Moving up the scale, and the new Radius 90 gives a slightly
faster, more searching midland than before, making vocals even more immediate,
stereo imaging more explicit and depth perspective better. Played at high
volume, Kate Bush’s Snowflake is a stern test of a speaker, but the wee
Monitor Audio acquits itself superbly with this superb recording, showing a
richness and warmth that you might not expect from such a modest priced – and
indeed sized – box. The two drive units segue way between one another
seamlessly, giving a lovely, natural feel to female vocals; I’d say they’re
better integrated than before, as the old Radius 90HD had a slightly softer
sound to its low frequency driver than the bright, spry tweeter. The result is
a lovely, all-of-piece feel to the music, and it’s not just tonally clean and
smooth, but is also very good at keeping in phase – you don’t get the sense
that you’re listening to two drive units doing their own thing, as you can on
some equivalently priced designs. This means the new Radius projects beautifully,
beaming vocals and instruments out of its box with laser-like precision.
They might look
small, but they pack one hell of a mighty punch
The speed of this little speaker means that it’s remarkable
good at throwing you off the trail. You always know it’s limited in terms of
its bass reproduction, but somehow you just don’t dwell on it. Teenage Fan
club’s What You Do To Me is a fine slice of sing along indie rock, and
via a big floor stander has a wonderful physicality courtesy of the energetic
bass guitar and drum work. Yet play it through the new Radius 90 and instead
you’ll find yourself drawn to the sweetness of the vocals and the raunchy,
gurney guitar playing, plus the sweet, sparkly hi-hat work. Somehow, this
speaker flatters to deceive, making the music riotously good fun, emotionally
affecting and powerful even – but without actually moving the same amount of
air as a larger, looser speaker. The result is a slightly different experience
to that of a wider range design, but no less fun – indeed the rhythmic alacrity
and ability to signpost dynamic contrasts in the music is on a higher level
than almost all price rivals.
It’s only with classical music that you really feel these
aren’t quite the universal panacea that you’d hoped. Anyone who’s been to a
live classical concert will have experienced the visceral presence of a full
orchestra; you know those heavily bowed cellos vibrating you back, that sort of
thing. But the little Radius 90 simply cannot do this. What it can do – and
does – with my favorite Karajan recording of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony,
is convey the lovely texture of the massed strings – if not the body – and also
gives a wonderfully bright and also gives a wonderfully bright and airy window
to the recorded acoustic. The tweeter is superb; spacious and extended yet
smooth and delicate, it makes for a wonderfully open and finely etched sound.
The new mid/bass unit is more detailed and faster than before and this improves
things further still. The end result is a little loudspeaker that’s quite
simply big audio dynamite!
The Radius 90
beams vocals and instruments out with laser-like precision.
Conclusion
Monitor Audio’s new Radius 90 is practically a unique
product on market. Another step down in size from speakers that are commonly
perceived to be the smallest – such as the KEF C1s of this world – its
diminutive dimensions actually may be a little extreme for some tastes. Many
will want something that is physically bigger and less constrained low down.
But by the same token, those with smaller listening rooms – which larger boxes
can have a tendency to overpower – and/or people with neighbors or family
members to keep sweet, will love this little box. Yes, it loses the bottom
octave – or two – of the performance, but it makes up for this in spades with a
wonderfully fast, engaging and incisive sound everywhere else, and is
sophisticated and seamless, too. If space is limited or you don’t want your
hi-fi dominating your room, this is a great speaker to try.
How it compares
There is practically no direct rival for the Radius 90, as
Monitor Audio has pretty much created its own segment. So we’re left comparing
it with products one size up, namely the Q Acoustics Concept 20 ($561). This
has a lot more bass; indeed the whole balance of the speaker is deeper,
smoother and softer – although still excellent. The Q is able to move more air
more easily, so sounds a little less compressed at very high volumes and a
little more ‘relaxed’ at lower ones. But it lacks the ‘up and at ‘em’ sort of
sound that the Radius has; its ultimate speed and transparency. The Concept 20
is a more well-rounded product, the Radius 90 is a more characterful, fun one!
The Radius 90
gives a slightly faster, more searching mid-band than before.
One test
Monitor Audio specifies 83dB sensitivity for the Radius 90 –
an entirely believable claim given its tiny dimensions – but our pink noise
result of 84.1dB suggests that this is slightly conservative. It’s a good
result for a speaker this size and what’s more it hasn’t been achieved by
giving the Radius 90 a punishingly low input impedance. The minimum modulus,
20Hz-20kHz, was 5.0 ohms at 280Hz – a bit too low, really, to claim 8 ohms
nominal impedance, but nonetheless an amp-friendly result. Impedance phase
angles are high enough to drop the EPDR (equivalent peak dissipation
resistance) to 2.6 ohms at 204Hz, but that’s comfortably higher than for many
modern speakers. On-axis frequency response errors were well controlled at
±2.9dB and ±3.2dB respectively, 200Hz-20kHz, and pair matching over the same
frequency range was very good at ±0.8dB. Despite the diminutive cabinet and
fair sensitivity, bass extension was 58Hz for -6dB ref 200Hz and ultrasonic
output extended to beyond 40kHz. The cumulative spectral decay waterfall
evinced fast initial energy decay, but some treble resonances were visible –
worse in one of the review pair than the other – but mostly well controlled
except for a high-Q mode at around 7.5kHz, associated with a small glitch in
the frequency response.
Our verdict
·
Sound quality: 5/5
·
Value for money: 5/5
·
Build quality: 5/5
·
Ease of drive: 3/5
·
Like: Super-fast, fluid and fun; sophistication; size;
sound-staging
·
Dislike: No low bass; needs a powerful solid-state amplifier
·
We say: Exceptionally high performance from an extremely small
speaker
·
Overall: 5/5
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Technical
specs
·
Product: Monitor Audio Radius 90
·
Origin: UK
·
Type: Stand mount loudspeaker
·
Weight: 2.1kg
·
Dimensions (W x H x D): 125 x 198 x 140mm
·
Features: Quoted power handling: 100W; Quoted frequency
response: 80Hz–35kHz (-6dB); 1x 25mm C-CAM dome tweeter; 1x 100mm C-CAM bass
driver
·
Distributor: Monitor Audio Ltd
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