I've owned 2 pairs of MA speakers in years past, the RM852 and GR10. I admired them both a lot- the GR10 is one of my favorite standmounts. Only the "wispy" sounding top end kept it from being a permanent member of my stables.
I'm always been on the lookout for "giant killer" speakers, and of course, have never really found any. Some, such as (lately) the Ascend Sierra 1, are very listenable and offer great value, but they don't challenge the really good stuff.
The RS6 came out around 2005 as an upgrade to the Silver S6, and have had tons of rave reviews. Bob Reina of Stereophile enthused that he could find no flaws in them, and put them at the top of his list of "affordable" speakers. S-phile rated them Class B!
Now that the used price for good pairs has dropped to about half their new $999 price, they seemed to be a good time to check out another "giant killer".
The MA RS6 is a small floostanding 2.5 way speaker, having "ceramic" coated aluminum cone drivers, as most Monitor Audio upper lines of speakers do.
The cabinets are pretty solid, and sport quite nice wood veneers. My wife likes them!
So- are they as good as the reviewers say they are? In summary, not quite, IMO, but surprisingly close.
As good as they are, I will write this as if they are serious speakers, not considering price. In other words, nitpicky.
The first thing that struck me was the truly wonderful presentation of the heart of the range, from about 100-2khz. It is very uncolored, 3 dimensional, clear and open. Soundstaging is very good and instruments often seem to come from well outside the speaker's boundaries. While not quite as transparent to the deepest layer as my 4-5 times the price competitors (Volent VL-2 and Selah Tempestas), the middle range presentation is beautiful, balanced, quite transparent, dynamic and detailed. Very realistic indeed, and more "upfront" than most speakers. It's hard to pick out one type of material; it all sounds very good. I'd give the middle ranges B+ to A- on an absolute basis.
The bass response is quite deep for such a small speaker, strong to at least 40 hz. It is punchy and life like, with a clear presentation of leading edge transients on basses and drums. There is a relatively small amount of overhang, but not so much as to obscure the bass details in a major way. Each woofer has its own ported sub-enclosure. MA supplies foam plugs, and recommends their use on the rear port when close to the wall. I found the bass to be tighter with it in place, but the room and placement has a lot to do with that. I'd grade the bass as a solid B.
Now the tricky part comes on the top end. The top end is very detailed, extended and open, with delicate details very clear and distinct, getting somewhat close to good ribbons (my other 3 pair of speakers all use ribbon tweeters).
However, looking at the S'Phile graphs shows a rising tendency to the output from 1500 hz. and up, with some peakiness, and it sounds like it. Certainly this adds to the lively, upfront sound, but the top end energy is a bit too "loud", so snares in drums and sibilance are a bit too prominent, and other high end sounds are a bit too forward in the mix. As-is, I'll give the top end a B-, the wonderful clarity being attended by a bit too much output. It is worth noting that the replacement RX6 has taken criticism on this point to heart. The S-phile measurements of that speaker indicate that the top end emphasis and peakiness looks to have been corrected, and Bob Reina reports this is the case in his review.
All in all, I like these a lot. They get a solid B grade on an absolute scale from me overall, well above what I've heard under $1000, including such the Sierra 1. I can't imagine better sound available for the current used prices for these. In my case, the tweaker in me demands I open them up and experiment with some simple tweeter crossover changes, and maybe re-wiring, to tame the top end some. If successful these may earn a long term berth in one of my systems. They are that good.
If the RX6 has truly got the top end balance right, it should put a serious scare into other makers who play in the $1-2k class.
BTW, I found they sound very nice indeed with a Virtue Audio 1.2 amp. They are fairly sensitive at 90 db/w, and will play at decent volumes, and the Tripath sound seems to work well with the top end of the speakers. Still a bit pushed forward on top, but easy on the ears nonetheless. I've decided to keep them in my bedroom system, with that amp. Tube amps that are a bit soft sounding on top might work well also.
I think for music lovers or audiophiles who don't want to shell out big $ to get "perfect" sound, and who like a lively, upfront presentation and can match upstream gear and cabling so as to not exacerbate (or even reduce) the top end emphasis, these may be the only speakers ever needed. They are lively, open, fun to listen to, very well built and they get the heart of the music right at a very good price.
MA RS6 site:
http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/support/past-products/silver-rs/rs6/
