Напольная акустика — Monitor Audio Bronze 500

The Bronze 500 is a floorstanding speaker of Monitor Audio's sixth-generation Bronze series, introduced in 2020 and now shown on the company's Heritage pages. It is a 2.5-way tower with two 8-inch drivers and it sits above the Bronze 200 floorstander.

Key specs that matter

Two 8-inch C-CAM drivers and a 25 mm C-CAM gold dome tweeter are crossed over at 550 Hz and 2.7 kHz. The -6 dB response runs from 41 Hz to 25 kHz free-field and from 32 Hz to 30 kHz in-room. Sensitivity is 90 dB, impedance is 8 ohms nominal with a 4.1 ohm minimum, and a pair reaches 116 dBA at maximum. Power handling is 200 W and the recommended amplifier range is 60 to 200 W. The cabinet measures 951 x 231 x 325 mm, or 974 x 294 x 364 mm with feet, and weighs 18 kg.

Engineering and use context

In the 2.5-way layout, both 8-inch drivers produce bass, but the lower one rolls off at the first crossover point, while the upper one continues through the midrange to the tweeter. This adds bass output without two drivers overlapping in the midrange. C-CAM is Monitor Audio's ceramic-coated aluminium and magnesium alloy, used here for the cones and the tweeter dome. Two HiVe II ports, rifled inside to accelerate the air, vent the cabinet, so the tower has two ports where the Bronze 100 has one. Steel outrigger feet can be fitted with spikes or rubber feet, which widens the base to 294 mm. The cabinet follows the Bronze 6G construction of MDF panels with a thicker baffle, internal bracing and through-bolted drivers, and it has bi-wire terminals.

Pairing

Because it is efficient, the Bronze 500 can be driven by modest integrated amplifiers, while its impedance minimum needs an amplifier rated for 4 ohm loads. In a home cinema, the high output capability lets an AV receiver of moderate power drive the Bronze 500 as front speakers. With two bass drivers, many music systems in rooms of about 20 m2 do not need a subwoofer. Compared with the Bronze 100 stand-mount, the Bronze 500 doubles the number of 8-inch drivers, gains 3 dB of sensitivity and doubles power handling.

Alternatives

The Monitor Audio Bronze 200 6G is the smaller tower of the series, with two 5.5-inch drivers, 88 dB sensitivity and an 886 mm height, weighing 12.8 kg.