wonderful sound

none

Its hard to believe - just try, and you'll can't stop to listenig music.

Similar Products Used:

Tannoy M1, M2, Dali 202,

Can hear all the detail in the music even at low volume levels.Bass is tight.

Vocals seem somewhat laid back but are very realistic.

These speakers seem to do everything well. The other speakers I listened to were either lacking in bass extention ,imaging or dynamics.To be faire some were better in areas such as the BW 602's for imaging but in this part of the world they cost $900.
The monitor 3's work well to tame the brigtness of my Rotel 971 amp.I agree with the remarks of other reviewers that they need a decent high current amp to bring out there strong points.I also found that it took about 30 hrs for the highs to settle down.All in all a great value for the $400. range.They work well on all kinds of music and are never tiring to listen to.

Similar Products Used:

Mission,PSB 400 and 500,BW602"s

Bass impact

Poor resolution No layering of sound

A lot of bass output and dynamics for the price but at the expense of overall detail, pace, transparency etc. My teenage kids who love hard-hitting music even preferred the tannoys and JPW's but then again, they have become somewhat jaded. This speaker doesn't sound offensive but neither is it involving, finishing last in the face off. I would only recommend these for home theater.

Similar Products Used:

kef Q15.2 JPW 510i Tannoy MLX2 Polk rt35i

Sound, clarity, bass

none

Great speakers.
Plays songs as they should be heard.
Bass, mid, treble are in perfect proportions to each other.

Similar Products Used:

b&w 602

near perfect balance of high-mid-low ranges

could use slightly more mid

There is simply not another speaker near this price-range that can compare in terms of the soundstage the M3's deliver.

I compared these to the Tannoy MX2 (which is what I really wanted) at ParkAudio in NY city. Every time I switched to the Tannoys, the sound collapsed. The M3's are so OPEN!!

They blew away the Tannoy's in soundstage and bass (no comparison - I used jazz, rock, and house music to compare, and the Tannoy's fell flat with rock and house - contrary to what some claim [see 6/22/00 review], the M3's rock with rock!).

They both had excellent clarity and transparency (I don't understand some of the reviews put down so far - the M3's have great transparency). The Tannoy's had slightly better mid's (which is what they are known for).

While the balance between high-mid-low is near perfect, some music requires turning the bass down to get good mid-range. Yet, strangely, this effect has no bearing on voice. I find the mid-range subtlety to be limited to instruments (esp. in electronica). Voice reproduction is near perfect.

Aesthetically, they are fine - they look like speakers, not furniture. I like their mod-look of black and silver (goes with my room). But who cares ? - buy speakers for how they sound and how good the value is. In this case, the M3's get an A+

You won't be disappointed!!

Similar Products Used:

Tannoy MX2, Polk, CV

Bass depth and quality, transparency of mids and highs, staging

Sound horrible fresh out of the box, wish I could bi-wire them like bigger Monitors

A few months ago I purchased up a pair of Sennheiser HD580s based solely on the glowing reviews on this and other sites. At the time I had a typical mid-fi system, or at least a system that is generally considered mid-fi: Infinity RS4 speakers, a Harman/Kardon AVR40 receiver, Infinity BU-120 subwoofer, etc. Shamefully, I must say that I had purchased the system mostly because of my ignorance; I knew pretty much only of the "Best-Buy" brands and thought that the Infinity/HK combo was good. But after purchasing the Sennheisers, I could no longer bear to listen to my system--I finally saw just how bad it was.

Thus, I sold all of my old gear, and began shopping from scratch. I started with the amplifier, and after auditioning several I settled on the NAD C340, a decision that ended up being a no-brainer once I heard the competition.

Speakers, on the other hand, were a far more difficult decision. Being a college student with several audio enthusiast friends, I began auditioning several of the different speakers listed above, namely the Energy's, NHT's, and PSB's, with my own amp in my own listening envoronement. Of the speakers I tried, the NHT SuperOne impressed me the most. They sounded very detailed and had a great soundstage, though they lack bass. However, as I was planning on purchasing a subwoofer down the road this was not a huge problem.

I headed over to my dealer with the intent of purchasing SuperOnes. Obviously, that never happened. Once there, I had the chance to audition the Paradigm line. I had heard great things about the Performance Line, and auditioned the Atoms, Titans, etc. However, while the sound was good (especially for the money), I was certainly not wowed. Next I tried the Mini-Monitors, knowing they were the speakers most compared with the SuperOnes. They sounded very good overall, though I still preferred the NHT's. Then, just for the hell of it, I decided to listen to the rest of the monitor line. After hearing the 3's, I was floored. To me, these speakers sounded much better than both the Ones and Mini's, so I ended up leaving with a pair. Note--my dealer came down substantially in price after some haggling--pay cash!!!

Out of the box in my room these things scared me. I've heard some pretty bad speakers out of the box, but these were by far the worst. But after a few days of continuous break in (and several fights with the friends about the volume level), they broke in very nicely. The original shrill highs leveled out nicely, the midrange lost its very nasaly tone, and soundstage opened up immensely.

These speakers now shine on all types of music. I listen to pretty much everything--from classical to acoustical rock to techno and electric music--and all types sound great. The tweeters absoluely sing, and bass is outstanding for a bookshelf. This is no doubt due in part to the C340, which is very strong in the bass region. Unlike other reviewers, I have not found that pairing the C340 and Monitors produces shrill highs; perhaps these reviewers' did not take the time to properly break in their speakers.

While I can go on and on about the great attributes of this speaker, I certainly won't say much that hasn't already been said. Rather, I think a story sums up my experience. My dealer let me try the speakers for a month, during which time I could return them for store credit. After 3 weeks, I went back in to see if there was anything substantially better (I was willing to spend up to $750) that would cause me to trade in my speakers. I spent hours listening to different types of music on all of the Monitors, from the Mini's to the 9's. Finally, on one particular track, I found myself sitting there, eyes closed, saying to myself "God, these speakers sound incredible," thinking that I was listening to the Monitor 7's. As I was about to grab a salesman to tell him to box up a pair of 7's for me, I noticed that I had never switched back over to the 7's on the control box, and instead had thought the 3's were the 7's. In a true, double blind listening test, I preferred the 3's over everything else in the Monitor line. That in itself speaks volumes.

Highest recommendation
5 stars Overall
10 stars for Value

System:
NAD C340 (with Wireworld Atlantis II between Pre and Amp)
Paradigm Monitor 3
MIT Terminator 5 Speaker Wire
Cambridge Audio DC500
Lovan Speaker Stands
Monster Cable HT2000 Line-Conditioner
Vibrapods under everything

Similar Products Used:

Infinity RS-4, NHT SuperOne, NHT SuperZero, Entire Paradigm Monitor Line, Energy eXL-16, PSB Alpha A/V

great bass

nedds to be hooked up to good equipment to sing

The best speaker in it's price range.Paired it up with my monitor centre and atoms as rears ,and blending in is seamless.Will reveal poor recordings,and other bad recorded material because of their forward characteristics.For movies this is your speaker,for music almost just as good.

Similar Products Used:

many