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Monitor Audio R852MD speakers

karma67

karma67

pfm Member
ive recently bought a pair of these cracking little speakers,they came with the original MD stands and box.
i bought them as a stop gap whilst i recap my ditton 66's and to be honest im not missing them at the moment!
i dont know if they are better suited to my small room or whether its because the drivers are more up to date but they sound so good.


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internally they are very simple,just 1 capacitor fitted to the crossover.

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ive just replaced the ferrofluid in the tweeters tonight and im chuffed they still work after! lol
surprisingly there was quite a bit of the old stuff still in there.
click on the pic for a video

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[/url]IMG_1166 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/145822004@N02/, on Flickr[/IMG]



all i can say is if you see a pair,grab them!
id be interested to hear if anyone's compared them to epos es14's.
 
I heard these back in the day and they are excellent 'speakers.
You can think of them as the forerunner of the well respected Epos ES14 as the Epos designer had input into the MA852.

Reviews at the time were very complimentary and the flat earth Linn/Naim crowd favoured them.

You can see the obvious similarity to the ES14 in the bass-mid driver and very simple crossover design. The ES14 saw further refinements to the bass driver to eliminate the external series inductor from the crossover.

Enjoy them!
 
While traveling Oz first time (early 90s) a friend had a pair of the gold dome variants driven by Quad IIs - very, very fine :) Never heard a pair of Epos though.

Richard
 
Good speakers! I have their forerunner, the MA R252’s. Simple crossover, easy placement of the sealed box design (no chuffing rear ports that need space) and very efficient so an easy amp load. Flat earth in some ways but hugely enjoyable even compared against todays stars. My R252 sound very good on the end of my Naim ‘Qute.

These MA speakers do make excellent value secondhand boxes - for either second systems or even starter AV systems (if space is not at a premium). The combination of the R352 (centre + L&R) and a pair of R252’s for the rear make an excellent entry level 5.1 AV system, and a very easy load for an AV amp too. All for the price of a good night out!
 
You can think of them as the forerunner of the well respected Epos ES14 as the Epos designer had input into the MA852.

Reviews at the time were very complimentary and the flat earth Linn/Naim crowd favoured them.

You can see the obvious similarity to the ES14 in the bass-mid driver and very simple crossover design. The ES14 saw further refinements to the bass driver to eliminate the external series inductor from the crossover.


Not all reviews; MC's review in HiFiNews was definitely not favourable.

Comparing the 852 woofer to the ES 14 is stretching things. They're both round and black, I guess. Was RM still at MA when these were designed? They are contemporary with the ES 14.

The 852 is built on an Eton chassis, but the rest is custom, possibly Elac software.

The ES 14 has a custom chassis, under-hung coil, dual spiders, a Teflon sleeve, and an exposed pole piece. And a very big magnet.

The 852 driver has a very small magnet, for the size of the driver, presumably to suit it to sealed box application.

I point the finger at this as the cause of the 852's lack of dynamics.

I had a pair in the gorgeous Kenya black finish, but, sadly, they departed pretty quickly.
 
RustyB said:
You can think of them as the forerunner of the well respected Epos ES14 as the Epos designer had input into the MA852.

Reviews at the time were very complimentary and the flat earth Linn/Naim crowd favoured them.

You can see the obvious similarity to the ES14 in the bass-mid driver and very simple crossover design. The ES14 saw further refinements to the bass driver to eliminate the external series inductor from the crossover.


Not all reviews; MC's review in HiFiNews was definitely not favourable.

Comparing the 852 woofer to the ES 14 is stretching things. They're both round and black, I guess. Was RM still at MA when these were designed? They are contemporary with the ES 14.

The 852 is built on an Eton chassis, but the rest is custom, possibly Elac software.

The ES 14 has a custom chassis, under-hung coil, dual spiders, a Teflon sleeve, and an exposed pole piece. And a very big magnet.

The 852 driver has a very small magnet, for the size of the driver, presumably to suit it to sealed box application.

I point the finger at this as the cause of the 852's lack of dynamics.

I had a pair in the gorgeous Kenya black finish, but, sadly, they departed pretty quickly.
Click to expand...

MA's Mo Iqbal says Marshall worked on the 852 design. Good enough for me.
I said it was the forerunner of the ES14, not its equal.
So no need to be a smart arse.
 
R852/MD? Got a pair - look for my post on the subject. They are nicely made as MA's are. View is that the wooden official stands are poor (not stable), I used Heybrook HBS1 to good effect.

Found them to be rather polite so didn't sit so well with my new Naim (Nait XS). Probably better with Old school Naim, but my Nait 2 didn't have enough grunt.

I think in retrospect I prefered the EPOS ES11's, but they have a port and the bass can be a problem in certain rooms. Not compared side by side though so can't be 100% certain.

The R852 is sealed so less placement cirtical. Also EPOS ES11 cost a lot more 2nd hand.

Replaced them by 952/MD that had more snap, detail and smoother top end.. although they use the same tweeter as far as I can tell. A bit more warmth wouldn't go a miss, so I can understand why some suggest Values with this one.

I have the original instruction manual (R852) and range guide and couple of reviews if anyone is interested. If you have more than £50 to spend better is available, but below that I think they are OK.

Simon
 
Comparing the 852 woofer to the ES 14 is stretching things. They're both round and black, I guess. Was RM still at MA when these were designed? They are contemporary with the ES 14.

>> Robin had left MA at this point, but was still consulting whilst setting EPOS up and getting it up to speed.

The 852 is built on an Eton chassis, but the rest is custom, possibly Elac software.

>> Tweeter was assembled by Elac, but was MA design. Gold version came in 2 years after launch with bi-wire facility. Although you could get a factory upgrade. These have no bi-wire so look odd.

The ES 14 has a custom chassis, under-hung coil, dual spiders, a Teflon sleeve, and an exposed pole piece. And a very big magnet.

The 852 driver has a very small magnet, for the size of the driver, presumably to suit it to sealed box application.

I point the finger at this as the cause of the 852's lack of dynamics.

>> Agree, only distant cousins to the Epos ES14. Although to be fair the drivers are of good quality.

I had a pair in the gorgeous Kenya black finish, but, sadly, they departed pretty quickly.[/QUOTE]

>> Rosewood, with Gold Tweeters also a very nice combination (My 952's)...
 

Found them to be rather polite so didn't sit so well with my new Naim (Nait XS). Probably better with Old school Naim, but my Nait 2 didn't have enough grunt.

Replaced them by 952/MD that had more snap, detail and smoother top end.. although they use the same tweeter as far as I can tell. A bit more warmth wouldn't go a miss, so I can understand why some suggest Values with this one.


"Polite" is perhaps too, er, polite, but I see where you're coming from.

The 952's are a very different kettle of fish, and a speaker I'd very much like to revisit. I ran mine on the end of a CB 62/90, in quite a large room.

The two bass units are 12 ohms, so they are both efficient and an easy load.

A bit more bass would have been nice, but overall, a very good speaker.
 
Easiest way is to pull out the domes and have a look at the fero on the coil and in the gap. You can slide a thin piece of plastic down into the gap to get a sample.

Should obviously be in liquid form.

Other way if you have the software is to run an impedance trace and look for anomalies, such as excessively high Fs.
 
I have a r852 md with box deteriorating due to high humidity in tropical climate of Malaysia..wonder what i can do to prevent from further deterioration?the drivers looks good including the rubber surround.
Tweeters needs to be checked,but found many AEs and Tannoys with ferrofluid hardening issues..thanks
 
Nice thread resurrection!

Not so easy to find a pair for £50 now. More like £300 that I’ve seen on Ebay.
 
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