By Richard H. Mak
For a second, I thought Monitor Audio had brought in a pair of Dynaudio Temptations into its demo room. They look remarkably similar.
The Platinum Series PL-500 II is Monitor Audio’s latest endeavor to climb higher on the high end audio ladder.
At US$ 30,000 dollars, the PL-500 II is their current flagship loudspeaker loaded with new technologies which are all developed in house.
The PL-500 II features a MPD (Micro Pleated Diaphragm) high frequency driver which works like a super fast accordion by rapidly squeezing the pleats, it is capable of producing notes up to 100kHz. The bass drivers are called RDT II (Rigid Diaphragm Technology), a composite sandwich structure made from low mass material to a honeycomb “Nomex” core material. Distortions are reduced by over 8 dB above 300Hz. They are bolted through the back of the chassis, which are made of MDF, internally braced and reinforced for structural rigidity.
How does it sound ? SInce it is impossible to judge a speaker of this caliber in a short few minutes I sat down and listened to “Take Five” for a bit. The PL500 II may look remarkably similar to the Dynaudio Temptations, but they carry a completely different set of sonic characteristics, I do know as I have a pair of Dynaudio Temptations at home. It is the best sounding Monitor Audio I have heard to date, though I wont be selling my Dynaudio Temptations just yet.
