Monitor Audio Gold 100 6G Loudspeaker Review
Simon Lucas reckons that the latest generation of this popular British standmount speaker has much to offer…
Monitor Audio
Gold 100 6G Standmount Loudspeakers
USD $4,199
Good things come in sixes. That's how the saying goes, isn't it? It has been thirty-six years since Monitor Audio introduced its first Gold series of loudspeakers, so the fact that 2024 sees the launch of the sixth generation means there has been a new range, on average, every six years. This sixth era of Gold speakers has a six-model line-up. Maybe I'm looking too hard, but I can see a pattern emerging.
The new Gold 100 you see here is the larger of the two standmounters in the range and measures 448x230x357mm (HxWxD) with a kerb weight of 14kg. Three finishes are available: high gloss black, satin white or a man-made Macassar wood veneer. Each helps this conventional straight-edged box look decorative and contemporary. The standard of build and finish is excellent considering the asking price, and Monitor Audio provides magnetically attached grilles if the visual drama of the distinctive front baffle driver array is too much for you.
Speaking of which, this is the speaker's only real design flourish. There's a 'mid-pod' steel enclosure behind an aluminium baffle that houses both the high-frequency transducer and midrange driver. It is shifted up the cabinet (for valid acoustic reasons, naturally) to the point that it's just slightly proud of the top edge. A generous strip of diecast aluminium appears to flow from the top of the 'mid-pod' along most of the length of the top of the speaker. This adds visual interest and creates a home for what's pretty much the only branding on the cabinet.
UP CLOSE
This speaker has a 3-way design with a rear-venting HiVE II bass reflex port tuned to 38Hz, according to Monitor Audio. The tweeter is the latest refinement of the company's MPD III design and takes inspiration from the transducer fitted to the premium Platinum range, as well as the statement Hyphn loudspeaker. Its micro-pleated diaphragm features a square radiating area in an effort to deliver equal response in both vertical and horizontal planes. The company has optimised the rear volume to minimise ripple in the audible frequency range, and the waveguide that sits in front of it to further control directivity.
The 76mm midrange driver and 203mm bass driver are both new designs, which Monitor Audio calls HDT. This 'hexagonal diaphragm technology' is a honing of the RDT III driver used in both Platinum and Hyphn loudspeakers and draws on the company's four-decade-long interest in metal driver technology. Based on the C-CAM (ceramic-coated aluminium magnesium) material used since the start of the nineties, HDT is built from a similar Nomex/aluminium/carbon fibre sandwich as the RDT III driver, but has a stamped hexagonal pattern. It is claimed to overcome the breakup characteristics inherent in symmetrical cones.
Both drivers also benefit from new spider designs, new optimised driver surrounds, increased voice coil lengths, and more potent motor systems. In addition, the midrange driver has a high-strength neodymium bucking magnet for greater control and improved power handling, as well as increased voice coil venting to improve sensitivity. According to Monitor Audio, the upshot is the strongest, most piston-like cone it has ever developed. Crossover points are 700Hz and 2.6kHz, and the network has been fitted with improved capacitors.
The Gold 100 has a claimed frequency response of 32Hz to 60kHz (-6dB) and a sensitivity figure of 86.5dB. The latter, alongside its quoted nominal impedance of 4 ohms, means this standmounter is not very easy to drive compared to many of its peers. You'll need a beefy solid-state amplifier with good current driving ability and at least 75W RMS per channel, if you want to high sound levels in decent-sized rooms with strong dynamics. Fortunately, most modern amplifiers can deliver this, whereas a decade or so ago, not many did.
THE LISTENING
This is a highly accomplished mid-price standmount loudspeaker with a smooth, even and pleasingly natural tonality that's just a fraction on the lean side of neutral. Playing Miles Davis' In a Silent Way shows the Gold 100's effortless sense of correctness. There's an uncanny sense of realism to the recording. In the bass, it combines substance and body with a lithe sense of rhythm, making Drifting Red by Lake People sound great fun. That big bass driver is no blunt instrument, delivering a nuanced, deft, detailed bass line; low-end control is most impressive.
At the opposite end of the frequency range, there's a highly agreeable combination of fast attack and intricate detail. The tweeter balances lustre and shine with fine extension, making for a classy sound closer to real high-end designs than you might think. In between, the midrange driver gives excellent vocal rendition, with an expressive nature that captures the timbre of the music being played. A great R&B singer like Fontella Bass, when heard on The Cinematic Orchestra's Evolution, shines through – the intricacies of her technique, character and emotions are made absolutely plain.
Detail retrieval is never less than impressive. Even the most fleeting, minor occurrence in a recording is clearly identified and contextualised – and when it comes to the small harmonic variations apparent in sparser cuts such as the aforementioned In a Silent Way by Miles Davis, this speaker shows great attention to detail. Yet this is never at the expense of the overall musical picture – it's not a case of 'either/or' when analysis and musicality are concerned. The Gold 100 6G simply paints as full and as vibrant a picture as is possible.
This is done within an expansive, well-defined and rigorously controlled soundstage. No recording is too dense for the Monitor Audio to make sense of, it seems. Everything gets sufficient breathing space, and the amount of room on the left/right axis, in particular, means it is easy to individualise a specific element of a recording if you so desire. At the same time, there's no sense that the Gold 100 is sacrificing anything in the time domain as it goes about reproducing the full scale of a recording. It displays excellent musical coherence, which only adds to the sense of occasion.
Nor does this speaker sit on dynamics and compress the music in any significant way. Obviously, its modest cabinet size means that it can't rival something with a big box, yet it still it rises to the challenge of dynamic peaks and conveys them with gusto. There are other, larger loudspeakers that compete in price terms which do slightly better here, but they fall behind in other respects. Indeed by general market standards, the Gold 100 performs exceptionally well indeed.
THE VERDICT
There aren't many 3-way standmount loudspeakers around these days, which is strange because they are easier to get working well in a small-to-medium sized room than floorstanders. They can also potentially deliver better sound if you're not bothered about the lowest organ or bass synthesiser notes. But if any design can bring larger standmounters back into fashion, it is the latest sixth-generation Monitor Audio Gold 100.
This is a very well-designed, built and packaged speaker from a company that is at the top of its game right now. It delivers a smooth, natural sound that is highly musically engaging and has good dynamics when powered by a suitably strong amplifier. The result is a great sound that many will like – which is just as well because competition at its price point is tough. Get on down to your local specialist hi-fi dealer and hear them if you possibly can.
Visit Monitor Audio for more information
Simon Lucas
Simon was editor of What Hi-Fi? magazine and website and has since written for Wired, Metro, the Guardian and Stuff, among many others. Should he find himself with a spare moment, Simon likes publishing and then quickly deleting tweets about the state of the nation (in general), the state of Aston Villa (in particular) and the state of his partner’s cat.
Posted in: Applause Awards | 2024 | Loudspeakers | Bookshelf / Standmount | Hi-Fi
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