Monitor Audio - Hype or the good stuff?

I think so. I owned "gold" series "Monitor 3ce Gold" slim "floorstander" in MTM configuration. At the time i regreted selling them. Thise "gold" dome tweeter are somethng else! Never harsh, always smooth. They were much better, than Linn Keildh's, costing twice as much! They were even good, with mediocr electronics.

I have an old pair of MA R352's still going strong (in a second system), and a pair of MA Studio 12's (slim floorstanders), these are not available in the US. I imported then direct from UK. They are wonderful and 'very' detailed. I prefer them to silver series which are also good.

I lived with the MA 700's (gold tweeters) bookshelf spkrs for 3 years (with Rotel components). They were absolutely delightful! I've upgraded to a much larger system as I have a much bigger listening environment and have grown a little demented too! Incidentally, I have absolutely no familiarity with the Silver Line series, however, MA seems like quite a respectable manufacturer. High-end in the UK is really struggling, so I doubt whether Monitor Audio could survive by producing non-competitive / mediocre stuff.

I the floorstanding MA's (don't remember which, but the same line as the MA700) side by side with the Mission 753's (the European loudspeaker of the year winner, at that particular time) and I thought they sounded very nice. They were very different from the Mission 753's, but not worse. I preferred the Missions because they seemed to have a fuller sound (5 drivers instead of two)and I preferred the way they reproduced vocals vocals, but I know I would have been very happy with the MA speakers.

I recently bought the Silever Series 7i; A110 subwoofer and the 3i for rear effects and the top Silver series center channel and have been please with the cost/sound trade off. I am driving them with the Parasound AVC-2500 processor and the HCA-1205 Parasound 5 channel; 140 watts a channel amp (I wished I had bought the bigger Parasound) This is a smaller T.V. room system. I have really enjoyed the quality for movies and some music. I have a two channel that consists of Krell KRC-HR; FPB600; Transparent Reference cabling throughout with Theta Transport and D/A converter driving the Wilson Watt/Puppies 5.1s. If I can honestly say I enjoy the Monitors when I feel I have an outstanding two channel, they've got to be worth a look