Nearfields for audiophile listening?

They will send you the measurements for your exact pair?? Cool! I’ll have to reach out for my LS6s, that’s sweet.

 

lol I didn’t give myself the title and it’s definitely not to be taken seriously but I have deep roots in the history of this site that go way back and I’ve been through some shit, had to leave the hobby and finally managed to come back to some extent. At least for now. Fingers crossed.

High five for mackie love. Looking at the above FR, the hr624 measurements are a dead flat line till the bass rolls off. And third party measurements confirm this. They’re so flat they don’t even sell them in matched pairs because they’re all so close to the same.

But I also recommended them to @loadexfa because A. they can sound good in a lot of different acoustic spaces, I’ve never heard them sound bad in probably 12 different rooms I’ve had them in, even some tiny rooms I rented in SF. And B. They can be had for cheap and they are very commonly used so they’re a great purchase for someone who doesn’t really know what they want because they aren’t likely to offend you, you can easily resell them with no money lost, and then you have a reference that a lot of people will know, so it’ll be easier to get recommendations for what you want. Sort of like having heard an hd650. Lots of people can help you with what you want different from the hd650 if you don’t like them and want to get something different.

 

Pretty much.

Active cheap:
Iloud micros or Vanatoo zeroes if you're in a closet.
JBL LSR 305 mk II if you're totally broke and need something right now.
KRK Rokit 5 S4 if you like warmth and mids but hate treble. Some port bloom into lower mids. Less suckout than LSR 305.
Kali LP6 if you like warmth and hate treble and like hiss.

Passive cheap:
NHT Super Zero or Super One if you like NS10s or will boundary load them.
ELAC if you want to get them from Best Buy
Golden Ear if you like AMTs and bass
Seas kits if you want more detail. Do not go aluminum.
OSMT if you like warmth and hate loud.

Active midprice:
Yamaha HS8
Adam A7X. Best Adam. 5 chuffs hard. A77X if you want that boom box rap video bass in front of your face. The cheap adams suck. Do not buy them.
KRK V6S4 has mids and hiss.
KRK V8 warm and nice bass. Hisses.
Dynaudio BM6A is the best Dyn active still made. Not sure I’d buy it in 2020.
Neumann kh120 are okay on sale. Not great.

Passive expensive
ATC SCM12 and other passive ATC. Use beefiest class a or class ab amps possible.
Amphions if you like crunch and sizzle. Whatever floats your boat.
Quested H108. Bigger, darker, no suckout for 8". You can get away with less powerful and brighter amps (Brystons) but not less detailed.
ATC SCM 20 PSL. Just no. Buy the actives.
Proac SM100. Warm and sizzly.
PMCs are fun.

active expensive:
JBL LSR 708p sound big. Low detail for price.
Quested V2108 sound huge dark rich and sexy.
ATC SCM 25 are sick.
ATC SCM20ASL are endgame two ways.

 

Well, who am I to argue with the Best SBAF Member? There is a beat up pair of those Mackies on eBay for $300 that I can pick up locally. Seems like a safe bet as a starting point.

Appreciate the long list @Psalmanazar , gives me a lot to consider for round 2.

 

There are times when SBAF informs me better than any other information source. This is one of those times.

 

id advise you to wait a bit for a nice pair to make sure they sound proper you won’t have to spend much more. i see them on CL pretty frequently. Or at least make sure the cones aren’t punched in. Some used pairs are like that.

 

The old Mackie HR's were favourites of mine. Way better than any of their newer stuff (not counting anything from the last couple years as I haven't kept up with the newest toys)

Haha I have the 20 PSL and run them bi-amped... but yeah, the funny thing with the passive ATCs is that despite the size differences in the "bookshelf" sealed models, they all virtually sound the same with the except of maybe 2-3Hz bass extension. I've heard the 12s and they really weren't far off from the 20's. I know one guy who has one of the limited 10's and he actually prefers it to the larger models as he feels the detail is better and the tradeoff for being able to use it in closer nearfield is worth the small loss of bass.

 

All reports indicate the HEDD monitors are ridiculously good too if you're intent on Adams or Eve and want to buy something with better drivers blind.

 

@Psalmanazar Have you tried Hedds compared to Adams?

 

Looking for bookshelf under $1000 that have a similar sound to Focal Clear or HD600 ( both i like ), any recommendations?
Been eyeing for Elac Debut/Uni-Fi but haven't had the chance to actually hears it


On a side note for under $1000 will i get a better value from passive + entry level integrated amp ( low end yamaha/onkyo/marantz etc ) or an active?

 

I use iLoud Micro Monitors with Feliks Echo as preamp. Sounds nice in my small room!

 

Forget the Uni-Fi UB5. I bought them based on glowing reviews. Hard to drive, sounded like a small speaker, upper mid centric, have to crank to get bass, blech! Actually I preferred my old KEF Q-100 even with its shortcomings.

Entry level integrateds can sound very poor indeed. NAD 316BEE that I bought was just awful. Onkyo A-9010 was just as bad, hyped beyond all belief, course it was the US model. Mid centric and shouty. Dayton AP-150 much better.

 

Interesting factoid: both HEDD and Adams are run by designers who each claim to have invented the AMT tweeter.

 

Both HEDD and EVE splintered off from ADAM-proper. Both were founded by co-founders of ADAM.

 

Anyone have an opinion on which of these 2 active subs is better? Both are on sale right now and would go great with active monitors. I’ve been wanting to add a sub to my hr624’s for years.

https://www.svsound.com/collections/2000-series

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=24456

 

Personal opinions:

1. Any sealed sub is preferable to a vented one--except if you'll only use it for movie soundtracks (ie, boom/boom, not music)
2. I know SVS to be a responsible, customer-focused vendor. Buying from them is a quick & simple process (+ you might score a discounted SVS SB-2000 on their "Outlet" page.
3. Unfortunately, my last experience w/Monoprice was less excellent. I don't mean to suggest that they're bad faith or untrustworthy (that's not true at all). But Monoprice does sell a ton of stuff which they warranty and are, to be gentle, not fully prepared to do service on

I still have an SVS SB-1000 here. Sound was excellent, but the high-pass RCA output didn't sound particularly good. That may well have been fixed/upgraded in the SB-2000.

 

Can't speak for the monolith, but the SB-2000 for 500 bones is a good deal.

I have an SB-1000 and I thought it was great for about the same money. Seeing that, I'm feeling jipped. But even that is a nice sub. It was my first sealed sub, and I'm sold on them now. It's tight, punchy, and musical. Especially compared to ported models in the $500 range. Still has plenty of extension, too. It sounds very good, and blends pretty nicely with monitors. If you want full, taut kicks and smooth low bass notes, it'll do that for you. It can also go boom boom if you place it accordingly. The controls on the back are nice, too. The dials have lots of solid stops, with granular control over phase, which along with it being sealed, makes it a little easier to place/control. Well-built, smallest footprint possible, legit sounding subs.

Wouldn't hesitate on that price, personally.

The RCA outputs on my SB-1000 seem to sound fine - can't really speak on that. I'm just feeding it to LSR305's. The pass frequency is locked-in at 80hz, which seems to work well with those particular monitors. It cleans them up nicely - I keep them close to the wall with the LF stopped down and manage to get a pretty full, even sound. Seems to pull a little bit more clarity out of the mids, too. Far from ideal, but it's enjoyable.

Could be I don't hear issues because they're... LSR 305's. Not exactly the 'cleanest' monitors for hearing if the sub crossover is mucking things up.

 

Hello! It's my first message here

I need help with choosing new studio monitors. I currently have APS KLASIK 2020 and they sound quite nice, but they have a rather strong self-noise and this is a big problem for me because I often listen to music quietly at night and then the noise is clearly audible in the background even when I'm sitting more than 1m from them.

As for sound quality I was happy with KLASIK 2020. They have nicely extended low-end and don't sound too harsh and besides hiss the only thing that bothered me a little was sweet spot as I have to be exactly in between them to have perfect stereo image but maybe I just demand too much.

Could you recommend me some monitors for around $ 1500 that sound good, don't need a subwoofer and don't hiss?

 

It's probably the HEDD Type 07s mentioned here earlier. I haven't heard these, but read many user comments about them. Don't remember anyone talking about self-noise. These have 7" woofers & are said to have excellent bass.

Not sure where you are, but here are 2 links:

https://www.samash.com/hedd-type-07...xAfHyS60v29wSu1cY46PtnXqXRO7BORhoCHDIQAvD_BwE

(or this EU vendor--read reviews)
https://www.musicstore.com/en_OT/EUR/Hedd-Audio-Type-07/art-REC0012675-000

 

Some also recommend the Eve SC207 (same price as HEDD). Review below:
https://www.prosoundnetwork.com/gear-and-technology/review-eve-audio-sc207-nearfield-monitors