Excellent voice clarity. Good bass. Good brightness with well controlled sibilance.

Update to my previous review: I finally managed to contact the Canadian distributor for Monitor Audio and took my 12i into them. It turned out that my 12i had a different tweeter than my 9is (which were over a year older) and that the crossover was defective. That fixed, the 12i is now everything that I was led to believe it would be. Cheers to Kevro International in Pickering for helping me. Jeers to Monitor Audio Britain for not answering my emails. I'm making this review 5/5 - wish I could make it 7/5 to balance my previous review.

Similar Products Used:

Monitor Audio 9i PSB 70R

Bass, clarity, appearance

Poor sonic design. The Silver 12i seems to be designed for playing Dolby Digital movies, so it attenuates the high end to account for the overly bright DD. As a result, these make really poor speakers for music or DTS movies. (This is after breaking in the speaker for over 500 hours). Monitor Audio hasn't responded to my inquiries about this.

Good quality, good sound for Dolby Digital. Poor response for music or DTS movies. The Silver 12i doesn't sonically match the excellent Silver 9i's.

Similar Products Used:

MA Silver 9i (which are excellent). PSB 70Rs.

Its ability to reproduce detail with clarity and authority and never seem strained

alas when I purchased my center the cherrywood option was not available

I have had this centre for almost two years now, and like the siver 9 mains and silver3 rears. I still have to say that this is one excellant speaker which never ceases to amaze visitors who listen to my home theater. All they can say is how clear and detailed the sound is. This is definitely a must have for any one considering the silver series. Remember though that there is a break in time which will open this center up even more than when you first listen to it. I do reccommend a good center channel speaker stand for this speaker as its ability to reproduce on screen bass could cause unwanted vibration if just set on your entertainment center. Besides a good stand will allow you to position your speaker properly anyways. Well I know you'll love this centre if you get it.

Similar Products Used:

none that compare at the price

Extremely clear sonic characteristics, Decent bass for a center channel, Great build quality, Price

No option for Cherry finish

I am in the process of upgrading my speakers and this was the first step. The unit I bought was a used showroom model form an electronics store, so I had the privelege of bypassing the break-in period. They sounded amazing right out of the box. I also purchased Silver 3i's as well and am using them as my front L&R right now, but will move them to the surrounds when I get my 4i's or 7i's to replace them. Overall, I couldn't be happier with the speaker - great quality, superb sound, and surprising value (not to mention beautiful looks). Highly recommended.

Similar Products Used:

JBL Center (replaced)

Excellent clarity
Good Dynamic Range
Gold plated Bi-Wireable Banana/Spade Posts
Front Firing Bass Reflex Ports

Only comes in black.. Monitor Audio Silver 5s in Aust. only come in Cherry Finish. WTF ?
No feet on the bottom of the speaker.

Well, I bought this speaker mainly because I already have
the Silver 5's

I auditioned these against the Silver 10 Centre and found the 12's sound to have the bottom end that the 10 lacks.

You really notice it when you put them side by side. It also means that I actually get quite a fair amount of bass from the centre channel.

The 12 shares the same tweeter/cone design as the Silver 10, and 5's but just has the larger size woofer (6.5"). It also has dual ports on the front of the unit so that you can mount it inside your AV rack/bookshelf.

Build quality is consistent with other MA products - excellent, but I was a little disappointed not to find any rubber feet on what is a fairly expensive centre.

Anyhow, the sound is great and matched with the Silver 5's these speakers are pretty good at reproducing the sound of most music I've put through them.

Gear used to test these speakers

1. Onkyo DV-717 DVD Player
2. Denon AVR-3300 Receiver
3. Monitor Audio Silver 5i Fronts
4. MA Silver 12 Centre
5. Heybrook HB1s used as surrounds

Monitor Audio Speakers are very good value, if you shop around. I personally found the Silver 12 to be an excellent centre channel speaker and coupled with the 5i, I've got a clear and responsive front sound stage.

CLARITY,DYNAMIC RANGE

LOOONG BREAK IN PERIOD

YES, THESE SPEAKERS SOUNDED BOXY AT FIRST BUT AFTER ABOUT 100 HOURS, THEY GOT BETTER AND BETTER. NOW THEY SOUND VERY OPEN AND DYNAMIC AND NO MORE BOXY SOUND.ONE MORE THING, THIS SPEAKER NEVER GIVES UP AND DISTORTS ON EVEN THE MOST DEMANDING MATERIAL!!! ALSO AS AN ASIDE THE WHOLE SILVER SERIES ROCKS!!!! GO AHEAD COMPARE THEM TO ANY SPEAKER COSTING TWICE AS MUCH. I HAVE AND PUT THE SAVED MONY INTO BETTER ELECTRONICS AND INTERCONNECTS.
ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT;
THETA CASANOVA
THETA DREDNAUGHT
THETA CARMAN
MONITOR AUDIO SILVER9
MONITOR AUDIO SILVER12
MONITOR AUDIO SILVER SURROUNDS,BAG END INFRASUB,IXOS CABLES

Similar Products Used:

MANY

Build quality, aesthetic value, clean crisp dialogue

None

Got mine in matching rose mahogany. Noticed that many prior reviews listed black-oak only as a negative. Like other instances (see asw210 reviews) Monitor Audio listens to their customers! What can I say, looks great, sounds great, way to go MA!

everything, sound and looks, got is cherry finish

none

all i can say is that i love this speaker. at first they sounded boxy and stale but after the break in it sounds amazing. amazing. its incredible how good it sounds now, compared to when i took it out of the box. it was no suprise though since all of my other speakers took a while to break in. the sound out of this speaker is so life like and real, voices are clean crisp and clear and sound effects blow me away. ive become obsessed with sound and now consider myself and audiophile on a budget and these speakers were worth every penny.
MA 8i's fronts
MA 12i center
MA 3i's rears
FB210 sub

Similar Products Used:

b&w, paradigm

Everything thinkable

long break in period and must I say must be biwired. as all of the Monitor audio silver line.

THis center when match up with the 9i's, 7i's, or the 4i's sounds excellent. Voices out of the center are great and clear as they come. One thing I warn you about all monitor audio speakers they may play lound with lower powered amps or recivers but..... you should feed them more around 150- 200w RMS. When I first hooked it up it sounded really great after the break in period they sound even better. BUt what made the really clean and excellent sounded. I power it with a 220w x 5 Parasound 2205A and the hole set sounds great. I have the 9i's and the 4i's These are a wonderious creation the C-CAM material is excellent. Good luck and happy hunting

Very clean and clear vocals, high output, great looks.

Not available in Cherry or Mahogany like the other Silver Series.

Joe summed it up well. This is a great speaker that takes some time to break-in and very good electronics and cables to get the most out of it.
It is funny that Aaron gave this speaker a poor rating (even though he does not own one), because I had the AR2C in my system for three weeks. It is one of the worst speakers on the market, and AR discontinued this line because it was so bad. I have been through MANY center channel speakers in my home theater system, and I always faced the same problem... everything was great until there was dialogue in a movie, and then I needed to turn the volume up or change the center channel tone setting so I could understand the words. Then when sound effects would kick in, the center speaker would sound like it was going to explode.
The Monitor 12i performs like a dream. There is no need for EQ settings or adjustments in volume, just a high quality amp and speaker cable. This speaker can play at such high levels without distortion that it is scary.
The sound from my Silver Series System is so good, that my girlfriend (who could care less about audio and electronics) made a comment that last time we went to a movie theater that it sounded like #@$* after listening to my system. (This was a 1 year old THX theater).
This is an outstanding speaker, but it will never be as "popular" as some competitive brands. The price is too good for it to make the "audiophile" list, and the availability is too limited to be considered "main-stream".
The Bottom Line: It's everything a center speaker should be, and at a great price.

System:
Monitor Audio Silver 9i
Monitor Audio Silver 7i
Monitor Audio Silver 12i
Monitor Audio Silver ASW210
Onkyo TX-DS787 Receiver
Onkyo DV-M301 DVD/CD Changer
Audioquest cables and interconnects

Similar Products Used:

B&W, Infinity, Polk, AR, Definitive, Klipsh