Near field set up for my home office

[Rickus]

I currently have a pair of fairly old Adam A7s that sound good but a little bass shy.  I'm considering a pair of Genelec 8331 or 8341 monitors with a 7360A sub and the GLM SAM hardware/software for room correction.  My sources are all digital (FLAC files on a NAS and Tidal via Lumin U1 Mini streamer to a variety of DACs.)  Distance from me to speakers is a little over a metre.  Any thoughts about alternative systems?  I'm happy to go with non-powered speakers and a power amp if needed but I only have space for fairly compact speakers on my desk.  The room is approx 4x6m and is vaguely intended to be a home theatre but I never watch movies   My desk is set up along one of the short walls.

 

Thanks for any interesting thoughts...

 

Cheers,
Rick.

[sleach]

Those genelecs would be awesome! I feel excited for you about the step up you'll hear. The Adams are very good but this is a decent move up the ladder!

 

I'm not sure that you would need a sub for listening at that range. It would be worth getting the monitors, doing the room correction then seeing if you want to add a sub.

 

I just bought a pair of ksd C88 reference running with an RME ADI 2 DAC. The RME has some parametric EQ so I can tweak the sound. Not exactly full room correction, but useful. Anyway the sound is excellent. I also have a pair of me Geithain RL 930k but these are not so compact. My room is about 4x8 and there is no need for a subwoofer, I can rattle the pictures just with the speakers!

[Rickus]

5 hours ago, sleach said:

I'm not sure that you would need a sub for listening at that range. It would be worth getting the monitors, doing the room correction then seeing if you want to add a sub.

Thanks.  That's a good idea, especially if I go with the 8341s.

[Yamaha_man]

The best near field active speakers I’ve ever heard were Kii Three.

They were on a Sna members desktop and literally 1m from my ears. The room (from memory) was only about 2m square.

Never heard anything like it to this date and doubt I will. When I shut my eyes the room could have been 6m square, it was amazing.

A massive investment for desktop setup but if you have the budget it’s a no brainer. 

[Rickus]

5 minutes ago, Yamaha_man said:

The best near field active speakers I’ve ever heard were Kii Three.

I'd discounted these because of the size but placed on stands next to the desk they would fit OK.  Hmmm...

[Yamaha_man]

5 minutes ago, Rickus said:

I'd discounted these because of the size but placed on stands next to the desk they would fit OK.  Hmmm...

I’m use to big high end speakers.

When I walked into the room and sat down I thought to myself.... “hmmm, ok”. To say they blew me away would be an understatement. Highly recommended if in budget.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Yamaha_man

[Rickus]

42 minutes ago, Yamaha_man said:

I’m use to big high end speakers.

I have seen some of them in your previous posts and was greatly in awe  

[Ittaku]

Dynaudio Xeos. I have the xeo2 for nearfield and they're very good. Their website show that the xeo2 are now outdated and replaced by xeo10/20 but I can only see ads for xeo2 still in Australia.

[Rickus]

25 minutes ago, Ittaku said:

Dynaudio Xeos. I have the xeo2 for nearfield and they're very good. Their website show that the xeo2 are now outdated and replaced by xeo10/20 but I can only see ads for xeo2 still in Australia.

Thanks!  Will add them to the list to investigate.

[mjs]

Mini Magneplanar system incl DWM bass panel perhaps

https://www.magnepan.com/model_mini_maggie

[Rickus]

1 hour ago, mjs said:

Mini Magneplanar system incl DWM bass panel perhaps

Interesting suggestion, thanks!

[Yamaha_man]

I haven’t heard these but have owned several Wilson speaker systems.  Maybe worth an audition if you can find some.

 

https://www.wilsonaudio.com/products/tunetot/feature=feature

[Rickus]

8 minutes ago, Yamaha_man said:

I haven’t heard these but have owned several Wilson speaker systems.  Maybe worth an audition if you can find some.

 

https://www.wilsonaudio.com/products/tunetot/feature=feature

Thanks

[Tarzan]

2 hours ago, mjs said:

Mini Magneplanar system incl DWM bass panel perhaps

https://www.magnepan.com/model_mini_maggie

Wow, won't take up much real estate either?

[Familyguyhifi]

I was looking for a desktop setup recently and really wanted a set of active speakers to save of space.

 

I had a listed to the Kef LSX's and while very impressive for the size I did find find they were lacking a little in bass.

 

I ended up with a set of BWCM6s (found a trade in pair) and a Quad VA-One Plus. I thought it might have been overkill for the size, but it's now my favourite listening space.

[Rickus]

On 28/08/2019 at 1:30 AM, sleach said:

Those genelecs would be awesome! I feel excited for you about the step up you'll hear. The Adams are very good but this is a decent move up the ladder!

 

I'm not sure that you would need a sub for listening at that range. It would be worth getting the monitors, doing the room correction then seeing if you want to add a sub.

I listened to a pair of Genelec 8341s today without a sub and they sounded great and not at all bass shy.  Still lots of other tempting options though...

 

Unfortunately, Brisbane is not a great place to audition a wide range of speakers.

[sleach]

15 hours ago, Rickus said:

 

 

 

15 hours ago, Rickus said:

...
 
Unfortunately, Brisbane is not a great place to audition a wide range of speakers.

 

That makes things harder. Ideally you'd listen in your own room too. Not that I follow that advice myself, I usually just buy based on reviews and reputation. I had a pair of Martion Bullfrogs that were incredible in a properly treated room. Buy in my little room they were too much and things got a bit muddy.

There is this thread over on gearslutz that detailed an epic series of auditions of monitors. A couple of years old now, but an entertaining read.

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/high-end/851143-high-end-nearfield-test.html

blockquote widgetblockquote widget

Edited August 30, 2019 by sleach

[Rickus]

Thanks for the link, sleach.

[davewantsmoore]

On 27/08/2019 at 9:33 PM, Rickus said:

I currently have a pair of fairly old Adam A7s that sound good but a little bass shy.

EQ and/or positioning is the likely best solution.

You're almost certainly going to need EQ to get a near field speaker to behave anyways.... so ?! 

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by davewantsmoore

[Rickus]

53 minutes ago, davewantsmoore said:

EQ and/or positioning is the likely best solution.

You're almost certainly going to need EQ to get a near field speaker to behave anyways.... so ?! 

 

The A7s have a frequency range of 46Hz-35KHz +-3dB so they are never going to produce a lot of low bass.  I could add a sub and I have a MiniDSP SHD which can do EQ and room correction but I thought it might be worth casting the net wider for a more capable speaker.  I did play with positioning and REW and my room is not as terrible as I thought, at least a metre from the speakers

[davewantsmoore]

Assuming that as a "near field" setup they will be running relatively low SPL.... then you may be surprised how much extra bass you can EQ into them.

 

If you have the tools on hand, then give that a go, before you give up on them.

 

OTOH, if you want some new speakers... then.   

[Rickus]

36 minutes ago, davewantsmoore said:

OTOH, if you want some new speakers... then.   

I've been rumbled  

[Guest Muon N']

I can't see a budget, but have you considered Lenehan ML-1's matched with a suitable amp. Mike can do them with a near field switch for such use, he has supplied ML-1's like this to recording studio environments in the past.

Edit: Mike's factory and showroom are just down at Ashmore.

Edited September 1, 2019 by Muon N'

[Rickus]

10 hours ago, Muon N' said:

I can't see a budget, but have you considered Lenehan ML-1's matched with a suitable amp. Mike can do them with a near field switch for such use, he has supplied ML-1's like this to recording studio environments in the past.

Thanks for the suggestion.  I have a pair of ML5s already.

[PleasantSounds]

On 28/08/2019 at 7:52 AM, Yamaha_man said:

The best near field active speakers I’ve ever heard were Kii Three.

They were on a Sna members desktop and literally 1m from my ears. The room (from memory) was only about 2m square.

Never heard anything like it to this date and doubt I will. When I shut my eyes the room could have been 6m square, it was amazing.

A massive investment for desktop setup but if you have the budget it’s a no brainer. 

 

I'm pleased to see that your visit has left a lasting impression, Joe!

 

Since then I have moved the speakers to stands behind the desk. Most stands are either not tall enough for the desk height or the top plate is too small, but I found a solution by putting the Isoacoustics stands on top of the 600mm speaker stands and this works well both in terms of height and isolation. And best of all the sound is still better than before. 

 

I wouldn't hesitate to back your recommendation as the Kiis work very well even in the most difficult placement scenarios and they are very popular among audio professionals as well as audiophiles - just that the investment is probably several times more than most people are prepared to spend on a desktop setup. However if the budget stretches that far, I can't imagine anyone being less than extatic having these speakers on their desk.