Loudspeakers

Monitor Audio's close-to-entry-level Bronze series wants to offer something for everyone – the full range runs to eight models, including various multichannel options – but it's perhaps the Bronze 200 floorstander that many potential buyers will investigate first. A slim two-and-half-way tower speaker priced £569, with attractive finish options (white, walnut, urban grey and black), plus driver technologies borrowed from pricier models, it appears at face value to offer performance potential and that hi-fi holy grail: value for money.

There are, of course, myriad more affordable floorstanders for anyone making the step up from bookshelf models or building their first stereo system. The Bronze 200 therefore has its sights set on music-lovers seeking something better than budget, but still without taking up too much floorspace. Those with excess carpet can consider the flagship Bronze 500 (£770), another two-and-half-way model with larger bass/mid drivers. At the other end of the scale are the standmount Bronze 50 (£260) and Bronze 100 [£320, HFN Aug '20] – although the latter is hardly 'small'.

Elementary School
Monitor Audio is into its sixth generation of Bronze speakers, launching the first model in 1998, and most of us are now familiar with the brand's hierarchy. Platinum takes the top spot, with Gold, Silver and Bronze offering progressively lower prices, smaller cabinets and less opulent finishes. Yet all but the premium Platinum loudspeakers feature the same proprietary C-CAM driver technology.

The Bronze 200 has two such mid/bass units, both 140mm in diameter. This size is far more typical around this price point than the 200mm units found on the Bronze 500 and big-boned Bronze 100, and allows this speaker to be extraordinarily slender. One of the bass/mid cones touches base with the C-CAM tweeter at 2.4kHz while both reinforce the low-end below 700Hz.

Keep It Clean
The slim nature of the Bronze 200 makes it hard to imagine it upsetting the feng shui of any environment. In fact, as tower speakers go, it's possibly the smallest I've seen – only 909mm tall (with its outrigger feet) and shallow at 265mm. Naturally, MA promises a 'surprisingly large sound'.

The C-CAM units have been upgraded for this sixth generation, with revisions to cone geometry and FEA optimisation of the surround overlap (something the company calls Damped Concentric Mode technology). While this hasn't changed the look of the bass/mid drivers drastically, the 25mm dome tweeter now gets a flush-fitting protective grille, all part of the new 'Uniform Dispersion' waveguide said to improve off-axis listening further.

When I auditioned the Bronze 100 last summer, I was quite smitten by the loudspeaker's fit and finish. Happily, the Bronze 200 continues the good work, with its silver mid/bass cones, ornate tweeter grille and outrigger feet adding up to a stylish-looking package. The cabinet itself features 15mm internally braced MDF walls and a 21mm front baffle (which on our white sample gets a light grey paint job), and is a feast of right angles. However, I'd agree with Monitor Audio's insistence that this gives it a 'clean and modern look' – particularly in comparison to the rather homely styling of the previous 5G models. If this loudspeaker wasn't so compact, you'd swear it cost a lot more.