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Monitor Audio Ma5

Erskine Ears

Erskine Ears

pfm Member
Hi. I has anyone heard these much? On paper I'm impressed that they go down to 40khz. I'm wondering if they might have that really nice, deep, solid bass, magical mids and detailed airy highs that the pair of Monitor Audio r652 I once owned had.

R652s are like hens teeth so I'm. Looking at other vintage monitor audios. I got a pair of the popular R352s thinking they might be similar, and although not bad, they didn't have great bass extension or anywhere near the transoarency of the R652.

This YouTube video shows some Ma4s sounding great.


Was wondering if the ma5 sound similar.

Any thoughts on vintage Monitor Audios or any other nice vintage speakers that have good extension up and down with plenty of transpareny wouod be much appreciated.

Thanks, Dave
 
I have a pair of MA4s, though I've not used them for critical listening in ages (they're in the 'office').

The ones in the video are upside down - though that may not affect the sound a great deal. I'd say they're slightly bright, but the woofer is a KEF B200 in a two cubic feet ported enclosure so the tweeter doesn't dominate the sound. Bass is fine - though as I say I haven't listened to them in a while.

I first heard them when they were released and finally bought a used pair in the 90s.
 
MA4 series 1 with the modified yellow tweeter is the one to go for out of MA5 series 1 or 2 or MA4 series 2. Big step up in terms of bass and midrange clarity with MA4 compared to MA5. I personally think the Isophon tweeter in MA4 series 1 sounds better balanced than the Audax unit in MA4 series 2. Likewise, if you do go down the MA5 route, go for the series 2 with the modified yellow Isophon tweeter as opposed to series 1 which utilised a Peerless unit. There can be a tendancy towards Bextrene 'quack' due to KEFB200 but I've heard worse including some models from KEF themselves. I consider MA4 series 1 to be a bit of a bargain - they are beautifully finished and crucially those big magnet KEF B200's have turned out to be very reliable (much more so than the contempory cheaper Dalesford units favoured by many of the other 'box stuffers' at that time. Furthermore, those Isophon units are also reliable and have no ferrofluid to dry out. In any case, both large magnet B200's and modified Isophons do come up for sale on Ebay at reasonable prices so you could if you wanted, buy some spares.
 
I don’t know if you would call them ‘vintage’, but I have a pair of Monitor Audio Studio 2 bookshelf speakers. They sound really excellent for such a small pair of speakers, with bass extension and quality which belies their dimensions. Possibly a little bright, but am sensitive to this, and it can be managed. The floor-standers are the MA Studio 20.

Weirdly, I also use mine upside down.

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57charles said:
MA4 series 1 with the modified yellow tweeter is the one to go for out of MA5 series 1 or 2 or MA4 series 2. Big step up in terms of bass and midrange clarity with MA4 compared to MA5. I personally think the Isophon tweeter in MA4 series 1 sounds better balanced than the Audax unit in MA4 series 2. Likewise, if you do go down the MA5 route, go for the series 2 with the modified yellow Isophon tweeter as opposed to series 1 which utilised a Peerless unit. There can be a tendancy towards Bextrene 'quack' due to KEFB200 but I've heard worse including some models from KEF themselves. I consider MA4 series 1 to be a bit of a bargain - they are beautifully finished and crucially those big magnet KEF B200's have turned out to be very reliable (much more so than the contempory cheaper Dalesford units favoured by many of the other 'box stuffers' at that time. Furthermore, those Isophon units are also reliable and have no ferrofluid to dry out. In any case, both large magnet B200's and modified Isophons do come up for sale on Ebay at reasonable prices so you could if you wanted, buy some spares.
Click to expand...

Mine are the ones with the yellow tweeters. Everything was still working fine when I last tried them.

There was also an MA3 with a larger cabinet and an elliptical bass driver.
 
Yes, those Ma3s look really interesting. In this video, even though they are right next to each other, they still seem to be imaging very well. Quite bright sounding. With my failing hearing, this probably isn't a bad thing!
 
Stunsworth said:
I have a pair of MA4s, though I've not used them for critical listening in ages (they're in the 'office').

The ones in the video are upside down - though that may not affect the sound a great deal. I'd say they're slightly bright, but the woofer is a KEF B200 in a two cubic feet ported enclosure so the tweeter doesn't dominate the sound. Bass is fine - though as I say I haven't listened to them in a while.

I first heard them when they were released and finally bought a used pair in the 90s.
Click to expand...
Are you looking to sell those ma4's by any chance?
 
The MA3's in series 2 form are excellent sounding speakers - the only problem is the availability of spares if needed. The EMI eliptical bass unit doesn't come up for sale very often and the B & W kevlar mid unit although looks identical to those used in B &W's own DM5, it has a lower compliance rubber surround as specified by MA themselves so sourcing spares means breaking either another MA3 or MA1 and not a B & W DM5. These kevlar midrange units although reliable, suffer from physical distortion of the kevlar cone material due to age. The MA1 should be considered as well - another excellent sounding speaker - especially in series 2 form with the modified yellow Isophon tweeter. Although they have the same B & W mid unit as MA3 and therefore the aforementioned potential age related problem, they have KEF B139 for bass duties so spares not such a problem. If buying, you need to replace the foam attached to the rear of the mid unit basket - will have deteriorated with age (MA didn't put mid unit in seperate enclosure after extensive listening tests in design phase) and check crossover for signs of burning as they designed resistors in series to bass unit in the crossover architecture. Both MA1and MA3 especially in series 2 form are excellent speakers that tend to be overlooked and hence are a bit of a bargain these days.
 
I bought a pair of MA5s, after ( rather stupidly ) selling a pair of Celef Monitors.
They were the later model, with the yellow Isophon tweeters.
I thought they had the Peerless tweeters as used by Celef.
I didn’t discover the change until I got home.
For some reason Monitor Audio upgraded to Isophons.
I couldn’t get on with the MA5s at all and missed the Celefs.
Thankfully I managed to sell them on and saved up for a pair of Spendor BC1s.
 
Martyn Miles said:
I bought a pair of MA5s, after ( rather stupidly ) selling a pair of Celef Monitors.
They were the later model, with the yellow Isophon tweeters.
I thought they had the Peerless tweeters as used by Celef.
I didn’t discover the change until I got home.
For some reason Monitor Audio upgraded to Isophons.
I couldn’t get on with the MA5s at all and missed the Celefs.
Thankfully I managed to sell them on and saved up for a pair of Spendor BC1s.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the insight. Could you say what was it you didn't like about them compared to the celefs?
 
Erskine Ears said:
Thanks for the insight. Could you say what was it you didn't like about them compared to the celefs?
Click to expand...

The Celefs were smoother and ‘warmer’ sounding than the MA5s.
The top integrated almost seamlessly with midrange, much like it does on my BC1s.
The bass end, with the resistive port ( with drinking straws ) was just right.
Extended without boominess.
Better than BC1s, actually.
The MA5s bass end was tight, but not well extended.
The mid. was much like other speakers ( KEFs mostly ) I had heard with a B200.
It was the top end I really didn’t like.
Rather ‘isolated’ ( almost detached ) from the midrange.
After extended listening it became the most prominent feature of the MA5s.
Going back to the Celefs, their inherent quality was down to Stuart Tyler I’m sure.
He has proved to be a talented loudspeaker designer with his Pro-Ac speakers.
Hope the above helps...
 
It is too far back to remember clearly what I had but I am reasonably certain they were MA4 mk1. They sounded good to me but over 30 years ago so difficult to compare with modern speakers. What I do remember clearly was the high quality of the cabinets, although not quite Castle standard, but on the down side, a friend bought some shortly after me & the cabinets looked cheap in comparison.
 
Martyn Miles said:
The Celefs were smoother and ‘warmer’ sounding than the MA5s.
The top integrated almost seamlessly with midrange, much like it does on my BC1s.
The bass end, with the resistive port ( with drinking straws ) was just right.
Extended without boominess.
Better than BC1s, actually.
The MA5s bass end was tight, but not well extended.
The mid. was much like other speakers ( KEFs mostly ) I had heard with a B200.
It was the top end I really didn’t like.
Rather ‘isolated’ ( almost detached ) from the midrange.
After extended listening it became the most prominent feature of the MA5s.
Going back to the Celefs, their inherent quality was down to Stuart Tyler I’m sure.
He has proved to be a talented loudspeaker designer with his Pro-Ac speakers.
Hope the above helps...
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to explain that. It sounds like the tweeter on the MA5s may be tamed with some crossover modification, but if the bass isn't well extended, that puts me off. The video I posted in my opening of MA4s shows that they seem to have really nice extended bass, so I was wondering if the MA5s were similar. So that answers that then.

Which model of Celefs was it that you had? On eBay just now, there's some 'monitors', 'mini monitors' and some 'PE1s' that all look really quality, and I'm getting the just that they likely all sound very good. It's difficult to find any info on them though, so I might start a new thread to enquire as to opinions.
 
I had the Celef Monitors.
By the way, I came across those Isophon tweeters recently. They were used on a pair of Spendor BC1 sized
speakers made by Falcon Acoustics.
I did some experimentation before I sold them on, by fitting the tweeter grilles used on LS3/5as.
The slight ‘bite’ disappeared, without affecting the balance.
They sounded very good and the buyer was very happy.
 
Whilst on the subject of MAs I was wondering if there are any opinions on the R252 or R300MD speakers?

There are some mint R300s quite near to me, just the right size for my stands / room and I'm tempted. Driven by NAP 250 or Yamaha a-s801?
 
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