Review on Monoprice Ribbon Tweeter Bookshelf Speakers by Christine Ellis

Dear Reader, Please excuse my long and chaotic review. For the layman reading this, you will find useful information in this review, just scroll through the material that is overly technical. I bought the Monoprice MP-65RT out of curiosity if it would do better than the Dayton B652-AIR as it sells for around the same $50 depending on when and where you buy it and it's about a sealed box of the same size with a 6.5-inch woofer and non-traditional tweeter. In my opinion, the Monoprice MP-65RT sounds significantly better than the Dayton Audio B652-AIR. The Dayton gives me a headache at any volume and by the end I just don't want to listen anymore. The Monoprices are actually very pleasant to hear and do not disturb my sensitive reptilian hearing. Well, they can hit my ears a bit with the high frequencies and hurt me, but it's not that bad and doesn't happen that often and only when they're at their loudest. Unlike the Dayton, which I don't listen to for more than 10 minutes at any volume. The MP-65RT has a distinct high-end but I don't find it harsh, it makes the music really timely and engaging. The MP-65RT sounds great with saxophones and similar instruments, with presence and realism. They sound damn good, especially in 80's music. The only problem is that the MP-65RT tweeter is easy to blow up as the tweeter broke on my first pair after just 12 hours of play. My first pair was fitted with a Denon AVR-683 and I played them softly so they cracked before checking them out. In the last part of the break I turned the volume down to -09 and played Nightmares on Wax for about an hour. Actually it wasn't that loud. When I came back later, the tweeters sounded spasmodic and hysterical. Hitting the top of cabinets like the Fonzie temporarily restored normal operation, but the problem returned when the volume was turned up to a reasonable level. So Monoprice FINALLY got me a warranty replacement, and this time I ran them with an SMSL SA-36A Pro, which draws only 20 watts per channel compared to Denon's 100 watts per channel. I've been using them with SMSL for a few weeks now and everything is fine. I suspect that the old capacitors were defective. Instead of a real crossover, these speakers only have a capacitor on the tweeter. The problem is that some bass can get into the tweeter and damage it. But anyway, by hooking them up to SMSL I can make them loud enough to be comfortable to hear. They never looked like they would explode with an SMSL amp. (The CD player has a fader that I use to control the volume, it's like a built in preamp.) I did an A/B comparison with the Nobsound passive speaker switcher as you can see in the picture. Now I will compare the sound and other characteristics of these speakers. Aesthetics; The Monoprice doesn't have the rubber feet or keyhole hooks on the back of the Dayton, although the Dayton's feet are utterly useless and allow the speaker to slide away from the bass by moving it. I replaced the legs on the Daytons with the same ones as on the Monoprice. The Monoprice looks better, is better built and has a better finish. Presumably the Daytons have an inner brace and the Monoprice don't. I didn't understand them myself. Also, none of them have a true crossover, the Monoprice only has a capacitor on the tweeter that blocks below 3000Hz and the Dayton has a capacitor and resistor on the tweeter that blocks below 2200Hz. One of the reasons the Dayton sounds so harsh is that it pushes a lot of mids through its tweeter and a full-range woofer lets a lot of frequencies collide. It's not like the Dayton woofer sounds harsh even at frequencies above 2500Hz or so. On the other hand, the Monoprice works very well with a full-range woofer. It plays well up to 3000 Hz and then dies out at higher frequencies. It goes very well with its tweeter. Aimed at each other, the Monoprice's highs sound louder and much more detailed, although it's not harsh to me. and the Dayton's highs sound compressed and less detailed than the Monoprice. I actually learned the word "hiss" from having had a B652-AIR in my life. They make all kinds of materials with sibilance. I should also note that Monoprice has a ribbon tweeter and Dayton's has an AMT tweeter. Similar but not the same. Monoprice is very interesting to listen to. Certain classical music that I usually find boring is exciting in Monoprice. I want to listen more! Just wow! stop the instruments! Then I switch to Daytons and it's like; Pooh. no Stop doing that. Headache, and nowhere so interesting to hear. So, some final thoughts. I don't think either of these would work on a table, although the Monoprice might work for that, but you'll probably need to trim the highs at least a bit. I figured they were only good for stereo sound from the TV in my living room, although I wouldn't trust them for volume. Both have decent bass for a 6.5" closed woofer. This may sound like a home game for Monoprice, and it is for the music at least. But I highly doubt they will last very long for a home theater. Do it a seam to not have enough strength for it.I have treated Daytons very abusively (deliberately trying to break them) and have had them longer than Monoprice and they still work well.I think the Daytons could actually work for home theater surround -sound suit. My basis for this idea is this; See the picture of Monoprice temporarily installed on my living room TV? At one point I had Daytons set up similarly. At the time I was sitting on the floor facing the TV screen and played with the cat.. Some commercial or something was on and I thought the Dyton sounded good when I rattled it over my shoulder from behind. If you like the sound of the Dayton If you don't mind yourself and you like the volume best, then of course they are the best choice. But just take the Monoprice MP-65RT and plug it into the SMSL SA-36A Pro. You'll have a better sounding budget system that will rival some of the more expensive oddities like me. Your music will take on a new dimension and your life will never be the same again. You literally have to be deaf or insane to buy a Dayton instead of a Monoprice.