Bookshelf Speakers — Soundsmith Monarch

The Monarch is a two-way monitor for stand mounting from Soundsmith, the American company best known for phono cartridges that also builds amplifiers, preamplifiers and speakers. All Soundsmith speakers are designed by Peter Ledermann, who spent many years as Director of Engineering at the Bozak loudspeaker company, working alongside Rudy Bozak, and the firm presents the Monarch as a summary of his long work on small enclosures. At a 2012 US audio show it was priced at about USD 3,000 per pair, and the current US list price is USD 8,999.95.

Key specs that matter

A 6-inch long-throw woofer covers the bass and midrange, and a 1-inch dome tweeter with a fabric diaphragm, modified by Soundsmith for wider bandwidth, handles the top octaves. Quoted response runs from 47 Hz to 22 kHz, and sensitivity is 88 dB measured on axis at 1 W and 1 m. Each cabinet is 35.6 cm tall, 21.6 cm wide and 31.8 cm deep and weighs 9.3 kg. Standard finishes are piano black, cherry and beech, with other woods and finishes made to special order, and workmanship is covered for 2 years.

Engineering and use context

Two protective features are built into the cabinet. A tweeter protection circuit guards the high-frequency driver against overload, and a lamp on the speaker acts as a peak power indicator, flickering when the amplifier drives the Monarch harder than it should. In effect it works as a clipping indicator for the owner. Soundsmith says the enclosure uses the most stable loudspeaker materials and production methods it knows, though it does not publish the panel material or the port arrangement. The woofer cones are finished in canary yellow and are hidden when the grille is fitted. Soundsmith has offered a ribbon tweeter in place of the standard dome as a paid upgrade of about USD 700. Neither the crossover frequency nor the nominal impedance is published for this model.

Pairing

With its moderate sensitivity the Monarch does not need a very powerful amplifier, but with no impedance figure published the amplifier choice should be confirmed with Soundsmith. Soundsmith's own amplifiers and preamplifiers, together with its cartridges, allow a complete system from the same designer.

Alternatives

The smaller Soundsmith Dragonfly is a rear-ported stand-mount weighing 7.48 kg with the same sensitivity.