Bookshelf Speaker Reviews

Performance
Build Quality
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Outstanding musical accuracy
Surprisingly deep bass & wide‑open dynamics for size
Very handsome piano‑black finish
Minus
Rear ports mean they’re not bookshelf‑friendly
No protective grilles supplied

THE VERDICT
Monitor Audio’s smallest Studio‑series model delivers reference‑grade balance, imaging, and scale far beyond its modest dimensions—so long as you treat it like the serious loudspeaker it is.

I’ve had a soft spot for compact speakers for decades. An expertly engineered stand‑mount can rival or even surpass many floorstanders in stereo imaging and tonal accuracy—everything except the very lowest octave—and they’re easier to live with. What’s not to like?

Performance
Build Quality
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Compact
Clear and precise sound
Wall mountable
Tunable subwoofer EQ
Minus
4 ohms impedance
Low sensitivity

The Verdict
This 5.1 HTiB speaker system combined with a suitable AVR offers a high-performance yet compact alternative to soundbars. The concentric driver satellites provide pinpoint imaging that results in cohesive surround-sound envelopment. Even with stereo music you get a listening experience that defies expectations for a system this small in size and cost.

Home Theater in a Box Done Right
The classic HTiB—an all-in-one subwoofer/satellite speaker system—was long ago supplanted by soundbars as the go-to upgrade for TV audio. But a solid HTiB system, with the speakers properly placed and paired with the right AVR, is a great way to get superior surround-sound on a budget—so long as the components are high quality.

Speakers
Performance
Build Quality
Value

Subwoofer
Performance
Features
Build Quality
Value

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Lively and dynamic sound
Optimized for movies
Outstanding value for money
Minus
Awkward form factor
Drab cosmetic

THE VERDICT
By combining the benefits of both THX certification and Dolby Atmos, this superb high-value home theater speaker package from Monoprice knocks it out of the park.

What's in a name? If visions of $10 HDMI and iPhone Lightning cables pop into your head when you hear the name Monoprice, you should know that the company introduced the premium Monolith brand a few years back to move beyond its image as an online peddler of low-cost cables. Think of Monolith as being a bit like Genesis is to Hyundai: a fresh name free of the parent brand's bargain basement associations.

It was 40 years ago today (well, just about) that Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play. What a year 1967 was! It was also the year of Are You Experienced by Jimi Hendrix, Disraeli Gears by Cream, Piper at the Gates of Dawn by Pink Floyd, Surrealistic Pillow by the Jefferson Airplane, The Doors by the Doors, and that album with the banana on the cover by the Velvet Underground. A scan of Rolling Stone magazine’s “40 Essential Albums of 1967” also turns up Moby Grape, the Hollies, James Brown, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Arlo Guthrie, the Beach Boys, Tim Buckley, the Kinks—please, a sustained round of applause for the Kinks—Van Morrison, Dionne Warwick, Buffalo Springfield, the Moody Blues, Love, the 13th Floor Elevators, and (a previously undiscovered gap in my listening life) the Serpent Power. Thank God I wasn’t into drugs then. Look at what I would have missed.

I've just ignored Morel's Nova system for more than a month. Occasionally a man of letters gets busy. An editor called: Have you got time for another assignment? Sure. A few more called: Can you get this, this, and this done in two weeks? Take the money and run, I always say. My column was due. My other column was due. I was putting the finishing touches on two books at the same time—please buy them both, they're very good—attacking printouts with a red pen to get myself away from the computer.

Performance
Value
Build Quality

Life is full of strange synchronicities. Around the time my friends in the country were posting pictures of their spring mushroom harvests on Facebook, I just happened to be setting up Morel’s SoundSpot Music Theatre 2 Ultra, a 5.1-channel satellite/subwoofer set based on the adorably spherical SP-2 sat and PSW10 sub. Would Morels in my system sound as good as morels taste on pizza? In omelets or pasta? With steak or veal? With asparagus? In wine or cream sauces? In gravy?

Starting from Zero

Loudspeakers somehow have a more intimate relationship with their listeners than other audio components. They interact directly with the senses, causing changes in air pressure that the human body perceives—in this case, mainly through the ears and diaphragm. Listening to a system at reference level with a true subwoofer is a full-body experience that will induce physiological changes in the audience. So perhaps it’s fitting that whereas we buy HDTVs and A/V receivers from relatively few manufacturers, the speaker industry supports a couple dozen fairly well-known companies, even more lesser-knowns, and countless unknowns. Some people even build speakers in their basements as a hobby. NHT is one of the more pedigreed names. Unlike a lot of others, it has not only survived five changes in ownership, but it’s done so with one of its two founders in attendance.