Monitor Audio Studio 89 Review

Design

• 7.6kg per speaker
• 340 x 157 x 361mm (HxWxD)
• Multiple finishes

Tall and thin is fine up to a point, and then it starts to look a bit weird – just ask Peter Crouch.

Happily, the Studio 89 stay just about on the right side of the line – by prevailing standards their 340 x 157 x 361mm (HWD) proportions are odd, there’s no doubt, especially when you realise they’re deeper than they are tall. But they just about pull it off – and the bespoke stands Monitor Audio has developed help with the harmony of the speakers’ appearance quite a bit.

But while the look is a matter of taste, there’s no disputing the way these speakers are built and finished. The gloss black finish (as well as a white gloss finish that you see here) is deep and lustrous, and it contrasts very pleasantly with the copper-y colour of the mid/bass drivers positioned in the aluminium front baffle.

The little badges that wrap around two sides of the speaker are the same colour, and if ever a typeface said 1989 it’s the one these badges are sporting. 

Specification

• MPD III tweeter; 2 x 108mm RDT III mid/bass driver
• Rear-facing bass reflex slots
• 48Hz – 60kHz frequency response

Purity of purpose is what Monitor Audio is shooting for here, and there’s really no arguing with what the company has deployed here.

For instance, the drive units here are arranged vertically – and the fact that it adds a fair bit of visual drama to the speakers’ appearance is, apparently, just a happy accident.

A pair of 108mm RDT III mid/bass drivers are positioned either side of an MPD III tweeter – this MTM (mid/tweeter/mid) arrangement, reckons Monitor Audio, offers sound dispersion advantages thanks to its vertical symmetry.

The RDT III mid/bass drivers are a development of the C-CAM technology Monitor Audio has been refining for many a year now. A combination of three thin layers of ceramic-coated aluminium/magnesium, carbon weave and Nomex honeycomb core produce a light, responsive driver – it’s positioned in front of a powerful motor system that uses a magnet bigger than the cone itself.

The MPD III tweeter uses low-mass diaphragm pleats for smooth, rapid high-frequency response. Its square radiating area is designed for equal directivity both horizontally and vertically, and its painstakingly designed waveguide contributes to its directivity and soundstaging abilities too.

The crossover that divides the electrical signals between the drivers is a new design using polypropylene and polyester capacitors. Along with air-core and low-loss laminated steel-core inductors, the crossover is designed for optimal signal transfer and minimal distortion.

The driver array is augmented by a couple of narrow velocity ports positioned at the top and the bottom of the rear of each cabinet. The large port area keeps internal pressure and airflow within the cabinet balanced, and reduces turbulence – with the result, says Monitor Audio, that airflow is smooth and bass response is significant.

The cabinet’s back panel also features substantial rhodium-plated, precision-machined speaker terminals that only add to the impression of engineering that’s gone above and beyond.

The front baffle of the cabinet is a slice of aluminium isolated from the main body of the cabinet by a dense layer of foam. The baffle, and the drive units it houses, are then secured using ‘through-both’ technology running from the rear of the drivers to the rear of the cabinet.

The idea is to end up with a very rigid cabinet structure in which the drive units can operate, effectively,  in isolation – and offer cleaner, less coloured sound as a result. This arrangement also means there are no visible fixings or screw-heads to mar the appearance of the speakers – which is nice.

Sound Quality

• Balanced and lavishly detailed presentation
• Tremendous rhythmic positivity
• Expansive and dynamic sound

There are lots of aspects of the Studio 89 performance and presentation that are easy to admire and even easier to enjoy. But what’s most immediately striking about the way these speakers sound is just how much they seem to be enjoying themselves.

Once through a straightforwardly good-time recording like Disappointing by John Grant and Tracey Thorn is enough for the Studio 89 to explain quite a lot about themselves. They have the sort of vigour and alertness that the tune thrives on, a sense of engagement that’s not always easy to come by no matter how expensive your speakers might be.

But the Monitor Audio are no simple party animals. They summon a large, persuasive soundstage that allows every element of the recording the space it needs in which to operate, and are always a spacious listen even when a tune is dense or muddily mixed.

Despite this ability to create elbow-room, though, they present music as a singular event, as a performance, much more than as a collection of individual events. Everything is quite tightly unified, nothing sounds remote or dislocated – and this is true if you’re listening to voice-and-guitar or to a massed symphony orchestra gearing up for the final assault.

Detail levels are high throughout the frequency range – if your electronics can hand it over, the Studio 89 will reveal every scrap of information in a recording no matter how minor or how fleeting. They can contextualise all of this information really well, too – every part of a recording gets the appropriate weighting. Even the most transient details of harmonic variation is a solo piano are identified.

But – and this is very important – this analysis is not at the expense of entertainment. Quite the opposite, in fact. Despite not being the most forward or upfront speaker you ever heard, the Studio 89 nevertheless gets on the good food at every opportunity – it expresses rhythms with real positivity and gives music the sort of momentum it requires. Dynamic headroom is considerable, and big shifts in intensity or simple volume are delivered explicitly.

The tonal balance is nicely judged – it’s the perfect Goldilocks of ‘not too hot, not too cold – just right’. Frequency response is even, from the (deep, textured and expressive) low end to the (bright, substantial and lavishly detailed) top end – and in between, the voice of Grant and Thorn are given a whole stack of character and attitude, so their intentions and emotional state are made just as plain as their technique.

The crossover point between mid/bass drivers and high-frequency unit is, effectively, imperceptible. If you’re after sonic fireworks, a sort of audio grabbing by the lapels, these are not the loudspeakers for you – they’re far too measured and judicious to indulge in that sort of feral behaviour. But if you’re after an expert balance of insight and entertainment, the Studio 89 have you covered – and in some style.  

Should you buy it?