and you’ll have more flexibility in terms of placement. Then again, not everyone has the space for a sub, or the desire to see one, so it’s good that there are options like this that don’t require one.
Listening to the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G Loudspeakers…
I wanted to test the soundstage capabilities of the Silver 300 7G floorstanding speakers, so I fired up “Outlaw Torn” by Metallica (Streaming 16-bit 44.1 kHz). This is taken from the S&M 2 album, where they were able to bring the San Francisco Symphony much closer to the band. The soundstage here is articulated beautifully. Even with a full orchestra backing these titans of rock, you could here every note as if it was right in front of you and those notes are as clear as can be, from the string section to the horns to the percussion—you won’t miss a note. The bass line that Robert Trujillo lays down on this track was both deep and clear as well.
One of the first things I picked up from the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G was the clarity, and listening to some late 1990s Smashing Pumpkins really drove that home. In “Stand Inside Your Love” (Streaming 16-bit 44.1 kHz) you can hear the distortion and other effects drag out the sound of Billy Corgan’s guitar notes, while the rhythm section created by the bass and Jimmy Chamberlin’s drums is both tight and forward in the mix, and you can hear every symbol crash in full.
Do the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G Audiophile Loudspeakers Have Any Resale Value?
I would have a hard to believing that these speakers wouldn’t hold most of their value. I was able to find the previous generation of these speakers, the Silver 300 6G, selling at about 70 percent of their retail value. These are well built speakers with a classic design, so I can’t imagine anyone would have much trouble selling them. The only issue you might have, and this would be for any set of speakers of this size, is that you will want to sell them locally, as they could be difficult to package up if you don’t have the original boxes.
Who Is the Competition for the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G Loudspeakers?
At around the same budget, you might look into a pair of Bowers & Wilkins 603 S2 floorstanding speakers (buy at Crutchfield). These feature a similar three-way design, and also a boxy aesthetic with the tweeter built right into the speaker (you need to go up further in price to get to the speakers with the decoupled tweeter). You also get dual six-inch woofers in this speaker as well, which makes it very comparable.
The SVS Ultra Tower ($2,600 per pair is SVS’s top-of-the-line speaker. It features a 3.5-way design that features a one-inch tweeter, a pair of 6.5- inch midrange drivers, and duel eight-inch woofers. If you’re looking for more bass from your floorstanding speakers in this price range, this could be an interesting option, as the specified low-frequency extension is notably lower at 28 Hz, and rated sensitivity is a little higher at 88 dB (2.83V/1 meter, measured 300Hz to 3kHz). One thing I would note about these speakers, though, is it looks like they only come in Black Oak Veneer and Piano Gloss Black.
In a similar price space, you have the midrange of the motion series from MartinLogan Motion 40i ($2,600 per pair). These 2.5-way speakers feature the company’s Folded Motion tweeters and a beautiful modern design. While these speakers won’t go as deep with the bass, they are a little more sensitive, which makes them worth your consideration if you’re looking to spend at this price point.
Final Thoughts on the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G Loudspeakers
In the few months that I spent with the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G speakers, there wasn’t a single moment when I didn’t really enjoy them. From the time I took them out of the box and leveled the feet up until today, these speakers have remained in constant use in my listening room. The bass output was better than I would have expected, and for many listeners the depth of the bass provided will be more than enough. With that said, considering the low the cost of subwoofers today, it certainly provides place where you can upgrade if you feel like you would like more bass.
You likely don’t need me to tell you that the floorstanding speaker market at this price is ultra-competitive, especially if you like British sounding speakers, with many of the top speaker brands having an offering at somewhere around this MSRP. With that said, the folks at Monitor Audio have built a very worthy contender. The speakers have a soundstage that makes you feel like the music is being played right in front of you, while providing a sound that is beautifully detailed and neutral. If you’re someone who is looking to upgrade your speakers, these floorstanding speakers shouldn’t disappoint, and it won’t take you long to see where your extra money went, as I could hear the difference in these speakers from the first time I set them up. Don’t take it from me though: get out there and get a demo of the Monitor Audio Silver 300 7G.
