The Monitor Audio design team was given the brief to create a powerful yet elegant premium loudspeaker that would grace any setting. The new Studio is the result of this effort, and it delivers what the company says is exceptional audio performance from its beautifully constructed cabinet. With a sleek silhouette, unique design features, and featuring technologies from Monitor Audio’s flagship Platinum II series, the new Studio is meant to set a fresh benchmark.
Studio (MSRP: $1,400 pair U.S.) is designed to be a high-end loudspeaker offering absolute performance from a strikingly compact cabinet. The shape and configuration has been designed with the sole intention of delivering the most faithful sound reproduction possible.
The grille-less design ensures the speaker’s voice is clear and true and lets the drivers become an eye-catching focal point. The two metallic-silver RDT II speaker cones deliver an optimum high-end performance. The honeycomb tweeter cover adds a contemporary edge to the speaker’s form, and the bespoke solid-metal logo at the cabinet’s base gives a stylish design touch.
Studio is handcrafted and available in a satin black, white, or grey finish. To ensure performance, an optional bespoke floor stand is available.
The dual 4-inch drivers are those used in the flagship Platinum PL500 II speaker, and they have been modified to produce bass, as well as mid-range detail. The RDT II cones from Platinum II are housed in a bespoke cast polymer chassis, which improves rigidity and damping characteristics. As with Platinum II, the drivers are designed to be incredibly low in distortion and use the same magnetic design principles, as well as material choice. An MPD (Micro Pleated Diaphragm) high frequency transducer has been designed to provide incredible articulation due to the low mass diaphragm. MPD transducers work like a super-fast accordion by rapidly squeezing the pleats to produce a smooth, wide, naturally fast response way into the ultra-sonic band. As a result, the sound is more lifelike, releasing the high harmonic spectrum of every note without the distortion that blurs definition.
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The super slim cabinet is tuned using two rear-mounted HiVe II slot ports mounted at the top and bottom of the cabinet. This positioning ensures the pressure inside the cabinet is balance symmetrically. The large port surface area prevents turbulence and subsequent air noise, which can be a problem in small size cabinets. HiVe II technology ensures air moves in and out much quicker than a conventional port, resulting in fast, powerful bass coupled with superior transient response. Hi-grade Polypropylene film capacitors, air-core and laminated steel-core inductors have been selected to preserve the best possible signal integrity. The purist electrical chain is complemented by a pair of precisely machined terminals developed for the Platinum II Series. These have been Rhodium plated to provide the lowest contact resistance and long-term consistency. The drivers are surrounded and clamped by a rigid die-cast aluminum sub-baffle, to provide rigidity.
The mechanical structure is enhanced further using Monitor Audio’s bolt-through driver technology to provide the ultimate cabinet bracing.
