Nearfields for audiophile listening?

Thanks for reminding me of that excellent site!

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I took a detour away from headphones and made some improvements to one of the speaker systems in my home.

Went with a set of those new JBL 5" active monitors. Which I guess you would consider Nearfields.

The sound is for the most part very even, no obvious peaks or dips. An I toggled the little -2db switch on each for the High Frequencies which made them sound just a little bit fuller. Overall I can't say they are any more impressive than AKG headphones I have, each seems to be equally detailed with the speakers having better placement from left to right and the headphones doing better with a sense of "rear"

Still given the price and size I'm happy with how they sound. I'm sure some room treatment and maybe some EQ might help to propel them forward, but without any of that there wasn't anything bad that stood out about them. I'm sure there are better options, but I didn't see much feed back about them here so figured a brief mention here would be worth something to someone, despite my lack of experience of mastery over the language you guys use to talk about sound

 

Has anyone compared Event Opals to 8050's? Any input would be appreciated.

 

I wouldn't bother with Opals. The company is dead and they weren't known for their reliability.

 

The original Acoustic Energy AE1 is great in a near-field application ... If I'm not mistaken that was the design intention. Needs some high quality watts (and amperes) to sound it's best though.

 

Spent some time with a friend this weekend, and gave a pair of Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1 a listen while with him, I see others have also mentioned them. That said, I too have to say they sound very very good! There was a Chord Mojo as the USB source and the amp was a "dynahi"

 

Interesting about Dynahi being used to drive them. It’s a decent amp but for 87dB speakers I’d use something that’s not a headamp on steroids.

 

Well I was impressed with how much authority was there in the lows, so the speakers didn't sound like they where lacking power at all. But I've no idea how closely to the original Dynahi schematics he followed nor how they would sound with "something that's not a head amp on steroids" either way I suppose it may be useful to some of you to know a head amp on steroids may acceptably drive a speaker like that

Oh for reference, he's got a set of Quads up stairs running out of a PassLabs 30.5 and a Yggdrasil from Schiit with the "analog 2" board or what ever that is. That also sounded really nice, but that's not a near field so I didn't to bring it up. For an office set up he seems content with it, though I'll mention that I felt the Sierra speakers have a very narrow sweet spot

 

Is it fair to say that because most music these days is electronically based with high compression, monitors cater to that sound?

Which monitors are known for jazz, classical and other acoustic music?

 

I don't think so, but many monitors especially in the lower price ranges (guitar center types) are not very natural and since electronic music is not natural instrument based perhaps they may be more forgiving to the listener. I would be curious to see what emi, dg and hyperion and other labels use to master their classical and jazz cds. I will put one monitor line in the crosshairs for jazz and classical: Harbeth. Smooth, warm, rich and relaxing, yet realistic at times. Non monitor type, my vote goes to Voxativ, amazes on many genres.

I am sure there a lots more, out there but not sure of other criteria like price, size etc.

 

It's more accurate to say that the mastering caters to that sound.

Seriously man, compile all your various questions and requirements together because splitting them up across multiple posts and multiple threads means none of us are going to give you any helpful answers.

 

The same monitors as everyone else. NS10s are still common lol and for more normal sounding stuff (not harbeths lol) l, it’s what the engineer likes.The nearfields that attempt to sound normal have gotten way better as have the mains monitors but thats not a question of genre, that’s a question of cost. Lots of these massive ATCs, JBLs, and Genelecs are used to flex in front of clients than listen, while the studio might really use a pair of something legit decent like Genelecs or Adams (sometimes 3 way and often not) most of the time to make most decisions. Maybe the mains will be used to check transients and the bass but a lot of it is pure flexing. Non music audio production can be done with way worse stuff but you’d be surprised at the guys mostly using stuff like KRK V series, HS8, and KH120 and getting reasonable results. Skill > Gear

Then there are guys who master Shania Twain and Ghost on warm butt tubes and horns as f**k accuracy and extension at that point when your job is to slam it. Stuff made in 1992 on Ns10s, old Genelecs, and tannoy garbage had actual musical content even if they needed to use three to four pairs of speakers to hear all of what they recorded. Early and mid 80s and before sheet? Speakers have come a long way. Those guys were using the super etched early NS10 models and Auratones to get any detail for a reason.

SoundCloud DJs with Mackies, ATm50x, JBL 305s, and KRK Rockits don’t count. Mastering engineers will often have a pair of hifi floorstanders too

 

Years ago (up to about 2000), the B&W 801 was widely used at major classical labels: EMI, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, CBS, etc. Don't know about more recently.

Pic from Abbey Road Studios:

 

I say there is some influence. If modern music was intended to sound like the 1% of uncompressed and effortless (underground) stuff, there would be different kind of 'monitors' being used. A mix could not be assessed for proper dynamics scale with some 5'' Adam and a sub.
The development trend in powered monitors business looks to go different direction that most hi-fi enthusiasts wouldn't necessarily care for. Class-D, ever smaller for same SPL (portability), DSP, fancy power response. These tend to be 'wrong' compromises for living room setup.

An other thing to keep in mind is that studio monitors are tools. They have a specific task, and that is not to please the ear.
No good can come, when these leave something out. While if they bring something in addition, this can be accounted for. Not necessarily great for pleasure listening.

 

Having spent some time with the pro audio crowd, I can say that they are roughly as knowledgeable about acoustics as the audiophile guys. And they have their truckload of biases. Most often studio guys base their purchases off whatever the celebrities use, so they can tell their clients that they use the same stuff that’s used in Abbey Road or what have you. If Joey Sturgis uses Adam A7x, then be sure that most of the modern metal guys will follow suite. They are there to make music, not salivate over elegant port geometry.

The Yamaha NS10 has it’s place in music production history mostly due to coincidence. It can be of help in the mixing process, because the closed enclosure has very little bass (so less room interaction) and thus doesn’t muddy up the mids. Also impulse repsonse could’ve been cleaner than most early small ported speakers. Nowadays I don’t see much use of keeping one in your studio unless it’s a nod to history. The sad part is that the NS10 has birthed a myth that one needs bad sounding gear to make good sounding music. I for one don’t think that there should be a difference in voicing speakers or headphones wether for pleasure or work.

As for jazz, classical and acoustic music - these genres are often produced in very high profile studios, because very often it’s the kind of music you actively listen to, rather than keep in background. Therefore the quality requirements can be higher than for say - modern RnB. Neumann, Geithain, Genelec... the upper mid echelon of monitoring is what one would find in a competent Tonemeister studio.

 

Ethan Winer's original audio myths article was based on the professional crowd, and then rewritten for us domestic crowd.

Harbeths (or, at least, their BBC forebears), iirc, were originally designed for listening to in a van. Maybe they are terrific in confined spaces. I wish I could afford to find out!

 

I look at the NS10 these days mostly as being a reference point to understand a person's ears.

Years ago on headfi, I would have said your three defining points would have been the Senn HD6##, Beyer DT880, and AKG K701. Later on, maybe add the LCD2 into it.

In the budget monitoring world, I'd say the NS10, maybe a Mixcube, Behringer Truth (ripoff Genelec's design but actually decent), Fostex PM0.# all serve as common yardsticks.

 

Joey Sturgis... Metal? Get outta here

Jazz, modern “classical”, and acoustic... active listening? They’re called elevator music for a reason bub

 

I'm not sure anyone has successfully passed off "Bitches Brew" as elevator music.

(Also, hi, you f'ing lunatic, welcome back.)

 

Jazz “fans” tend to bitch about that one.

The rnb dudes usually have better stuff as their music actually makes money...