Country of Origin
Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Main system: Sources: Retina 5K 27" iMac (4GHz quad-core with Turbo, 32GB RAM, 3TB FusionDrive, OSX Yosemite. iTunes 14.4), PureMusic 3.02, Audirvana 3, Qobuz, Tidal, Singxer SU-6 USB bridge, Sonnet Pasithea DAC; Active filter: icOn 80Hz/4th-order hi/lo-pass; Power amplifiers: Kinki Studio EX-B7 monos, Enleum AMP-23R; Headamp: Kinki Studio; Phones: HifiMan Susvara; Loudspeakers: sound|kaos Vox 3awf + sound|kaos DSUB15 on Carbide Audio footers with Kinki EX-M1 amp, Audio Physic Codex, Cube Audio Nenuphar Cables: Complete loom of Allnic Audio ZL; Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra on all source components, Vibex One 11R on amps, Furutech DPS-4.1 between wall and conditioners; Equipment rack: Artesanía Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc Krion and glass amp stands; Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators, LessLoss Firewall for loudspeakers, Furutech NCF Signal Boosters; Room: 6 x 8m with open door behind listening seat
2nd system: Source: Soundaware D300Ref SD transport clock-slaved to Denafrips Terminator +; Preamp/filter: icOn 4Pro SE; Amplifier: Goldmund Job 225; Loudspeakers: MonAcoustic SuperMon Mini or Acelec Model One + Dynaudio S18 sub; Power delivery: Furutech GTO 2D NCF; Equipment rack: Hifistay Mythology Transform X-Frame [on extended loan]; Sundry accessories: Audioquest Fog Lifters; Furutech NFC Clear Lines; Room: ~3.5 x 8m
Desktop system: Source: HP Z230 work station Win10/64; USB bridge: Singxer SU-2; Headamp/DAC: iFi iDSD Pro Signature; Headphones: Final D-8000; Active speakers: DMAX SC5
Upstairs headfi/speaker system: Source: smsl Dp5 transport; DAC: Auralic Vega; Integrated amplifier: Schiit Jotunheim R; Phones: Raal-Requisite SR1a; Active DSP speakers: Fram Midi 120
2-channel video system: Source: Oppo BDP-105; All-in-One: Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe; Loudspeakers: Zu Soul VI; Subwoofer: Zu Submission; Power delivery: Furutech eTP-8, Room: ~6x4m
Review component retail: €5'500/pr
New Platinum 3G range
1972 + 50 = 2022. If 6moons hadn't launched in 2002, we might celebrate our 50th this year. Alas, we're not even halfway there. Since I started late, we also won't reach that milestone under my baton. Yet another outfit across the narrow Irish pond just arrived. Huzzah & hurray!
You see, 1972 is when Iranian engineer Mo Iqbal founded Monitor Audio outside the UK's Cambridge. Already four years later, expansions necessitated relocation to Rayleigh in Essex. By 1991 he introduced his ceramic-coated aluminium/magnesium aka C-CAM cone whose many descendants still happily pump out the jams today. By 1997 Mo Iqbal had sold his company to a group of audiophiles who by 2000 introduced RST. That's Monitor speak for embedding stiffening dimples or ridges across their cones. 2006 saw the first HiVe II port. It's more Monitor speak for a rifled straight barrel that accelerates air flow with reduced turbulence hence high velocity.
A year later Monitor had their own ribbon tweeter; RDT cones bonding 40-micron thin C-CAM skins to honeycomb Nomex cores for reduced moving mass; a new tapered-line sub chamber for midrange loading; and a dual-concentric driver. 2010 saw ARC, an anti-resonance mineral-loaded polymer composite for vibration damping and to prevent propagation of standing waves and modal resonances. 2015 bowed a perforated nylon ring coupler calibrated to be rigid up to the crossover frequency but act as a spring above it. That damps surplus high frequencies in the driver/voice-coil interface. A year later the firm had their own air-motion transformer tweeter dubbed MPD for micro-pleated diaphragm. It's also when they acquired electronics brand Roksan. Success grows appetites.
By 2019 they added the Blok brand of hifi racks. 2020 saw a new cone geometry to optimize membrane-to-surround transitions; plus a uniform-dispersion waveguide to improve time alignment, wider directivity and a lowered crossover frequency. A year later that waveguide was in its 2nd generation. So was their rigid-surface tech of dimpled patterns across a driver membrane.
For their 50th anniversary, Monitor didn't rest on their laurels. Not only did they launch this Limited Edition Silver 100 monitor in green/gold finery John Darko just reviewed. They used Munich HighEnd to preview the radical Concept 50 3-way below. That inverts KEF's Blade bass array of four closely clustered 20cm woofers by firing them against each other so in not out. Then it executes KEF's dual-concentric driver with six discrete 5cm mids surrounding a central AMT. Even the twin-hull enclosure isn't MDF but thermo-formed mineral/acrylic stone whilst the 7-driver array combines 3D-printed resin with aluminium. Still this year they also bowed the new four-deep Platinum Series 3G range shown above. What's more, there's RDT III, a new membrane layup for 3G mid and bass drivers. To their C-CAM recipe with foam core it adds two 90°-crossed directional carbon-fiber skins. Those enforce still more pistonic behavior. There's also MPD III, the 3rd generation AMT which gained 20'000 cycles to now go out to 60kHz. Hey, it's the UK. When it rains, it pours.
Catching our breath whilst drying out, let's take stock and for today make the smallest 3rd-gen Platinum our object of desire.
Horizontally opposed woofers inside the slot plus a purely decorative item between them as seen at Munich HighEnd 2022.
It's this 6-inch 2-way with 44Hz rear port and 2'850Hz filter. It comes in gloss black or ebony plus satin white. Etched inlays dress up the finish. Threaded belly receivers anticipate the matching Platinum 2G stand shown above. 85dB sensitivity is on the lowish side but paid for with a -6dB 37/28Hz free-field/in-room bass quote. At 15.2kg this is stout for a stand mount yet at 40 x 22 x 32cm HxWxD, dims don't overscale to über-monitor turf. By not breaching the 4Ω threshold just touching it at 180Hz, drive requirements promise to be relatively modest.
