Monitor Audio - Gold 50 Speaker set

Monitor Audio Gold 50


The Gold 50 are the best speakers we can hear from Monitor Audio. This hardly sounds like something said by someone who doesn't value monitor speakers, especially when compared with other formats.

If you appreciate detailed sound, forget ProAc and Sonus Faber monitors. The Gold 50s are a new standard of performance, and especially of differentiation.

Ribbon tweeters are capable of creating the same atmosphere, soundstage, transparency, stage presence, crystal-clear imaging, always with a silky sonic character, in these small speakers, as they do in large floor-standing speakers.

And if, in terms of treble and detail, expectations were high, they are even surpassed by the impressive clarity of the sound. Voices sound more natural than ever we've heard, the strings seem to be played right in front of us, and even the sound of scraping the strings is audible. We can hear background noise in many recordings. The brass has an unusually quick attack and hits us right in the eardrums. The piano hammering is there in the background, quite audible, while the rest of the sound is crystal clear and reaches us as quickly as it is melodic.

The bigger fear was the bass performance, especially since Monitor Audio advertises a frequency response of 55 Hz to 60 Khz. Well, either Monitor Audio lied, intentionally, or these GOLD 50 are an even bigger surprise in this regard. The basses are gigantic! I had thought of complementing them with a subwoofer… but for what?! They arrive and exceed! They are deep, immersive, strong, and surely my neighbours didn’t like these speakers. We can go from a symphony orchestra to electronic music and the bass will always be there: dominant, controlled, dynamic… and surprising!

So far, the Gold 50s are incredible and deliver some of the best moments we expect across different musical genres, always with something pleasantly surprising. Sometimes it’s the depth of the soundfield; other times it’s a detail we hadn’t heard or felt that way before. It’s also very interesting that they tend to ‘disappear’ from the sonic stage, such is the way they position the various sounds and instruments in front of us, both in depth and in height.

However, 'there’s no beauty without a flaw'; there never is. And if we’re fans of rock or pop, with many sounds and instruments, especially at very similar levels, these probably won’t be our strong suits.

In fact, the mid/bass driver proves unable to handle too many frequencies simultaneously, making the sound nasal or congested. The brightness and clarity of the highs remain, but the defined lows disappear and are replaced by a surrogate, which seems to come from an AM radio.

This in no way denigrates those I consider to be the best Monitor Audio monitors and the best speakers I’ve heard. It isn’t a defect, but a trait. And between us… what a wonderful trait!

Note: this analysis was conducted with the Monitor Audio Gold 50 connected to a Krell KAV 300i, clearly more than enough for these speakers. My room is over 30 m² and the Monitor Audio have never had difficulty filling it adequately.


Technical specifications

Type: two-way monitor speakers.
Response frequency: 55–60,000 Hz.
- Sensitivity: 86 dB.
- Impedance: 8 ohms.
- Recommended amplification power: 50-100 watts.
- High-frequency tweeter in C-CAM ribbon with high precision, detailed sound, improved imaging, and extended high-frequency response.
- 5-1/2" woofer in C-CAM (aluminum/magnesium with ceramic coating) with the latest generation of RST (Rigid Surface Technology), to increase rigidity and reduce moving mass, providing greater speed and precision, as well as high efficiency and low distortion.

- Curved loudspeaker cabinets with internal bracing for greater rigidity and reduction of internal standing waves; constructed from MDF and finished in High-Gloss Black (piano black).
- Mounting the driver with a single screw, which provides mechanical decoupling and greater rigidity of the enclosure for improved clarity and resolution.
Bass-reflex design (with rear port) using HiVe II technology to reduce turbulence.
Dimensions (height x length x depth): 300 x 170 x 290 (cm).
Weight: 7.5 kg each.