Beauty and sonic purity

none

After a lengthy search at local stores, the internet, magazines, and friends homes, I decided to buy the Silver 9i's. The reviews posted here were the clincher. I felt like I could trust the people here to tell the truth. And I have not been disappointed. The first ctiteria for the speakers is obviously sound and these are wonderful! I like my music loud and I have a very diverse collection. The 9i's deliver a punch that are sure to please anyone. I would recommend a sub-woffer, but even without, these guys rock! The second criteria is looks. I didn't want to look at a couple of ugly black boxes for the rest of my life in my modern art filled living room, so I picked the rose mahogany... they are absolutely beautiful! Unlike other reviewers that go on and on about technical stuff that would bore a rock, I will stop here by saying that I love these speakers because they sound great and are georgeous.

System:Nothing fantastic but I like it.
B&K Power Amp
Denon AVR 3801 Reciever
Pioneer Elite DV-F07 DVD-CD Changer
JBL Studio series center and Sub
Klipsch surrounds

Decent value. Smooth mid-range. Decent mid-bass

A little bright, but still fairly clean and crisp. Like a horn. Low end is lacking.

These are very good sounding speakers. They are a little bright but not like Mirage and Energy. They are much cleaner than that. They remind me of a Cornerhorn w/out the low end and high sensitivity. I liked them better than any of the Speakers in the Paradigm, and PSB line. Both of those were high in the mid bass and the PSB was dark and muddy comparatively. They were a little sharper than the NHT, but I would consider that a judgement call, becaouse the NHT was smoother. They don't belong in the same class as the Hales or the Vandersteens. I heard things in both of those models that I had never heard before. In music I listen to all the time. Even the low end Hales and Vandersteens sounded a lot better. They were also cheaper. They don't even compare to my ADS L1530s in sound, but they sure do fit better in the room. In conclusion, I think these are very nice sounding speakers, but I would consider other brands, specifically Hales and Vandersteen.

Similar Products Used:

ADS L1530, Klipsch CornerHorn, Vandersteen 2 Ce/Model 5, Hales Trancendence 8, NHT, PSB, Paradigm Reference, Mirage, Energy, Magnapan, Cat

Everything.....

The long break in period.

These speakers where bought about 2 weeks ago along with the 4i's(SUR), 12i(center) and the ASW110(SUB). I first started to take them all out of the boxes and set them all up making sure there placement all matched the others. Then I bi-wired them with some audioquest midnightplus. They sounded Great so great I thought I was listening to 5,000 speakers but they needed a good break in period of 100 hours. Then as the days and days rolled by the started to open up more and give much better soundstage. These speakers are really good speakers and nothing comes close except maybe the new B&W CDM NT SERIES. Those new b&w speakers use the same mid and tweeter from there more expensive line. Anyhow in home theater these speakers really match up excellent (timbre matching) all of there other speakers because they all use the same tweeter and 6 1/2" C-CAM woofer. You can find a good deal on these at Ebay although thats not where I got mine. Good luck and happy hunting.

Everything.....

The long break in period.

These speakers where bought about 2 weeks ago along with the 4i's(SUR), 12i(center) and the ASW110(SUB). I first started to take them all out of the boxes and set them all up making sure there placement all matched the others. Then I bi-wired them with some audioquest midnightplus. They sounded Great so great I thought I was listening to 5,000 speakers but they needed a good break in period of 100 hours. Then as the days and days rolled by the started to open up more and give much better soundstage. These speakers are really good speakers and nothing comes close except maybe the new B&W CDM NT SERIES. Those new b&w speakers use the same mid and tweeter from there more expensive line. Anyhow in home theater these speakers really match up excellent (timbre matching) all of there other speakers because they all use the same tweeter and 6 1/2" C-CAM woofer. You can find a good deal on these at Ebay although thats not where I got mine. Good luck and happy hunting.

clean due to the remarkable gold dome tweeter

a little bright due to the alloy woofers

a great speaker for instrument reproduction. But I still love my Monitor 9 which is an older model of Monitor Audio. It still sounds very natural and clean. Someone said they lack of bass, but I think it does fine at low. I had paid $1200 for each pair of Silver 9 and Monitor 9. Recommanded!

Similar Products Used:

Monitor 9

dynamics, soundstage and imaging, being transparent, ...

none so far

9i is an absolute all rounder. Recommended for music and HT.

I first auditioned 7i and found it was good for music. Then I A/B compared 7i with 9i. The significant differences were dynamics and bass extension. When the tracks 4, 5 and 6 of 'Mega Movies' were played (theme from Air Force One, a helicopter takes off and theme from The Rock), I found 9i could handle them effortlessly whereas 7i sounded comparatively thin and lacked the passion. I also tried to pair 7i up with a subwoofer, but the result was not as smooth as 9i alone.

After playing for about 1 month, the brightness and harshness were gone. Poor recordings really sound bad.

Rest of my system for HT and music:
Denon AVC-A1
MSB Link DAC
Pioneer DVL-909
Audioquest Video 2 digital cable
Kimber Hero interconnect
Denko XBS speaker cable (bi-wire)
Klipsch KSC-C1 as center, Energy EFX as surround and Energy ES8 subwoofer

Similar Products Used:

Chario 100T

Accuracy, Imaging

None

These speakers are absolutely fantastic. I spent quite some time researching my decision and I couldn't be happier with my decision. I must admit that I began my MA research with the highly acclaimed Silver 5i's and found them to be extremely accurate with great imaging. However, when I A/B compared them, I found the 9i's to have a fuller sound...adding the midrange that the 5i's lacked while maintaining the fast and accurate imaging. I tend to listen to all types of music and I think that the 9i's sound a little warmer and do a better job with Rock/Alternative. Vocals?....forget about it....these things are incredible...completely life-like. Are they twice as good as the 5i's?...absolutely not. Are the 9i's a better, more well rounded speaker?...absolutely. If you can swing the extra funds, I highly recommend these speakers. World-Exchange.com....certified mint (open box but appeared to be brand new)...$1,500.

I have added an MA ASW 110 and I love the results (if you're trying to decide between the 110 and the 210....the 110 has plenty of power...and you can always add another one later in the unlikely event that you need it).

Similar Products Used:

MA Silver 5i, B&W 7SE

Imaging, detail, accuracy, dynamics, low level detail, and looks.

No crossbracing in the middle of the cabinet, but I don't care because my lead shot has cured this problem and they sound great! 200 hour break-in time.

These speakers require at least 200 hours of break-in to peak out. They are incredible to say the least. I have them paired with a B&K Reference 20 pre-pro, and a Classe CAV-500. The top end is very lush, detailed, smooth and accurate with out over-emphasising treble. The mids are very clean with exeptional vocal reproduction especially with male voices. The bass is tight, fast and articulate and goes very low for 6.5" drivers. Imaging is spectular with the speakers but proper placement is critical as they can be a little fussy while requiring a little patience and effort. The soundstage is enourmous compared to the little brother Silver 5i mainly because of the bigger drivers and the taller stature.

MA has told me that the 9i's with serial #'s 3000 and above feature improved drivers, and that might explain why my pair sounded better then the set I heard last November 99 when the 9i first came out. Do yourself a favor and audition these speakers... they can play VERY loud and are a wonder to listen to especially if you can find a new pair for $1600 or below - we all should agree that paying $2k is very expensive for a set of speakers anyway.

Similar Products Used:

B&W, NHT, and MA Silver 5i.

I'm no expert and I settled for 7i due to my budget. These people who write in with 1 star review are absolutely full of sh*t. These are the same people who downgrade products so their purchases are justified and their products remain with a high score. 9is are beautiful to look at and listen to. Can you get a better sound for the price? Well, I'm sure that there's something out there, but I haven't heard it. Some of these reviews need to be seriously weeded out. Also, a person should not be able to vote more than once for 1 product.

I used to be 10% music and 90% video. But with the Monitor Audio Silver series speakers, I have rediscovered music. As good as the MA 110 sub is, I prefer to listen to music without it.

Similar Products Used:

MA 5i, 7i

Soundstage, detail, accuracy, bass, treble smoothness, mid range-especially vocals.

Great electronics are a must! Can tear a bad recording to shreds.

The 9i is incredible if you like a fast "electrostatic" type speaker with tons of dynamics and imaging. The drivers almost never give up and distort even with a ton of clean power! I'm running a Cinepro 5K2SE with a Lexicon DC2 pre-pro and a Pioneer DV-09 as a transport. Associated IC's are Cardos and XLO with Signature bi-wire SC's. My 9i's sound incresibly transparent with a huge soundstage, and feature tons of fast accurate-articulate bass free of distortion and boominess.

BTW, I've noticed the same guy using different names to destroy this speaker's ratings. Let me just tell you to please audition these speakers with a warm set of GOOD electronics before you give in to this phony reviewer's comments - it is SO OBVIOUS that he is phony! The only downfall with this speaker I would say is the fact that it demands upstream electronics and it will show just about all of the flaws in a bad recording. On the up side besides all of the other positives, this speaker can take a heck of beating from an EXREMELY POWERFUL amp... oh yes, this speaker EXCELS if you can afford to throw the MOST WARM, CLEAN POWER at it you can find! IMHO, from all of the speakers I audtioned in this pricerange, none of them could compare when the 9i's were backed up by the right electronics.

Take care and happy listening!

Similar Products Used:

B&W, M&K, NHT, PSB, Canton, Def. Tech. RBH, Polk, Martin Logan, Thiel, and Snell.