Monitor Audio Bronze 50 7G loudspeaker Lab Report

With its minimum 4.18ohm/200Hz impedance, the Bronze 50 7G’s nominal rating is lower, and a little tougher, than Monitor Audio’s 8ohm specification. Moreover, the ±45° swings in phase angle through the bass contribute to an EPDR that drops to 2.05ohm/125Hz, all of which suggests that this capable little box should be partnered with an equally capable budget integrated.

However, this caveat has an upside... Sensitivity, for example, is higher than the 86dB rating at 87.2dB/1kHz and 86.7dB from 500Hz-8kHz. The forward response, too, is impressively flat and even [see Graph 1] with errors of a mere ±1.9dB (both samples) coupled with an astonishingly tight 0.5dB pair matching (all re. 200Hz-20kHz). The response is flatter still with a 15° toe-in [grey trace, Graph 1] so users should look to have the Bronze 50 7G cross either in front or behind the listening position.

The 25mm C-CAM ‘gold’ tweeter has its main resonance at 30kHz [pink shaded area, Graph 1; CSD waterfall, Graph 2], rising some +8dB above the midband output, while the HF extension reaches out to a spectacular 55kHz (–6dB re. 10kHz). The grille brings a 3.5dB disruption [blue trace, Graph 1] in what is otherwise a very uniform presence band so... leave it off! Bass is necessarily limited by the 150mm driver’s throw and cabinet volume but the port has a decent output, tuned to 42Hz. Almost inevitably, there’s a pipe mode at ~1kHz (–15dB re. port tuning) which punches through to the response and CSD waterfall [Graphs 1 and 2], but such trade-offs are common [HFN Feb ’25]. Otherwise, the port extends the C-CAM woofer’s 67Hz/–6dB roll-off to deliver a diffraction-corrected bass extension of 49Hz. PM

ABOVE: Response including nearfield summed driver/port [green], freefield corrected to 1m at 2.83V [yellow], ultrasonic [pink]. L, black; R, red; grille, blue; ±15°, grey

ABOVE: Presence and treble are very clean, leaving mild port pipe/quarterwave modes between 1-2kHz

Hi-Fi News Measured Specifications:

Sensitivity (SPL/1m/2.83V – 1kHz/Mean/IEC) 87.2dB / 86.7dB / 84.6dB
Impedance modulus: minimum & maximum (20Hz–20kHz) 4.18ohm @ 200Hz
25.5ohm @ 83Hz
Impedance phase: minimum & maximum (20Hz–20kHz) –48° @ 101Hz
+46° @ 25Hz
Pair matching/Resp. error (200Hz–20kHz) 0.5dB / ±1.9dB / ±1.9dB
LF/HF extension (–6dB ref 200Hz/10kHz) 49Hz / 54.9kHz / 54.1kHz
THD 100Hz/1kHz/10kHz (for 90dB SPL/1m) 0.9% / 0.5% / 0.9%
Dimensions (HWD) / Weight (each) 335x185x328mm / 6.4kg
COMPANY INFO
Monitor Audio Ltd
Rayleigh, Essex
Supplied by: Monitor Audio Ltd
Telephone: 01268 740580
ARTICLE CONTENTS

X