I am a faithful follower of your videos and think you are pretty much the gold standard for reviews. The background music on this video is far too loud, and most of all very distracting. I will be extremely disappointed if this becomes the norm.
As was pointed out, the background music is too loud over your voice. I am a sound engineer and musician for fifty years, you could solve this problem easily by using a side chained compressor and ducking the music when there is dialogue. If you can’t do it yourself, pay a professional to set it up for you. It would make it much better.
I run their THX-365T mini towers with their THX-365C center and Monolith 15 subs. Great setup for the money. FYI the mini towers were $201 each and those THX-465T's can sometimes be had for around $500 per speaker.
Got my pair of T-6's from Monoprice on sale for $398 delivered. I'm still breaking them in, but value-wise they were a steal. The only downside is that I really dislike the look of the shiny top cap; it does the opposite of making them look expensive, IMO, but that's a matter of personal taste.
Have a full system of The Encore series.. T6 .. Has been really great. I put a boost in the 8k and 15k range for some extra high energy.. but otherwise I enjoy them. I'd want something a lot more sensitive for my heights.. but otherwise .. these are really great for a price. Deal on the store or Amazon can get REALLY worth while. I might still upgrade to the THX stuff (unless SVS or Emotiva doesn't tempt me with something great) Nice to see these getting some more love. I think a LOT of people could do well with this brand.. and Monoprice does have a MASSIVE back end to cover for customer service. Monolith .. Amps .. processors .. speakers.. TV .. computer.. You could literally build and entire gaming surround system with 1 brand! .. That's crazy!!!
The problem is people don't wanna admit these budget speakers sound better then that 5k system they so called built. They feel stupid cause they wasted money
Thank you for your review. I wanted to give a little constructive criticism about your backing track, it's mastered a little high compared to your vocals. There were a few points in the video I actually had to rewind to understand what was said. That being said, I think your reviews are well structured and quite informative, and I really look forward to the new OLED tv lineup reviews and whatever else you might have cooked up for us the rest of the year.
Fantastic video! Love that the channel is branching out beyond TVs as you guys provide great coverage! Curious about Monoprice's IN-CEILING or IN-WALL speakers for whole-house music... They're very affordable but difficult to directly compare against the more pricey competition. Any chance you'd take a look at those?
Good review….and nice to see the THX series getting more reviews lately. But a lot of mention on law of diminishing returns. While true, just a note the larger THX speakers were released 1-2 years prior to the Encore, so if anything it’s better to view Encore as “even more bang for the buck” using what they learned from the THX series, rather than viewing the THX as an upgrade with diminishing returns. -Proud owner of the THX series since early 2021 :)
Vented speakers trade low frequency extension for transient accuracy. Vented speakers has a more boxy sound; planar speakers have no box therefore no boxy sound at all. If all you need is loud noise, these speakers will suffice. But if you know what music sounds like, you'll want something better.
Hi Caleb, really terrific review especially seeing that you don't do speaker reviews that often. But dear God tell your producers or editors to stop with the music behind you. It's irritating AF! Let's just hear you the way we hear you when you do TV reviews.
I can't imagine how good the T-6 sounds. I have a pair of T-4s running as my side surrounds in a 7.1.4 theater. I was blown away by what was coming out of the T-4. They are powered by my M7100 that powers all my surrounds.
I’m a fan of all your reviews, but I’m most eagerly waiting on your review of the new Sonos speakers, especially for special audio, and when combined with the Arc Pro for Atmos. (I don’t have room in my living room for tower speakers!)
I’ve been a fan of Monoprice for many years. Will hopefully be building a home theater within the next couple of years. Would love to have a set of in walls. Do you foresee doing a review of the in wall counterpart to these speakers?
Currently on sale for 340/pair. I picked up a pair of the Encore T5's a couple of months ago for $180/pair for living room and was so impressed at that price I also picked up the Encore B6's at the same price for the garage. Would be pretty difficult to outperform these speakers at the sale prices.
Great review as always! Thanks, guys! It would be so nice if we can see a matching amplifier with the same outstanding performance for the price benefits. They are so many options on the market...
Now the question needs to be asked, are you going to do a complete home theater system based on one of these lines of speakers and a coupe of their THX subs? Just like you did with the Klipsch 9.2 setup and a LG 97in OLED.
ive been wanting to move away from a soundbar setup to get better passthrough support/performance over my vizio m512-h6 but for a bedroom sized space. So much to learn...
Find a nice receiver before you go down the speaker rabbit hole. You can start out with a couple of dayton audio towers from parts express to find some ok entry level speakers and upgrade later. I run their 2.1 bluetooth amp with those towers and a cheapo passive sub in my bedroom and its plenty adequate without costing a ton.
Agreed. Focus on a nice set of left and right speakers. If budget allows, a center channel. Home audio is a heck of a rabbit hole to go down. I have zero regrets lol
@@jeffleonard343 appreciate the info! Definitely need that center channel for vocals which is the main reason why o got the soundbar. I tried starting to research home theater audio a bit ago and it made my head spin! Haha
The Monolith THX speakers are all sold out right now. With Monoprice you never know if that means they're gone forever. But if they do come back, I'd recommend skipping the big towers and instead getting the 365t mini towers and pairing them with a good subwoofer. One from Monolith would be a great choice. It will be cheaper and you probably avoid the cabinet issues Caleb mentions because you're not driving low end through those cabinets.
Even for music, you want a sub to cover 20-50 hz. It obviously has to be an extremely capable sub to be able to do that, and probably sealed as well to remain fully musical.
I appreciate the video. Great review as always. I'm confused if the 465-t's exhibited the cabinet issues that the T6's had. I'm not so interested in the Atmos, but it's fine if it is there. So without the atmos engaged, how do you think the 465-T's stack up against the polk R700's. I need a speaker that can be placed near the back wall or in the corner.
I have had the Monolith THX460T for 2-channel listening for over a year. I didn't notice any midrange resonance issue at all. The THX-465T and Encore T6 are in 2 different leagues. The THX-465T is THX-certified (has a more linear frequency response), with an oval HDF cabinet (less susceptible to standing wave) and a dome midrange driver (more accurate on vocals). The Encore T6 is not THX-certified, with a square MDF cabinet and a cone midrange driver. I was pleased with the performance of the THX-460T.
@@kinggodzilla7647 - thank you! I realized that the T6 is MDF and the 465T's are HDF. I'm stuck between the 465t's and the Polk R700's. The R700's when on sale at about $700 each, are a better deal. Regardless, I probably will want to augment my Pioneer VSX-LX505 with an amplifier that can drive the low impedance at high volume.
@@markwalsh2709 I have the Onkyo NR 7100, which is very comparable to the Pioneer VSX-LX505 you have and it has no issue driving the T6 speakers. You can upgrade your receiver, if you want, but I don't think it would be necessary. The 465T shouldn't require any extra power than the T6 and I've read the Polk R700's are more sensitive and are good with any amp over 80W per channel.
Wow great review Caleb! Being a huge fan of your TV reviews, I didn't think this speaker review, especially for a speaker from a smaller brand, would be so in depth, informative, and entertaining. Being an audiophile you hit a lot of great talking points and left me with almost no questions about them. Thank you for this one and keep the speaker reviews coming!
If you think Monoprice is a smaller brand you're living under a rock or this isn't your scene. Monoprice is huge and they have the buying power to compete with any brand and they are doing just that. They also save money with their poor customer service.
@@robertmedina3195 Monoprice as a whole is massive, but they are mostly known for cables and accessories and I'm sure do a lot of wholesale to other businesses. But as for their sub brands, like monolith, they are much smaller compared to other major high and home theater brands. I can argue their subs are what has put the monolith brand on the map, I myself own 3 of them. But their other monolith products have not gotten much love. I can find a million Klipsch and kef reviews but only a few monolith speaker reviews. Mostly by Joe n tell who is somewhat of a brand ambassador it seems. I actually live close to their headquarters and have dealt with their warehouse and store in rancho Cucamonga, CA by phone and in person and actually had good experiences. They had locally based reps, and have corrected all of my issues including a warranty replacement.
Use EQ.. then suddenly bith pairs become next level. Also the monoprice speakers have been known to drop 50% or more.. i got my pair for 312usd shipped.. yes a pair.. and with dsp.. absolutely amazing.
"All that would be needed to get rid of that". - internal muffling and bracing would help, but so would a quality crossover. Air core inductors, 5% metallized poly caps and 1% sandcast resistors.
Does the 465t experience any of the same mid-bass issues as the t6? You state that it’s better built, but I wonder if the issue is completely resolved with the bigger speaker… thank you!
Love your channel would love some Direction. I have qn90b 75 tv and HW-J8500r Samsung soundbar. Looking to add tower speakers not sure best compatibility with ports and ease of adding to system. Thanks!!
Hi there, came across your video as I research speaker for a home theater build. Do you or anyone have any input between the monoprice monolith thx-465iw thx vs Focal 1000 IWLCR6
Funny you should mention the Focal Chora 826-D, I picked up 7 of the (non-D) 826's from Crutchfield for the amazing price of $699/ea and am running all 7 of them in my 7.1 home theater setup. AMAZING speakers, the subtle detail they reveal, it's like hearing music for the first time, even favorites that I've listened to since the early '80's, and the imaging is flat amazing. Monoprice makes great stuff for the price, and if the Choras hadn't been such a once-in-a-lifetime deal I might have considered these. I've been very happy with everything I've bought from Monoprice over the years (HDMI cables and 12ga speaker wire, and some stands) and I WAS considering a Monolith 7x200 amp to drive these in place of my current Onkyo TX-RZ820...but recently I've been drooling over the NAD M28 amp after I saw the amazing test results... I think for the price (they're not "audiophile speakers like the Focals), anyone should be happy with either of these.
I have the rp 8000,and they really are good stage and dynamic spot on,but I don't like the Dolby Atmos up firing,I believe in heights and in selling, for Atmos,some brands are doing a great job, so much so that one have to wonder,if it's worth buying the high end!
I run these speakers as well as the 13” monster subs. Unreal performance and pass the THX standards. Very neutral sounding but still surprise me with their dynamics. The center channel is truly special. BTW, the cabinet is a monster and made of HDF. Not sure what he is talking about needing more bracing, but we all have our opinions. What I don’t like is the laminate on the cabinet, I can see it peeling over time at the edges if moved around often.
curious how you unboxed the towers? i ordered a pair. one came with the dome of midrange tweeter dented so i have to return it. i havent unboxed the other tower. i completely destroyed the box of the first one. it was stapled at the bottom. any ideas?
@@user-rp1vu1gk5u That is not fun at all. My sympathies. If I recall correctly I opened them up as if they were a “coffin” lengthwise and pulled the arch shaped foam (the foam that conformed to the back of the towers) off and lifted them out. I also recall one of my boxes had a puncture that looked a lot like a forklift went after it. Once I had the tower out I laid it on the end of the couch and installed the platform piece that came with it. One thing to note, you may want to look at a DIY remedy for the midrange. There is a strong possibility it is totally fine and just needs to be popped back out (vacuum cleaner or something). I have seen this before when tweeters are dented by kids fingers with no issues since there is effectively nothing behind the midrange dome but airspace. Also, there is another possibility Monoprice *might* send you a replacement midrange but it may be unlikely. Apparently they were facing a LOT of backlash over people having to return subwoofers for an amp failure when one could easily just send the replacement part and a few bolts later a remedy without shipping large objects.
Nice speakers, but i ended buying a pair of Paradigm 6000f speakers. you have reviewed the high end Paradigms but not the lower end. You will be surprised just like all your video;s of TCL tv's. they are still being made after 3 years of introduction.
The bottom line is ( and I speak from experience ) if you dont have an amplifier that is absolutely capable to drive a 4 ohm speaker - and these dip into 3.6 ohm territory / these are not for you. A budget AVR driving less than 100 wpc into 8 ohms will overheat and clip. So be sure of your power source or you will damage your gear.
@@user-rp1vu1gk5u Possibly - in two channel mode. Once you enable any other speakers the power ratings into the two mains dip - Denon nor many other manufacturers give you all channel driven power ratings info except Emotiva. Not a chance I would take.
@@user-rp1vu1gk5u For $799.99 you can get them Onkyo TX NR7100 - 9 channels, 100 wpc, Dirac Live, THX and IMAX certified - HDMI2.1 - everything to drive these speakers and then some. ( 2 LFE subwoofer inputs also )
I disagree on the sub thing with the T6. Even for music reproduction, getting down to 20hz still adds a little something. Certainly you need a musical sub, also; ideally something sealed that doesn't trade sub-bass extension for control.
To all you self proclaimed experts and complainers, Watch the video on your home theater system, it sounds great, great seperation of voice and music, watching on your phone, tablet, or computer does this video no Justice. Listen outside the box....
I find it hard to think and concentrate while the hi volume interfering background music is playing while your speaking. (No disrespect towards your work of course) thank you
Adding the Atmos top speakers to the THX model does not appeal to true HT enthusiasts as this approach has a very limited effect on height immersiveness. Would have been much better to have not included this and lowered the price.
Why do these video composers think it's neat and cool to put that DAMNED music in the background while the commenter is talking? I think it is VERY irritating to try to listen to what someone is saying over that noise in the background. STOP IT -- I've just about got to the point where I'll immediately turn a video off if there's background music playing
Gotta agree here, I don't really need the elevator muzak competing with the speech. Anyone with even a mild hearing issue as well will have to work hard to sort the sounds out.