Monitor Audio Studio 89

Sleek, small and hugely talented

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Standmount speakers £2000 whf.cm/Monitor_Studio89

Monitor Audio would like you to think of the Studio 89 as a brand new speaker; one that invokes memories of past greats, particularly the Studio 15 model introduced in 1989. See what they did there with the name? The Studio 15 was a largish two-way standmounter and the only model in that range to combine a black high-gloss finish with the company’s distinctive gold anodised drivers. The new Studio 89 mirrors that finish combination and looks rather lovely with it; but beyond the choice of colours there is little in our view that links the old with the new.

Monitor Audio’s standalone Studio model released in 2018 is a more credible ancestor. The two look all but identical at a casual glance, if you ignore the new model’s distinctive colour scheme. That may not be good news: our original review of that earlier model speaks of a talented but uneven performer that failed to convince, musically. Three stars.

A further potential blow is the significant price difference between the two. The original retailed for £1000 back in 2018, whereas this new one now weighs in at double that. Even if we acknowledge that costs have risen strongly in the past six years, that price jump feels massive.

So, it is obvious that the Monitor Audio Studio 89 stereo speakers have their work cut out, but we are an optimistic bunch here at What Hi-Fi? Talking to the team behind the product, it is clear that the lessons learned in developing the company’s high-end Hyphn floor standers have been applied in all aspects of this new speaker’s design, most obviously in the drive units.