I have owned and listened to many high dollar speakers that friends own. I purchased the pair to go with my Bose surround sound speakers to take the system from a 5-1 to a 7-1 system. I thought my surround sound was great before the purchase of the RS8's. Adding the RS8's made my system come alive. The highs are incredibly crisp and the mid's are bright and solid. The low range hits hard with no harshness at all. Watching movies are so much better it is hard to believe, you feel like you are in the movie. Music, when I close my eyes it sounds like I'm in the studio and I hear parts that I didn't know was in the song before. I'm talking about songs I have listened to for years. Put in a live CD, lay back in your recliner, close your eyes and you would swear you were at the concert. If you can't tell by reading my review I absolutely love these speakers and all I can say is if you purchased a pair it will be one of the best investments you ever made.

It's absolutely fantastic.
Crisp, clean, expansive and atmospheric sound that's detailed...powerful, articulate bass - superb high frequencies...This Monitoraudio RS8's have outstanding instrumental separation, excellent phrasing and also a powerful dynamic ability

I have owned and listened to many ( too many) floor standing speakers over the last twenty years. Most I have found to be over priced and over hyped (in most popular hifi magazines). They say things in their reviews which gets you motivated to visit your local outlets and spend some of your precious life listening to them, only to be disappointed in their performance. I have purchased some examples which have been highly rated and run them in, lived with them and still leaving me thinkingsome time later, they still don't capture my perception of how my music should sound.
I have purchased a set of Monitor Audio RS8 after much deliberation and listening. I must say that they sound very bright on the top end when new and not run in. Give them time and they start to perform and bring in parts of your music which you have never heard before, along with very healthy amount of well controlled bass. They deserved a good performing amp and in fact their 6ohm impedance should tell you all you need to know when amp matching.
I finally have found a great performer for a decent price (£850) that looks fantastic with or without the grills attached. Don't believe what all the magazines say, go and listen to a run in set, then enjoy!

I am using these speakers with a NAD C352 amp & a T550 DVD/CD (I know alittle old) & I am thrilled with these speakers! The bass is awesome.. Great for dance/rap! I keep thinking that there is another sub within the boxes themselves to account for the bass response.. Adding it up, 3x6" bass drivers (differing freq ofcourse) adds up to the equivilant of have an 18" woofer in each box. -& it sounds it too!! True rib-cage shakers, in a good way! They are so descriptive in their clarity & liveness. All musical styles sound great!. Turning them up, I can actually hear the orchestral players turning their pages through the recording, needless to say that flutes, piccolo & any other high wind instrument (including some sopranos) sound hauntingly beautiful!! The midrange is warm & not over pronounced so that any singer sounds good, including the harshest sounding 'shrill' singers, still are easy to listen to. The soundstage is amazing, shutting the eyes & sitting alittle distance (3m or so) away from the centre of the speakers creates the feeling of being in a large Concert Hall or Opera Theatre. Truely remarkable!! The finnish looks superb & the craftsmanship is flawless, until my wife dropped a phone on one and a subtle scratch turned-up. She loves them cause they look great with or without the covers on & have a small foot-print! They are truely a measuring stick for other speakers to try to reach, especially the price. I CANNOT fault these speakers.. (besides the 'scratch' ummmm...) They have enough grunt to metaphorically lift you up out of your chair with oodles left over.. I can't wait have a much bigger room so I can really open-up the volume knob!! The NAD amp has alot to do with it & they seem effortless to drive. The Amp rarely gets turned above 9-10 O'clock, by that level, the sound is filling the room & the neighbours aswell & I can take off the grills to see that the woofers are barely moving!! Effortless!! I totally reccommend these speakers & the NAD C352! Just do it, you won't regred it!!!

base, clear highs, great dynamics and timing

clear highs come from overemphasis, this causes listener fatigue.

I really liked these speakers in the store. Of course, they had very expensive electronics (Roksan CD Player and Amp, Nordost Cables $3000 of equipment) behind them in that setting. I auditioned many speakers (JMLab, Martin Logan, JBL, Polk, Vandersteen, Magnepan, B&W, Avantegarde, Klipsch Heritage and Reference, Boston Acoustics). These were the only ones that really gave me chills when listening to the same song over and over while auditioning (Pearl Jam, Yellow Ledbetter).

It was a different story once i got them home. They gave me a headache everytime I listened to them. I looked up the frequency reponse on Stereophile.com. You can see the spike in response from 12khz all the way to 20khz (and very little mention of this in the Stereophile comments). Part of the problem came from my room. It is very big with wood floors and very little to absorb the sound, so the high frequencies were most likely bounced all over the place. But, this does not excuse the overemphasis that you will see on stereophile.com.

I did like the base and especially the dynamics, but a headache kills the deal. Besides, a speaker is supposed to reproduce the sound waves, not emphasis a particular frequency to stand out on the show room floor. I think the old Monitor Audio's and the new Gold Reference versions are good in this department, but not these.

I am just saying to be aware of the problem when buying and make sure you can return them. I think Monitor Audio is becoming more of a marketing based company anyways, so they may not put out same quality as they have in the past.

I endedup with Vandersteen 2ce Signatures, and am very satisfied. They give me chills with the NAD 321BEE cd player and Jolida 1501RC hybrid amp.

extended bass and sweet midrange. A small foot print in your room. In other words these speakers are wife friendly.

None at this point

I just replaced my vintage Ohm I loudspeakers that I had for twenty five years. My Old Ohms came with a 12" subwoofer so I thought that there would be a significiant loss in the bass extension with my Monitor Audio RS8. I have been very impressed with how much bass the two 6" bass drivers can create. The midrange is very pleasant and smooth. I always thought that my old speakers were a little harsh but again the technology has changed in twenty five years. The RS8's make a very nice soudstage and with the grill covers off I find them attractive. These speakers at first look seem small but the sound that they make is anything but small. Monitor Audio has done a great job with an attractive price to boot. These speakers come with nice 5 way binding posts and can be bi wired.

Similar Products Used:

Proac 3.8 Response
Martin Logan SL3
Definitive Technology BP 2000
Ohm I Loudspeakers