Nearfields for audiophile listening?

I am thinking about the Harbeth P3ESR but from everyone’s impressions it seems like it colors the sound and isn’t neutral in order to get that amazing midrange everyone talks about. I want to get a more neutral monitor but I might as well really enjoy a monitor with a stellar midrange.

 

I used to own Harbeth SHL5 and ATC SCM40 (passive) and now I'm using ATC SCM19A (active).

Based on my experience with Harbeth, I would say ATC is more neutral. But for Vocals, Harbeth is better. Disadvantages of ATC are it needs more power and bad recordings will sound bad. Harbeth is more tolerant for not so great recordings. If you want to max out ATC experience, I would go with active rather than passive.

 

Huh, very curious to see impressions of these and what the differences are to the mk1's.
Seems like there's an early sale or whatever: https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/jbl-3-series-mkii-active-monitors-review/

 

Those look really interesting.

 

JBL says the mk2 has updated transducers, but line for line, mk1 and mk2 have identical specs. At Sweetwater, mk1 price has been dropped by 30% and mk2 comes in at mk1's former price.

 

The LF Trim has changed from +2/0/-2dB to 0/-1.5/-3dB, which is nicer for desk/small room use.

Other than that, I hope they fixed a small cabinet resonance issue the originals had.

 

Are you still considering the JBL 705P? It should be a big step up from the LSR30X (it had better be, at $2K/pair).

 

I am still considering it but the self noise reports are dissuading me as my setup requires the speakers to be only a few feet from me and I can hear the hiss on the JBL LSR30X quite easily in my listening position. I'm also waiting for the new Revel M126 Be with the Beryllium drivers, I would have to reach a bit in my budget to get them but they might be what I want. Also going to go to some dealers nearby to audition the B&W 805 D3. We shall see, I did not realize buying a pair of nearfield speakers would be this hard.

 

I have bad news for you... the higher you go, the more curious everything else becomes...

 

This. Audio can be a sinkhole with no end.

 

Finally got the ATC SCM 7 V3's in for a couple of days now!

My first impression is just the clarity of the speakers in the midrange is pretty amazing. They sound pretty neutral to me and the speakers project sound that seems larger than such a speaker can produce. They are very heavy too for there size, about 15 lbs per speaker. I also got them off a pretty deep open box discount so I am leaning towards just ending my search and being satisfied. We shall see.

 

Then there's the slippery slope of climbing the ATC ladder. I have SCM20's myself.

 

Dome mids or bust.

 

@Sylafari, at one point you were planning to compare the STA200 with the Vidar. Did you ever get around to that?

 

Cancelled my order on the Schiit Vidar cause the wait time was getting way too long. Been very satisfied with the Nuforce STA 200 so far so not looking to try other amplifiers for now.

As for upgrading through ATC, I was thinking of maybe getting the ATC SCM20PSL Pro as it comes with the S-Spec drivers but they are gigantic and 40 lbs each and not sure they are suited for the super nearfield use case I have. As for ATC Dome mids, I'm just too poor .

 

for the money, id take harbeth and proac way before atc for listening pleasure.

 

My wife wants me to get into speakers...so here I am.

I'm trying to find a good pair under $1000. I was thinking of buying @Dr. Higgs 's LS50 pair or trying out the Sierra-1. Wanted to see what other options I have. I'm not well versed at speakers.

 

You'll be happy with KEFs. For their price, everyone is.

 

Can't say I'd agree that everyone would be happy with them for the price, I found them to be worse than the ~$300/pair LSR305 and ~$400/pair HS5.

 

I fell in love with KEF a long time ago. It was their reference 207 set that I still drool over to this day.