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Pinnacle of Desktop Speakers?


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Biggest problem is the demo. The "DJ" stores only ones that stock them in Brisbane, and I've been there. It's a wall of monitors all hooked to the same source, background hiss ("yeah that's normal man") and zero calibration, and store music pumping in background too. 

 

LS50W II will have a proper setup in a hifi store, that should be fine. But the monitors, yeah, unlikely to properly demo them.

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4 minutes ago, Bengineer said:

Biggest problem is the demo. The "DJ" stores only ones that stock them in Brisbane, and I've been there. It's a wall of monitors all hooked to the same source, background hiss ("yeah that's normal man") and zero calibration, and store music pumping in background too. 

 Ha, sounds exactly like the DJ store I went to in NSW.  Made me chuckle reading that.

 

You kind of need to call them before and ask them to set them up a bit better, with a decent interface (say a Focusrite Scarlett) and take your phone or laptop in as the USB source.

 

If you tell them you're serious they will do it. Otherwise yep it's just the infamous 'wall of sound' haha

 

7 minutes ago, Bengineer said:

LS50W II will have a proper setup in a hifi store, that should be fine. But the monitors, yeah, unlikely to properly demo them.

 

Agreed.

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I've not heard any Genelecs but IMO the ADAM A7X have a very natural non-fatiguing presentation and decent bass weight and texture.   This was obvious even in the non-favourable "wall of monitors" environment and borne out when a good mate purchased as his 'main rig' speakers.

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2 hours ago, Bengineer said:

@rand129678

 

Any experience with;

 

Dynauio Lyd 5 or 7

Adam A5x

HEDD 05

Neumann KH80

I listened to the ADAMs, I like them, I have 2 pairs of ADAMs already, the AE1s were equivalent in quality, voiced slightly warmer and slightly more resolution. I bought the AE1s for a change, I would have been happy with the ADAMs. My wife preferred the higher WAF AE1s

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10 hours ago, Bengineer said:

Says they are stand mount. How would they honestly go as nearfields?

Honestly, they are very good. I put them in my main system in place of my ADAMs (see my system below), they were rather overwhelmed by the size of the room, and of course, couldn't compete directly with 750W a channel 3 ways with Heil drivers, but judged on their own merits, were very good. They work far better for me as near-fields, and that's why I bought them

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I have a somewhat contrary view as to which speakers can be used for near field and desk top listening.

 

I think the critical factors are twofold;

 

The  first imo is how well (seamless) the drivers and the crossover are integrated. Ie do they sound as a whole from say 1 metre. Quite a few unusual speakers both passive and active achieve this. Some really great speakers I have owned that achieve this are Acoustic energy Pro sat and AE22’s, Elac BS312, Dynaudio C1’s, Harbeth 30.1’s and Kii 3’s. So in other words don’t necessarily discount speakers that aren’t specifically marketed as near field. Move up close to a range of speakers and you will note which ones are well integrated vs those which aren’t for nearfield application.

 

Second is how the bass reacts to boundaries. This can be harder to test obviously as most shops won’t have them on a desktop. But audition aside, I think obviously avoiding rear ported is potentially more beneficial, the second factor is one that has already been mentioned and that is stands, which can help control bass output. The two really good stands are the isoacoustics aperta’s and even better IMO are the Ionforge, mainly because they are completely adjustable for tilt. They are as well made as the aperta also imo;

 

https://www.ionforgeonline.com/Pro-Series-Desktop-Speaker-Stands

 

I have attached a pic of how close I listen to my Kii’s, and the main reason it works is driver integration imo.

 

From the pro actives, I think the Adam’s are a pretty good option. I like ribbon tweeters at close range as they can be more diffuse and immersive as long as they mate to the cone driver seamlessly.

 

Good luck with it, I think the master twelve is a fantastic starting point.

E7EA68EF-653E-4624-94FA-91DAE2EB1339.jpeg

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For me it comes down to my room dimensions and environment, there's no point in me spending thousands on some near field monitors because how my computer desks setup creates quite a lot of bass reflection off the rear wall, no way I can shift it around either.

The iLoud micro monitors were nice and what's the point when they don't sound flat due to the room postioning.

Atm, I use some Pioneer DM40 and actually get a somewhat flatter cleaner response

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Where I dwell the pinnicles are obscured above the clouds. A few years ago I auditioned desktop speakers at a more modest level and was most impressed by the Neumann KH120: small footprint, satisfyingly solid design and build, excellent clear, neutral sound. But I ended up with JBL LSR305 because they were good enough for my purposes and great value. 

Edited by Monty
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23 minutes ago, Ewok209 said:


Yeh, I could EQ them but prefer not too. especially in the $$$$ realm, the room creates a terrible midbass bloat at anything higher than 40% volume.

Give me an instant headache.

More meaning the higher end monitors with built in room correction. Their whole existence is to sound their best in any environment.

 

DSP and EQ not a bad thing, especially for speakers.

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I am getting a pair of Bowers & Wilkins B&W Formation Duo for my desk with a dual computer monitor setup. I am a bit worried they are too large and putting them on stands behind the desk will look ostentatious (I receive clients in my office). Anybody tried this before?

 

Christoph

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Current leanings;

 

Genelec 8330A

KEF LS50W

 

The Genelec has its own excellent DSP setup. The rear ported KEF I would have to EQ by ear, but they are coaxial and have a lot of tech built in.

 

Not sure what else I should put on short list. There is a chance I could listen the these two, many others have no hope.

 

 

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