Monitor Audio Bronze 50 7G 2-Way Passive Desktop Bookshelf Speakers - White

Monitor Audio has been making the Bronze 50 bookshelf speakers in one form or another for 25 years. As the name suggests, the 7G range is the 7^th iteration of the product, designed for the new audiophile or for someone with no desire to spend bigger on the company’s Silver, Gold or, more recently, Platinum series loudspeakers. 

There are five models in the Bronze range. This 50 7G is the smallest of the lot, and seems like it would be ideal as part of an all-in-one or desktop hi-fi system in tandem with electronics from the likes of Cambridge Audio, NAD or similar. I’ve been familiar with Monitor Audio and its products for 30 years or more, and am very interested to find out how a new £500 entry-level model stacks up in the here and now.

The Bronze 50 7G directly replaces 2020’s £400 Bronze 50 6G, and has been redesigned from the ground up. Everything has been looked at and, where possible, refined or changed according to the rules of the company’s Transparent Design Philosophy.

For instance, the 18mm plywood baffle is new. I have lately heard and reviewed a spate of plywood-baffle speakers, some of them very expensive. It is strong and extremely rigid, so won’t vibrate and thus influence the sound. The 7G’s bass/mid driver has grown from the 6G's 127mm to 152mm, and is made from a lightweight ceramic-coated aluminium magnesium (C-CAM). This material was originally intended for the aerospace industries as it is very light but also very rigid - it allows for excellent pistonic motion, which means it reduces break-up issues (the bending that can cause distortion). Thanks to a larger voice-coil and stronger magnets it now has better power- handling, though at 86dB/m is still fairly inefficient by today’s standards (even if that’s a 1dB increase on the previous model). 

The 25mm dome tweeter is a C-CAM gold-plated model - Monitor Audio introduced its first gold-domed tweeter back in 1986. It has a new UD (‘uniform dispersion’) Waveguide II intended to create a clearer, wider soundstage and improve time-alignment, and has a cute etched hexagonal aluminium dome grille to protect it from my cat and any stray children. The drivers use through-bolt bracing, tightly coupled to the rear of the cabinet, in an effort to reduce internal resonances. 

For the review I use 90W RMS KT88 valve and 45W solid-state amplifiers, and it seems evident this speaker works well with amplifiers up to 100W / 8-ohm (the company suggests 200W if using a 4-ohm output amplifier). My review sample is finished in white - black and a walnut veneer are also available. At 335 x 185 x 328mm (HxWxD) it is fairly small, but nevertheless a little larger than the previous model.  That important plywood baffle is exposed at the corners, not painted over - so you can see it in all its glory. For me it looks slightly ‘DIY’, especially in white - but with the magnetically attached front grilles in place it does look contemporary. And this is a better-looking grille than on the 6G, too.