Monitor Audio Studio 89: Inspired By The 80s, Engineered For The Future

Retro speakers are all the rage, and speaker companies like JBL, Wharfedale, and PSB, have all looked to the past for inspiration, resulting in products like the JBL L100 Classic, the Wharfedale Super Denton, and the PSB Passif 50. Monitor Audio, on the other hand, tends to be laser-focused on the future. Its 50th anniversary was celebrated not with a retro-inspired reborn classic, but instead with a radical new flagship, the $95K Hyphn. So it was with great interest that I read a recent email from Monitor Audio’s North American distributor, Kevro International, announcing the new Studio 89 loudspeakers ($2,499/pair), which are said to be a spiritual successor to the acclaimed Monitor Audio Studio 15 speakers from 1989. The original Studio Series “brought studio monitor quality sound to the home,” according to the company, and the new Studio 89 reportedly takes inspiration from that iconic speaker line and the “culturally explosive decade” from which it was born. Indeed, the ‘80s saw breathtakingly rapid technological innovation that became part of pop culture in ways that previous generations hadn’t experienced. (Just think of the cultural significance of the first Apple Macintosh computer and Sony Walkman, for example.)

But the Studio 89 certainly doesn’t look retro like the aforementioned JBL, Wharfedale, and PSB speakers. Instead, it merely calls back to the black high-gloss finish and gold anodized drivers of the larger Monitor Audio Studio 15, which sold for a substantial $3,500/pair when John Atkinson reviewed it for Stereophile way back in 1992. (It was the only model in the range to be offered in this finish). The new Studio 89 is a more compact and thoroughly modern design, inside and out. The black and gold color combination is the only available finish option, and while I don’t normally go for gloss black speakers, the Studio 89 looks like a young Sean Connery in a perfectly-tailored tuxedo — absolute class and composure from head to toe. Studio 89 is the only model Monitor Audio makes that is available in this luxurious finish. Fans of Monitor Audio will recognize the physical design as being nearly identical to that of the $1,400/pair Studio speaker from 2018. Although the form-factor and driver layout of the new speaker are indeed very similar, the Studio 89 has been completely re-engineered using lessons learned in developing the company’s Hyphn and Platinum Series 3G speakers. These advancements are easiest to see in the all-new drive units, which include a pair of 4 ¼-inch mid-woofers and an in-house Air Motion Transformer tweeter, arranged in an MTM (Mid-Tweeter-Mid) array approximating an acoustical point source. Monitor Audio says that this driver topology “ensures that even in large rooms, the soundstage, imaging, and detail levels are completely enveloping and remain true to the ethos of bringing ‘studio monitoring quality’ into the home …(with) a scale and quality that belie Studio 89’s size.”

Launched in 1989, the original Studio Series was a turning point for Monitor Audio. It incorporated for the first time all of our key technologies of metal dome tweeters and metal cone drivers. And this is something that we wanted to celebrate. It’s 35 years since that range came out and we wanted to look at recreating what that product range did for the organization, but in a vision-forward way.

— Charles Minett, Product Design Director of Monitor Audio

Monitor Audio says that the new third-generation MPD (Micro Pleated Diaphragm) tweeter is a technical highlight, with a claimed frequency response reaching up to 60kHz (conventional AMTs tend to reach around 40kHz). A carefully shaped waveguide promises more even dispersion characteristics than a typical AMT while delivering the high responsiveness and low distortion that AMT tweeters are prized for, owing to the fact that AMT drivers have lower mass than conventional dome alternatives, and are driven across more of the transducer’s surface. The waveguide and intricately-patterned tweeter grille on the Studio 89’s MPD III tweeter were inherited from the flagship Hyphn, which also inspired the hexagonal design language visible in the metallic mesh. Meanwhile, the Studio 89’s mid-bass drivers feature Monitor Audio’s RDT (Rigid-Diaphragm Technology). Also trickled down from the Hyphn, these cones are made of three ultra-thin layers to ensure rigidity and strength. The outer skin is made of C-CAM, Monitor Audio’s signature ceramic-coated aluminum magnesium material, which the company has used in its cone drivers for decades now. This layer sits on top of a Nomex honeycomb central core. Finally, the underside skin is made of woven carbon fiber. Monitor Audio says that the resulting sandwich material is “super lightweight and very, very strong.” The two 4 ¼-inch drivers have a combined cone area similar to that of a single 6-inch driver. The speaker’s specs suggest that its bass response rolls off substantially at around 50Hz, which isn’t surprising for a speaker measuring about 14 inches tall, six inches wide, and 14 inches deep. Some similarly-priced speakers will deliver deeper bass, but users planning to pair the Studio 89 with a subwoofer or two won’t be bothered.

Over the last few years, as an engineering team we’ve worked on some amazing products. We delivered the new Platium 3G series, and we’ve also delivered the range-topping Hyphn. Within these products, we’ve developed new technologies. We found new ways of improving loudspeakers. And we felt that taking a platform that already existed (in the 2018 Studio speaker) and deploying these technologies to it, we could really produce a magical speaker.

— Michael Hedges, Technical Director of Monitor Audio

Monitor Audio says that the drivers are seamlessly blended via a highly-optimized third-order crossover that ensures “perfect frequency response across each drive unit for total symmetry, which helps control sound dispersion.” Sound dispersion and integration are also reportedly improved by the vertical MTM driver configuration. In addition to rigorous measurements, the crossovers have reportedly “undergone hours of listening and part selection, using only the very best bespoke polypropylene and polyester capacitors, air-core and low-loss laminated steel-core inductors to provide maximum signal transfer and reduced distortion for optimum sound delivery.” 

The Studio 89 also boasts an extremely strong and rigid cabinet structure with an 18mm front baffle and rigid 15mm side walls. That might not sound super thick, but considering the speaker’s compact proportions, the result should feel reassuringly solid. Precisely-calculated and positioned internal walls provide additional strength and bracing, and these have been cleverly configured to allow airflow to funnel via the top and bottom of the cabinet through the dual slot-style ports.

The ports use Monitor Audio’s high-velocity HiVe II technology to reduce potential turbulence and air noise. The three drive units are mounted onto (yet isolated acoustically from) an aluminum front baffle, and that complete sub-assembly is isolated acoustically from the main cabinet via gasket isolators. The driver assembly attaches to the cabinet via a pair of long bolts that extend all the way through the cabinet into the back panel. The bolts effectively clamp the rear of the cabinet to the front, compressing the whole cabinet and adding additional bracing to the structure. This arrangement not only provides the advantage of increased rigidity, it also affords the front baffle a clean and undeniably slick look, free of visible screws.

To complete the package, buyers can opt for the dedicated Studio 89 stands, which sell for the considerable sum of $749 per pair. For your money, you get a top plate made of laser-cut steel, a mass-loadable extruded aluminum column with built-in cable management, and a die-cast aluminum base with four adjustable feet supplied with both chrome-plated spikes for carpeted floors and domed rubber feet for hard floors. Monitor Audio says that the use of different materials for each section of the stand results in “optimum rigidity and a perfect listening experience.” One thing is certain: Studio 89 looks elegant on these stands, and they can be bolted in place for extra stability.

The Studio 89 sounds unerringly natural. Low-frequency presence is substantial but not muscle-bound; the leading edge of bass information is straight and crisp, so rhythms are expressed convincingly and momentum never flags. It’s a subtle and detailed yet charming and engaging design that’s sure to seduce many prospective purchasers and is so well worth an audition.

— Simon Lucas, Stereonet

More information: Monitor Audio Studio 89

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