Monitor Audio Gold 300 6G Review
With the 6th generation of its Gold series, Monitor Audio brings high-grade high-end technology from its reference models into a price range that is also attractive for regular earners. But what does the new technology deliver? Let’s find out.
by Thomas Kirsche
If reading “Monitor Audio Gold 300 6G” gives you a feeling of déjà vu, don’t worry. It’s easy to explain. We already had three speakers from the new Gold generation under our care. Back then, we tested the Monitor Audio Gold 500 6G, 100 6G, and C250 6G in a home theater set-up along with the Anthra W12 subwoofer, which also came from the British speaker workshop.
We were extremely impressed by the performance of these speakers. Among other things, we wrote about the film sound of the set-up: “There is such an all-encompassing surround effect that at times we thought the Atmos speakers in the ceiling were active. Of course, that wasn’t the case. But it shows how finely resolved each sound comes out of the speakers.”
We also fired up the system with music, specifically surround music from Peter Gabriel’s album “i/o.” And we noted: “Stage, detail resolution, and clarity as well as dynamics and timing are always spot on. We are impressed by the sensational sound quality Monitor Audio delivers for relatively little money.” With so much praise, it’s certainly understandable that we didn’t want to miss the chance to also inspect the smaller floor-standing speakers of the series, the Gold 300 6G, more closely.
Design
If you still remember the Gold 300 5G, i.e., the predecessor in the 5th generation, you might recall that it looked much bulkier than the new 6G class. No wonder, since the latest generation now measures only 18.5 centimeters in width. The Gold 300 5G had 24 centimeters. The drivers have also changed. The predecessor featured two eight-inch long-throw woofers, one 2.5-inch midrange driver, plus an MPD high-frequency transducer (AMT). In the 6G, there are two 6-inch (152 mm) woofers, a 3-inch (76 mm) midrange driver, and an MPD tweeter of the 3rd generation. Now it becomes clear why the Gold 300 6G can be slimmer. Although having smaller woofers doesn’t necessarily mean less power in the bass range. We’ll come back to the tuning or the speaker’s sound later.
- 7Review earns Amazon affiliate commissions from qualifying purchases.
Another point we want to mention is the various color options in which the speakers are available. There’s a matte white, classic piano black, and a gorgeous Makassar veneer. Makassar is an exotic precious wood from around the Indonesian city of Makassar. It’s characterized by dark black-brown stripes on a golden-brown to reddish background. It’s considered a luxury material and is partially subject to trade restrictions because it comes from threatened tree species. Therefore, Monitor Audio only uses a real wood beech veneer tinted with Makassar here. The Brits care about ecology. And in this way, we can bring the beautiful look of that wood into our living room without encroaching on endangered ecosystems.
Gold 6G: A New Independent Development
Now we’d like to say a few words about the sixth generation of the Gold series. Monitor Audio broke a rule here. Up to 5G, it was common for the Gold series to be a scaled-down version of the Platinum series. As Jens Ragenow from the German Monitor Audio distributor (Pannes Vertriebs KG) told us, the drivers of the Platinum line were used in the Gold series and then the speaker was tuned accordingly so that the drivers would also sound good in the Gold series—essentially the well-known trickle-down principle. This could lead to the Gold series up to the 5th generation behaving a bit “finicky.” After all, drivers from the premium series (Platinum) logically demand amplifiers that act with enough power and are made for premium loudspeakers. The Gold series, however, is more cost-effective by design, and thus typically pairs with amplifiers from a lower price class. This caused the mentioned “finickiness,” i.e., the Gold series could only fully develop its potential with a limited selection of amplifiers.
With the new generation of the Gold series, i.e., the 6G, things are completely different now. Although it uses technologies from Monitor Audio’s reference products such as Hyphn and Platinum, the drivers, cabinet, crossover, etc., were developed directly for the Gold series. It is thus an independent development that focuses precisely on the requirements of this series. As a result, it’s no longer finicky at all. It works well with practically all amplifiers commonly found in this price range. In short: it’s more accommodating and easier to drive.
Sweetspot
We’d like to briefly recall the Gold 500 6G test. There, we discussed the innovation in the speaker to minimize edge diffraction at the tweeters. The Gold 500 6G, like the Gold 100 6G, uses an AMT tweeter that protrudes slightly from the top of the speaker cabinet. It reminded us of B&W’s tweeter-on-top design principle. In any case, it reduces the possibility that sound waves will spread out directly on the baffle and form resonances.
The Gold 300 6G, however, doesn’t do that. Here, the tweeter is built into the cabinet in a traditional way, meaning the top of the speaker has no “bulge” but is flat. Does that mean we get edge diffraction here? In this case, Monitor Audio does what all other manufacturers do. They use the crossover to drive the tweeter so that this phenomenon is essentially eliminated.
And the next question arises immediately: why does Monitor Audio do it “with bulge” in one speaker in the same series and “without” in another? The answer is simple: the British tailor their speakers to different use cases. For example, if you have a cozy living room with a couch in the speaker sweet spot and you want to treat yourself to a pair of really good floor-standing speakers, you pick the Gold 300. They are ideal for smaller rooms from 18 to 35 square meters, where there’s only a limited area in which you want to listen to your music—namely that couch with three seating positions. If, on the other hand, you want to fill a larger room and need the largest possible sweet spot, then you’d rather go for the Monitor Audio Gold 500. Thanks to its tweeter that protrudes slightly from the cabinet, it can create a wider soundstage. Of course, it’s also better equipped in the bass range, which is especially important for larger rooms. Meanwhile, the Gold 300 still fills our 39-square-meter test room with sound. Only the sweet spot isn’t as broadly defined as with the Gold 500 6G.
Technical Refinements
Like the Hyphn models that cost over US$84,000, the Monitor Audio Gold 300 uses the metal diaphragm technology known by the acronym HDT. That stands for Hexagonal Diaphragm Technology and means that the drivers feature a hexagonal pattern. You can see it well in our photos. These symmetrical shapes in the diaphragm interrupt break-up frequencies. In addition, the diaphragm consists of a layer of Nomex that lies between aluminum and carbon-fiber membranes. Both the material and the symmetrical design not only expand the frequency range that the midrange and bass drivers can reproduce, but also increase their clarity and accuracy.
The MPD III tweeter is an AMT and a specialty of Monitor Audio. It provides precise highs that sound very clear and accurate. This precision is said to deliver more detailed music playback, making it more lifelike and very realistic—at least according to Monitor Audio. We’ll soon hear if that’s true. On the back, we find the 300’s connection terminal. It’s recessed flush into the cabinet and impresses with high-quality binding posts for bi-wiring or bi-amping. Of course, bridges for single-amp connection are installed at the factory. Looking further at the back, we also see two bass reflex ports and four screws. However, these don’t hold the cabinet together—no, they are threaded rods that hold the drivers in place inside the cabinet.
This is called bolt-through driver fixing and ensures that fewer vibrations are transmitted from the drivers to the cabinet. Furthermore, they don’t “rattle” in the baffle, which can happen when drivers are only screwed in there. On the contrary, they are rock-solidly mounted in the cabinet.
Sound Test
First off: we operate the Monitor Gold 300 in this test with the Arcam Radia A25. In fact, we initially connected them to our Watt from Audionet. However, that amplifier didn’t let the 300 floor-standers play freely but controlled them too tightly. And while it may sound strange to some readers, it’s simply too powerful. That shows once again that HiFi isn’t about superlatives like more expensive or more powerful, but about finding components that match each other. Once that’s done, the listening experience improves significantly.
The first album we stream to the A25 is “Slang Spirituals” by Lady Blackbird. The first track, “Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled),” delivers an uplifting message meaning “Don’t let your heart be weighed down by worries.” In other words, it’s a call to remain strong and hopeful in difficult times. Besides the track’s message, the musical realization is interesting. Lady Blackbird’s voice is slightly rough, distorted, the gospel choir is voluminous, and the instrumentation is extremely dense in many parts. From experience, we know that this track can sound flat and dull with less detailed speakers. However, the Gold 300 reproduces it brilliantly in our test room. Lady Blackbird’s voice actually separates itself from the rest, and “Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled)” becomes tangible and impressively three-dimensional in the listening room.
To get an even stronger sense of the 300s’ bass, we turn to Geoff Castellucci’s interpretation of the classic “The Sound of Silence.” This track pushes even subwoofers to their limits because the bass is so intense you can feel it in your gut. Despite their compact size and relatively small woofers, the Monitor Audio floor-standers reproduce the song with enough power to make us grin from ear to ear. We remember much larger speakers that didn’t handle this piece nearly as well. Certainly, a subwoofer could deliver even more depth here, but we’re testing floor-standers in a pair priced under US$5,300. The bass performance of these speakers is not only very good but outstanding. The detail resolution and resulting three-dimensionality we already experienced with Lady Blackbird are even more evident on this track, so much so that we listen to it five times in a row.
Since this reviewer is a big fan of radio drama, we naturally also listen to a few dramas through the Monitor Audios. Among them is the new piece by Dunja Arnaszus, “Den Hund begraben” (“Burying the Dog”). It’s about a woman who, after much back and forth, decides to bury her dog’s ashes in the nearby cemetery. But the cemetery gardener wants to create a biodiversity paradise for cuckoo bumblebees and other insects. It’s a truly witty radio drama with great soundscapes and fantastic voice actors. The narrator’s voice is three-dimensional and stands out perfectly from the ambient sounds—which seem very lifelike. The Gold 300 6G turns the radio drama into a tangible, immersive experience, as if we were there in person. You have to hear that for yourself!
Specs
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Device Class | Floorstanding Speaker |
| Price Range | Midrange |
| Manufacturer | Monitor Audio |
| Model | Gold 300 6G |
| Price (RRP) | €4748 per pair |
| Dimensions (W × H × D) | 34 × 110 × 46 cm |
| Weight | 21.2 kg |
Technical Data
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Design | Bass Reflex, 3‑Way |
| Impedance | 4 Ω |
| Sensitivity | 87 dB |
| Frequency Response | 28 Hz – 60 kHz |
| Power Handling | 130 – 500 W |
| Recommended Room Size | 18 m² to 35 m² |
| Individual Sound Settings | No |
| Inputs | Terminal/Banana, Bi‑Wiring |
Verdict
The Monitor Audio Gold 300 6G impresses across the board. With its slimmer design, optimized drivers, and independent development, this sixth generation stands out clearly from its predecessors. Especially noteworthy is the combination of detail fidelity, three-dimensionality, and an exceptional bass performance that eclipses even bigger speakers. Thanks to the new, more accommodating tuning, they unfold their full potential with nearly any amplifier—a big advantage for all hi-fi fans.
Features
• Exquisite design
• Independent development
• Hexagonal Diaphragm Technology
Pros
+ Three-dimensional sound
+ Suitable for many amplifiers
+ Dry, powerful bass
Cons
- Limited sweet spot
Rating
- Bass Reproduction:
19.5/20 → 9.8/10 - Midrange Reproduction:
19.5/20 → 9.8/10 - Treble Reproduction:
20/20 → 10/10 - Soundstage:
10/10 → 10/10 - Playback Quality:
69/70 → 9.9/10 - Features/Build Quality:
10/10 → 10/10 - User Friendliness:
7/10 → 7/10 - Up/Down Adjustments:
None - Intermediate Score:
86/90 → 9.6/10 - Price/Performance:
9/10 → 9/10 - Overall Result:
95% → 9.5/10
Monitor Audio Gold 300 6G - Live erleben bei HEIMKINOWELTEN.DE
QUAD Revela 2 Review
Founded in July 2014, 7Review is a free audio resource for beginners, and we're dedicated to helping you create the ultimate movie-watching experience right at home. We pull insights from top audio magazines and trusted industry sources to bring you well-researched, reliable reviews and tips. Whether you're a home cinema pro or just starting out, we aim to give you the info you need to make the best choices for your setup.
