see above

somewhat difficult placement as expected

Well, I'll be! It was finally time for an upgrade after 20 years. I had bottom of the line Bozak Listener towers which are phenomenal for the money at the time and a great bargain also today if you can find them. Lo and behold I came across a pair of MAG 903's and took a chance based on reputation and reviews. What an amazing find. They are the tightest most realistic imagers of sound I have heard short of spending multi grand on a super duper overkill system. And speaking of overkill, the bass is just right for any serious music listening. If you are looking for deep, pounding, rolling thunder bass desired in movies then this pair may not be fore you without a bigish subwoofer. Still, I am considering a smallish subwoofer like the ASW 110 to give the speakers a little more elbow room in the other ranges. But it is surely NOT needed for pure and realistic music listening (how often have you heard your innards gurgling in a classical, jazz or non-assaulting rock concert?). It is just pure, separated musical instrumentation with golden vocals (to match the drivers of course). You cannot get a better deal on speakers these days. Get them if you can.

Similar Products Used:

Bozak LS200 series, DBX, ElectroVoice

Looks, size, definition, quality.

none

After suffering a difficult decade with overvalued speakers from that well known "Acousti-Mass" market company (now made south of the border), I ventured to get a real pair of speakers and I am very pleased with my choice. I have the rosemah cabinets which are very nice but veneer is delicate and can be easily damaged. The sound is simply devine. I listen to a lot of modern classical music and Jazz which does not need an overpowered bass. The bass response is very fine, indeed. I would recommend not putting sand in the ballast compartments if you desire more bass. Placement is not as difficult as some claim. It is the same as placing any decent speaker. The overall profile is very pleasing since they are slim and not towering. These speakers are bi-wireable, also. The 903s can be purchased for less than half of their original price tag now which makes them an ultimate bargain.

Similar Products Used:

Allison CD7, Bose AM, ROR

Very open soundstage, doesn't require a lot of power. Incredible clarity. Appearance !!!

Bass? Maybe but can you expect great depth with 5 1/4" drivers.

Wow, just received these from a purchase on EBAY. My previous speakers were Infinity Kappa 5.1 which I thought were a great deal for the money. I paid close to the same amount for the Mag 903's and what a difference. The reason I stated that maybe bass is not a problem in these speakers is that they go deeper than my Infinity speakers with an 8" woofer and require much less power to do so. I had always kept my subwoofer level up fairly high with my Infinity speakers, but actually had to turn it down with the Mag 903s. The detail in these speakers is amazing, I can only echo what the other reviewers here have said. If you have a chance to purchase a pair do it. These speakers retailed for around $2700.00 when new, but you can find them for much less now. Theses speakers are very fast, maybe too fast for my sub (maybe my next purchase will be a Monitor Audio sub). All I can say at this point is I have a fairly large house and these speakers which are in one end, sound great at the other end. Every room in my house is wired for sound, but now I wonder if I'll ever turn on any of the other speakers. These speakers can be turned up without any distortion and satisfy your listening needs anywhere in the house. What I find amazing is that the volume level in my listening room can be up very loud yet it's so clear it doesn't sound loud and can carry on a conversation in that room without having to yell at each other. This is the best audio purchase I have made to date. Enough said! Six Stars for value. 5 overall
My system:
Onkyo TX-SV919 THX receiver
Onkyo M-504 amplifier
Onkyo M901 AC-3 processor
Monitor Audio Mag 903 fronts
Energy RVS-1 Center
Infinity Kappa 5.1 Rear
Velodyne VA-1012X Subwoofer

Similar Products Used:

None similar, previous speakers were Infinity Kappa 5.1

Speed, detail and bass extension for the size

none so far

I picked these up at a local TV store, of all places! They had been special ordered for a customer who left town with no forwarding address. The store was stuck with them. I kept watching them mark down the pair until they got close to my price range.

I am using these as the L & R of my home theater/music set-up (I picked up some MAG 902s at the same time for rears.)I am not an audiophile, but I think they are quite accurate and the imaging is very precise, even in my difficult room. In fact, I have not felt the need for a center channel with the excellent imaging these provide. I have my own theory about center channel speaker, but I won't bore you with it here.

Anyway, I am not sure if they were "worth" their original list price of $2,700.00, but at the price I found them for they are unbelievable. Oh yeah, they are gorgeous in the Rosewood veneer. I would highly recommend these to anyone.

With the 901s at the front and the 902s for rears, I have an incredible, tonally balanced, full range HT set-up that doubles as an excellent music system.

Similar Products Used:

EPI 100s, Paradigm Titans

Detail, transparency, perspectiv, looks, build quality.

Bass, it´s fast but not so deep

I have now had theese speakers for 1½ years and I still love them. I have uppgradet my amplification to Thule PR150B preamp and Rotel RB991 poweramp. I have uppgraded my speakercables to MIT T4 Biwire and with theese uppgrades the speakers sound even better than before. I have purschased a subwoofer to fill in the bass where the Monitor Audios don´t play. I give theese beautifull spekaers 5 stars for the sound they play but since they need a sub to play fullrange, my overall rating is 4 stars. I still strongly recomend them, if you find a pari 2:nd hand, buy them, its probarbly the best hifi deal you will ever do.

Similar Products Used:

Mission 733i, AE 109, QLA Signature. KEF ref 3.

My system. Marantz cd67se, Dantax IA270(By Densen) Dual cs 505 mk2, Supra EFF interconnect and Svalander silverplated copper/PTFE 8 core open weave, speaker cables.
I was quite happy with my old loudspeakers, Mission 733i, but sometimes I felt that I missed the openess and detail that standmounted or more expensive loudspeakers could give. I started to audition other speakers for my speaker uppgrade. I listened to QLN Signature, Dynaudio Audience 40,50 & 70, Audiovector M1, NHT SuperTwo and Avance Dana 11. Nothing sounded like the BIG uppgrade I was looking for. Then one day I "fell" over theese beautifull secondhand Monitor Audio Mag 903 at a local Hifi dealer. I listened to them at the store and made upp my mind to buy them after 30 minutes of listening. They had everything I had been looking for. Lots and lots of detail, open tranperent sound, great placement of musicians, a tight and fast bas. The bas isn´t gravedeep, but the bas that is, is high quality. (frequency response 35 Hz - 30 kHz + - 3 dB) The speaker is a 2 way speaker with two metal (gold anodized) 5 1/4" low frequency drivers, one 1" dome high frequency. It is a bas reflex box with real rosewood veneer. And as I keep on saying, its absolutely beautifull.

I have had my beautifull MAG 903 for 3 months now and I just love them. As a hifi enthusiast I want to plan or dream about future uppgrades but my system sound som good now that I can´t think of what my next uppgrade would be, for a reasonable cost that is.
If YOU can get your hands upon a pair om Monitor Audio MAG 903, I recomend you to buy them quickly, before someone else does. You will not be disapointed.