The two-way BBC LS5/8 (see xxxxxx) has been the primary monitor used in broadcasting for more than 20 years, and has characteristics which are familiar and understood. In common with other BBC designed (or derived) monitors, the 5/8 gives a 'relaxed' presentation of performers that places them in a diffuse plane - a 'curtain of sound' - quite unlike the newer generations of commercial monitors which subjectively push the performer out of the box into the lap of the listener.

Of very similar dimensions to the BBC LS5/8, the Monitor 40 builds on the ‘BBC Grade 1 Reference Monitor standard’ with an overall presentation which is remarkably 5/8-like, minus the residual colourations. In this passive version, when driven from a good quality high-current amplifier, the Monitor 40 provides a cost-effective replacement for the 5/8 working at the cutting edge of live or recorded sound. Three optimised drive units (including the mid and tweeter units from the Monitor 30) are seamlessly combined for pin-point stereo and neutrality so that no matter how long or late the session, the Monitor 40 delivers clean, smooth natural sound on and off axis to the sound engineer and producer in the near, mid or far field.