Is Monitor Audio Gold 200 excelent pairing with M700s , how about the Gold 100 5th Gen?

Loudspeakers
#1

I’m saving money to buy the Monitor Audio gold 200 to sing with the combo M700s & Stellar GCD.
The Gold 200 5th Gen in my wish list is almost x 2 times + VAT vs Gold 100 same 5th gen which i can buy now, but still considering since i’m not expecting to be regretful buying it at the moment, it’s hard to make desision since the Gold 200 = Gold 100 5G + Stellar P3 ( just for DAC, Streamer while M700 direct to wall plug)
So i need your expriences if already have same situation and resolve your concerns after making decision.

BTW, My tastes are a bit cold and crisp crystal clear sound for high with huge details, bass not need to be as deep as it could. vocal should be crystal clear, Monitor Audio is my choice for long time with first buy of Silver RX 2, then move on RX 6 , RX8 then now want to up level to Gold series. Platium is out of reach.

The Gold 200 will cost much and reduce my options in to-do list this year once it bought.

Hope to hear your recommendations

Many thanks and happy new years for peoples sharing same chinese lunar new year eva.

#2

Hi @leean
Experience taught me it is always better to get the best speaker my budget allows, tick the item and look at other upgrades when time and money permit.

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#3

I have the Monitor Audio GR20 (2 sets). These are the ancestor of the Gold 200.

They make great sound. Mine are paired with a Wyred4Sound multichannel amp.

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#4

I’m not sure that at cetain levels ( 20-30%) volume will the MA gold 200 really up level over the gold 100 ?, they will be sounding different but i don’t know if that a big different or not while rhe price is almost double.
Seem that we don’t find any direct comparision between gold 100 vs gold 200 on youtube so that i can see how diff they are.
so my two options are now
1/ MA Gold 200 with all plugged to wall directly
2/ MA gold 100 with P3 for system power for all components

So will the #1 can be overcome the lack of power generator and not suffer too much from sound quality ? or will the #2 will compete in term of SQ over the #1

Anybody have idea for #1 vs #2 on sound quality ?

Thanks

#5

MA is always my taste of music, not just for their build but the SQ as well.
but the flagship is almost out of hand of most people, rare people pick the MA flagship while they have so many choices at that money level

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#6

Is your power known to fluctuate or to have a lot of noise? Do you know any audiophiles or engineers in your town / neighborhood who can shed some light on this issue? Is power an urgent issue or can it wait? Speakers would probably outlast any equipment that you have, so selecting the ones to meet your need and match taste is quite a significant decision.

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#7

Most of my listening is via headphones these days.

I bought the GR20s ten years ago as NOS B-Stock. They had been discontinued and deeply discounted. I have never seen a need to replace them.

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#8

I think i don’t have any serious problems issue with my power grid, it is deadly silence with my current system, it quite stable with just 229-230v all the time from my mail voltage meter, i’ve heard lot of benefits of power plant constitutes to the sound quality with day and night diff. So did it?
Did you notice any much different without your p15 and have components directly to the wall?

#9

I definitely did notice a difference. My surge protector was tripping a few times a day. So, usability and gear safety was at risk. After acquiring the P15, I learnt that my voltage goes up to 239 and drops down to 224V. Otherwise, my distortion is quite low between 0.4 and 0.8%
My justification for the P15 as opposed to P12, was that need additional plugs for all my stuff. Also, I wanted to be ready in case I demanding power amp.

If the power plant is a priority, would you wait a bit for speakers upgrade?

#10

i’m in the middle of the two choices , but my heart is on favor of the speaker not just the sound quality, it is also a high light for the house :slight_smile:
if going for the gold 200, it will take a while , serveral months to buy it. especially we are now in the pademic, need to back up all thing just in case.

Gold 200 is definitely a long run investment and can not be wrong with it, it is just a financial perspective considerarion at the moment

#11

Hi @leean
Tough one, isn’t it?. I would make the decision that would make me happier in the long term. So I think the best option could be getting the power unit and power cords now, but wait for a year to get the speakers you really want nothing less. Also, too many upgrades will confuse you as to where your hard earned money made a difference in your system.

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#12

yeah, tough to make up th mind. i will hold myself one or two months before decide.
Honestly, the power iissue is not the critical since my grid is still OK.

Currently i used the old trick to filter the jitter with the isolated transformer for M700 and GCD, i saw the sound quality is still good but can not be likely the demo sound of gold 200 on YouTube, i don’t have the power plant to se how big different they are with and without.

I got the 02 Pangea Audio AC 9 MKII Power Cable for the M700s and 02 Pangea Audio AC-14 for GCD and CXN V2 for now. not the flagship one but OK for the system, getting the $$$$ cables can not make the system better .

I hope i’m not going to be crazy to buy the gold 200 as hot as i get enough momeny no matter what considerations have been considered over and over again :slight_smile:

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#13

Good thinking. Yes, take your time.

Your amps, pre, and power cords are still fresh. Give them 2 months or more to reach their full potential. Also, the AQ speaker cables need longer than that but they will sound amazingly good.

#14

As I have mentioned previously, I have the Gold 200 5Gs with the SGCD and M700s. At this point I have a hard time imagining buying a “better” speaker for a long time. I also added a SP3 regenerator last September. The SP3 definitely made a difference in sound quality but not so much that I would miss it. My wiring in my house is about 70 years old and I don’t know how much of an impact is has on sound quality but I am planning on putting in a dedicated circuit with new wiring this summer. Hope this helps!

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#15

Adding the P3 made me realize how important power is. I recently had 2 dedicated circuits installed, changed to BAV 10awg for P3 and BAV 12awg for M700s and wow the best improvement ever. I think you’ll be pleased when you add your dedicated circuit.

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#16

Hey leean…

The improvement in soundquality, soundstaging on the X Y Z coordinates plus detail
brought about by power regeneration can cause your entire system perform at such
an improved level such as to make you hear your system in a whole new perpective…
As on the order having purchased an entire new upgraded system…

The foundation for you system is clean power with unclipped ac sinewaves…
it is the clipped incoming ac sinewaves that seriously cripple the listening experience,
regardless of otherwise good it is…

I found this out first hand…as a result of regenerated power…my entire system has
taken off to a much higher plane of enjoyment at any time of day…no waiting for the
late night hours for a better listening experience…

While it is good to desire a speaker upgrade…you will get the biggest achievement via
power regeneration…a different thing altogether from power conditioning…

Best wishes in your journey

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#17

I would suggest when you re-wiring the house, you should have some specific Audio AC outlet in listening room where you place the gears

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your should need to re-cable for the network as well, do them at same time, you gonna need the CAT 7 with not very much different in price compare to CAT6 but will help much with data communication with less jitter than 6A and CAT6, even you use wifi, a full mesh network and use the wire uplink everywhere in the house for the best performance

I found Ubuquiti mesh access points and their POE switch is the best in price and quality over others brand, forget Cisco -franchise product like Linksys or low cost product of cisco,
this mesh wifi access point i would suggest to use if you want wifi streaming for audio

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Mine used Ubiquiti for local private cloud,dev-ops system, and even audio wifi streaming via wireless

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you can google for the price and details

When i buy the house ( a flat with 3 bed rooms) i almost take off everything out of the house ,just keep the walls , ceilling, floor only, start re-cabling with CAT 7 and single mode optical cable inside the house, every room there is also ethernet and optic fiber cable together, on ceiling as well, the last step is interior finish.

The investment may cost you at begining , mine is >$ 5K for all equipment and labors ( i did myself over 40% of work) but you will be up to date at least 5-7 years from now.

BTW, foget the long-range with huge wifi signal router/repeater booster, the one for all , or thousand square feets coverage one. Just divide the space with number of mesh points, then combine them together with seamlessly roaming, many disvantages of old generation have been resolved with mesh point system in term of bandwidth and jitter issue

#18

Did you ever listen the Gold 100 and Gold 200 at the audio store before you buy the gold 200?
Are them really big different in the same room setup , same transport and dac… ?

#19

I haven’t listened to the Gold 100. When I was looking at speakers, I wanted a floor standing speaker and I was initially looking at the Silver 300. The second time I went to listen the Silver 300, my dealer had just gotten the Gold 200 in and suggested I listen to them side by side with the Silver 300. For me, the Gold 200 was so much better that I was sold, even at more than twice the cost. I suspect the Gold 100 will have very good sound, but I would probably want to add a subwoofer, which might bring the overall cost closer to the Gold 200.

Thanks for the information on the wiring. I was planning on using the PS Audio outlets for the dedicated stereo line. I’m still trying to decide if I want to wire for ethernet. My current wifi is very good with over 100 Mbps at the far side of the house. I’m not planning on rewiring the whole house because it will be a nightmare pulling cable to most of the outlets.

#20

Thanks for input. I’m planning on getting all BAV cords in the near future.