On September 1st, Positive Feedback published a review of the Chario Sonnets. On November 29, Monarch received word that the magazine had given the Sonnets one of two Writer’s Choice awards.
For those of you unfamiliar with the Sonnets, they’re a stand-mounted monitor in the Academy Series, the top range in Chario’s product line. Their size appears as if they couldn’t fill a huge (and we mean huge!) room with spacious imaging and powerful bass, but when given the chance they excelled. A quote from the review:
“Did I mention I set them up in the main living room instead of the bedroom? I just couldn’t resist. Like an Emperor throwing someone to the lions in the Colosseum for his amusement, I braced for the gruesome inevitable conclusion, a thumbs down. The Sonnets were spread 9 ft. apart, 7 ft. from the front wall, no side walls anywhere to be found, and the rear wall some 16 ft. behind the listening seat, they were in essence operating in free air. I started off with Cowboy Junkies “Lay it Down.” As I turned up the volume from a whisper, the sound field just grew and grew. Soon the volume was in full throat, and the Sonnets were not fighting back one bit. Not even addressing the quality of the sound, just the quantitative output capabilities seemingly down to the 50Hz range was staggering. No strain, no compression. The aluminum vapor deposited soft dome tweeter remained composed and the 6.69″ Rohacell driver maintained excellent imaging and image separation. I was not prepared for this at all.”
And it gets better from there!
Chario Sonnet Monitor Loudspeakers – Positive Feedback (positive-feedback.com)