Monitor Audio PLC350 Centre Speaker

Description

This is a MONSTER centre speaker! 35kg!

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All of the main-channel bass below 80 Hz (including that from the floorstanding main speakers) was directed to the subwoofer via the crossover in my surround processor. The bottom end of the PL300s was rolled off below 80 Hz whenever the subwoofer was engaged (as it was for most of my listening, unless otherwise noted). However, I drove the PL300s full range when I auditioned them without a sub. I set up the sub’s graphic equalizer to produce optimum response at the main listening seat.

Making Music and Movies Real
I began my listening with two-channel music using the PL300s and the PLW-15 subwoofer. The first thing I didn’t notice was the highs. Ironically, that’s what makes Monitor Audio’s new tweeter special. You don’t hear the high frequencies from its ribbon tweeter so much as sense them as an integral part of the overall sound.

Yes, the PL300s are sweet sounding, but sweet can be a euphemism for soft, which these speakers definitely are not. They’re incisive without being fierce or biting. The amount of detail they brought to the party constantly amazed me. The gorgeous percussive detail on Mokave’s Afrique (AudioQuest) was immediate yet relaxed. Transients started and stopped on a dime, but they never overshot the mark into zing or raspiness. Strings were silky smooth.

The PL300s also threw an impressively wide soundstage. Their outstanding imaging was no surprise. In my room, most good speakers image exceptionally well, which is undoubtedly helped by being 2 feet or more away from any walls. Nevertheless, the center image was so tight on two-channel material that you’d swear the center speaker was playing, even when it wasn’t. The sonic balance was a little more forward than I’m accustomed to, but the PL300s still produced a fine sense of depth.

I did notice an occasional touch of glare that originated, I would guess, in the upper midrange. But guesses are for financial advisers, so we’ll have to see if it shows up in our measurements. (See HT Labs Measures, next page.) This anomaly didn’t raise its head often, although loud brass and complex, loud passages featuring a full symphony orchestra were more prone to it than pop, jazz, and most vocals. The latter music categories often sounded stunningly natural.

I never experienced this issue when the system was fired up in full multichannel mode. The Platinums handled the most challenging soundtracks, from explosive sound effects to full-bodied symphonic orchestral scores. And they did it without breaking a sweat, even at silly-loud playback levels.

To sub or not to sub? During the music listening, I found the PL300s to be surprisingly extended in the deep bass even without a subwoofer. Most music listeners will be delighted with their extended low-frequency performance. If your taste in movies runs toward lighter, Armageddon-free fare, the PL300s alone just might satisfy all of your home theater bass needs. Still, a good separate subwoofer will go deeper, especially if you’re passionate about organ or synthesizer music. And it can better handle truly subterranean, high-level bass (a vital complement to action movie soundtracks).

What about movies? Outstanding. My taste in demo material often includes animated fare, not only because I love the medium, but also because animation producers have given us some great-looking and great-sounding discs. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is one of the best (and most underappreciated) soundtracks out there, particularly the uncompressed version on Blu-ray. It covers all the bases from the subtle to the explosive, with a soundstage as small or immense as it needs to be. The bass digs deep, and the highs are as detailed as you could want. The Platinum speakers do it all here, with full-bodied, extended bass without bloat, a natural midrange, and crisp, precise highs without edginess.

Another great but also little heralded animation soundtrack is Chicken Little (Blu-ray). While its uncompressed soundtrack doesn’t have the bass extension of Final Fantasy, it’s loaded with other treats. In particular, the interior of the alien spaceship (yes, I’m talking about Chicken Little here) is richly layered with subtle sonic detail, intermittently interrupted by explosive transients. The score is also beautifully recorded, particularly with Five for Fighting’s cover of the song “All I Know.” It was all great fare for the Platinums, and they didn’t let me down.

Experiencing The Dark Knight (Blu-ray) on the Platinums was awesome. Even when I played it louder than I felt comfortable with, the Platinum system’s ease and lack of strain during the soundtrack’s greatest challenges blew me away. I was never tempted to turn down the volume when the going really got going. The deepest bass was satisfyingly extended and tight but just a little short of gut-wrenching (more on this below). I performed this particular audition late at night, and the action got so intense that I was a bit concerned the neighbors might call the cops to report gunshots coming from my house! Fortunately, they didn’t.

The PLC350 center channel and PL100s also held up their ends of the bargain. (The PL100 is a full-range monitor that’s entirely suitable for main-channel duties, although you will need a subwoofer for any serious low-end grunt.) While the center is a good spectral match for the PL300s, it sounded a little forward when I listened to it directly on axis. It was better balanced when I moved a few degrees to the left or right. Fortunately, I sit a little off center for movie watching, so this characteristic didn’t bother me.

I found the Platinums less than stellar in only one respect. The PLW-15 subwoofer is without question a good one. It has excellent extension, tight response, and many useful controls. But considering its price, there may be better and somewhat more affordable options. And I just happened to have one on hand: the Revel Performa B15a sub. I alternately positioned both of these subs in the best location in my room. Both subs offer equalization (graphic equalization in the Monitor Audio, three-band parametric in the Revel), and I used this to match the two as closely as possible.

With some material, the Monitor Audio sub sounded tighter. But while it appeared to go almost as deep as the Revel with subtle, low-level bass, it did not do so when the bass turned loud and energetic. The Revel showed occasional signs of strain on the most challenging material. The Monitor Audio did not. But that didn’t stop the Performa B15a from producing a much more ominous sense of foreboding in Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (DVD) as the first alien tripod rumbles up out of a Brooklyn street. It also produced a more suitably aggressively bottom end on The Dark Knight. The differences on music were usually subtler, but when they were not, the Revel sub still came out on top.

Conclusions
It’s been more than a year since I parted ways with the Revel Ultima Studio2, but that system still stands out as the best speaker package I’ve had in my current listening room. Time blurs the details, but the Revel’s highs were a bit airier than the Monitor Audio’s, although they were also a bit more obvious. Midrange coloration was comparable, but the Revels were slightly more laid back. The Revel’s Ultima2 Voice2 center was also a bit more neutral on axis and varied less at far off-axis angles. As an overall package, the Monitor Audio is barely a step below the Revels, yet it costs $13,000 less.

Twenty-five big ones is a lot of money for loudspeakers, especially in a market where there are excellent and far less expensive alternatives. But the sort of engineering, sound, and aesthetic refinements in the Monitor Audio Platinums rarely come cheap.

I’d never recommend that anyone buy speakers sound unheard. But I do recommend a serious audition of the Platinums if you’re shopping for the best. Unlike some surround systems, I can say that if you’re only able to audition the PL300s alone in a two-channel setup and like what you hear as much as I did, you’ll be in heaven with the full surround package.

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The PL300s also threw an impressively wide soundstage. While their great imaging was no surprise—in my room most good speakers image exceptionally well. Nevertheless, the center image was so tight on 2-channel material I’d swear the center speaker was playing when it wasn’t.

The PL300s’ balance was a little more forward than I’m accustomed to. But despite this, they produced as fine a sense of depth as I normally get in this room, though not noticeably better. (The illusion of depth I can generate is helped by the fact than my setup has the speakers significantly forward of the front wall).

On 2-channel music, the midrange was clean and neutral, with no evidence of obvious coloration. But on the occasional passage, I did sense a touch of glare located somewhere, I would guess, in the upper midrange. But guesses are for financial advisers, so we’ll have to see if it shows up in the measurements, which have yet to be taken as I write this. The glare anomaly didn’t raise its head often, though loud brass and complex, loud passages featuring a full symphony orchestra were more prone to it than pop, jazz, and most vocals. The latter music genres often sounded stunningly natural.

I never experienced the glare issue at all when the system was fired up in full multichannel mode. The Platinums handled the most challenging soundtracks, from explosive sound effects to full-bodied symphonic orchestral scores (even at silly-loud playback levels) without breaking a sweat.

To sub or not to sub? During the music listening, I found the PL300s to be surprisingly extended in the deep bass without a subwoofer. Most music listeners will be delighted with their extended low frequency performance. And if your taste in movies runs toward lighter, Armageddon-free fare, the PL300s alone just might satisfy all of your home-theater bass needs.

But a good separate subwoofer will go deeper—particularly for those passionate about organ or synthesizer music—and handle more challenging deep bass material at higher levels, which is particularly important on those action-movie soundtracks. And if the sub is properly set up and blended, the overall bass performance could well be tighter and better defined than even the very good bottom end performance of the PL300s alone.

As always, placement is key, and the optimum placement for the front speakers, particularly when you must accommodate an HDTV set or projection screen, might not produce the best bass. A sub, which offers more placement options, will help get around this problem.

So what about movies? Outstanding. My taste in demo material often includes animated fare, not only because I love the medium, but also because animation producers have given us some great-looking and great-sounding discs. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is one of the best (and most underappreciated) soundtracks out there, particularly the uncompressed version on Blu-ray. It covers all the bases from the subtle to the explosive, with a soundstage as small or immense as it needs to be. The bass digs deep, and the highs are as detailed as you could want. The Platinum speakers did it all here, with full-bodied and extended bass without bloat, a natural midrange, and crisp and precise highs without edginess.

Another great but also little-heralded animation soundtrack is Chicken Little. The film opens with the familiar Chicken Little story, wanders around episodically for its first half, then plunges into a bizarre riff on E.T. and War of the Worlds. It’s hilarious, though perhaps a bit scary for the 8-year-old set. While the soundtrack doesn’t have the bass extension of Final Fantasy, it’s loaded with other treats. The interior of the alien spaceship, in particular, is richly layered with subtle sonic detail, intermittently interrupted by explosive transients. There are also a number of songs (part of the score, the movie is not a musical), all of them well recorded, including the audiophile-worthy “All I Know.” All of this was great fare for the Platinums, and they didn’t let me down in any way.

Just before deadline, I was able to watch most of the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight, on Blu-ray. Apart from the deepest loudest bass, which was satisfyingly deep, precise, and tight but just a little short of gut-wrenching (more on this below), the experience was totally awesome—to use a cliché that has largely lost its meaning but really does apply here. Even when I played it louder than I felt entirely comfortable with, it blew me away with its ease and lack of strain on the soundtrack’s greatest challenges. I was never tempted to turn down the volume when the going really got going. This particular audition was done late at night, and the action got so intense I was a bit concerned that the neighbors might call the cops to report gunshots coming from my house! Fortunately, they did not.

The PLC350 center channel and PL100 surrounds also held up their ends of the bargain. (The PL100s are also suitable for front channel duties, though you will need a subwoofer with them for any respectable home-theater grunt.) But while the center is a good spectral match for the left and right PL300s overall, it did sound a little forward when I was directly on axis. It was better balanced when I moved a few degrees to the left or right. Fortunately, I sit a little off-center for movie watching, so I was not bothered by this characteristic.

In only one respect did I find the Platinum system less than stellar. The PLW-15 subwoofer is, without question, a good one, with excellent extension, tight response, and many useful controls. But considering its price, there may be better, and more affordable options. And I just happened to have one on hand: the Revel B15. Which brings us to…

Comparisons and Conclusion
I compared the PLW-15 to the Revel B15 (an older sample but still representative of the current B15a), both in the corner positioning I prefer in this room, where the comparison could not be A-B for obvious reasons, and then with both subs positioned side-by-side just behind the center channel, making a direct A-B comparison possible. Clearly, the side-by-side comparison had the disadvantage that the subs were in slightly different positions. But both subs offer equalization (graphic equalization in the Monitor Audio, three-band parametric in the Revel), and I used this to match the two as closely as possible.

With some material, the Monitor Audio sounded tighter, but while it appeared to go almost as deep as the Revel with subtle, low-level bass, it did not do so when the bass turned loud and energetic. The Revel showed occasional signs of strain on the most challenging material when it was out of its corner-location comfort zone, which the Monitor Audio did not. But that did not stop the B15 from producing a much more ominous sense of foreboding in Spielberg’s War of the Worlds as the first alien tripod rumbles up out of a Brooklyn street, or a more aggressively vivid bottom end in The Dark Knight. The differences on music were usually subtler, but when they were not, the Revel sub still came out on top.

As for the entire system, I did not have a comparably priced flagship speaker system on hand to compare directly against the Monitor Audio. It’s been a year since I parted ways with the Revel Ultima Studio2, but that system still stands out as the best speaker package I’ve yet had in my current listening room. Time blurs the details, but I recall that the Revel’s highs were a bit airier than the Monitor Audio’s, though also a bit more obvious. Midrange coloration was comparable, though the Revels were slightly more laid back. The Revel’s Ultima2 Voice center was also a bit flatter on axis and varied less at far off-axis angles. But as an overall package, the Monitor Audio is barely a step below the Revels, yet costs some $13k less.

Still, 25 grand is a lot of money for loudspeakers, especially in a market where there are excellent and far less expensive alternatives. But the sort of engineering, sound, and cosmetic refinements found in the Monitor Audio Platinums rarely come cheap.

I’d never recommend that anyone buy speakers sound unheard. But I do recommend a serious audition of the Platinums if you’re shopping for the best. And unlike some surround systems, I can say that if you’re only able to audition the PL300s alone in a 2-channel setup, and you like what you hear as much as I did, you’ll be in heaven with the full surround package.

Highs
Pristine highs, uncolored mids, tight bass
Great dynamic range
Outstanding fit and finish

Lows
Subwoofer lacks wallop in the deepest, loudest bass
Expensive