barefootsound

I lost interest in them after reading the pro reviews at Sweetwater. More of an analytical tool than for musical enjoyment. Ruthlessly revealing, shows everything on the recording, and if you have bad recordings speaker will show that bad sound. Plus I do not need 116dB listening levels. MEME does allow:

"With the turn of a knob, one can switch from the MicroMain27′s brutally revealing “Flat” response to the warmer and sweeter “Hi-Fi” setting, generically emulating the sound of some high-end consumer audio gear".

 

But it got me thinking about another pro monitor that made it into the audiophile community Earthworks Sigma 6.2 loudspeaker. I am not a big fan of poly cones but is often necessary in 1st order due to large bandwidth they must cover to avoid the nasty breakups.

Both Barefootsond and Earthworks use a 1st order (12 dB/octave) Most speakers don’t have that. Vandersteen and old Thiel’s being the exceptions. But setup is a nightmare and require to have head-in-a-vise or loose the special effects. But pro monitors are made for nearfield listening so the room effects may not matter.

 

Earthworks Sigma 6.2  step response shows an excellent, time-coherent right-triangle shape,

It is very rare, in my experience, to find a loudspeaker that excels in both the frequency and time domains. Taken overall, its measurements suggest that the Earthworks Sigma 6.2 joins that small community.—John Atkinson

 

As an aside, I prefer nearfield listening for rock, pop, and techno. Possible because these genres are mastered nearfield so it makes sense music will sound best when played back the same way.

Audiophile speakers were originally designed for acoustic instruments played and recorded in real space. The dealer continued, if I listen to rock, might as well get some cheap Polks and be done with it. While I agree with the concept of what he said, I do believe rock music can benefit from better speakers. You just need to find the right kind.

Sounds like you have a background in studio monitors. What do you think about nearfield vs. farfield listening for rock and techno. Would it sound more "right" because it is mastered nearfield? Most people here listen to jazz, quartet, classical, and orchestra so it makes sense they want farfield speakers to recreate the soundfield of those types of music and instruments. Would there be a speaker better at electric guitar, synthesizer, drums  than one for acoustic instruments?

I agree about flat FR. It bothers me some 5 figure audiophile speakers can’t even get the basic’s like flat FR right.
Not sure why changing the FR would make the sound “warmer and sweeter like consumer audio gear". Other than the argument that human’s listening to downward slope treble sounds natural and flat treble sounds bright.

 

The Micromain is too tight with the dispersion pattern control.

So you have heard them and this is a design flaw?

 

You not needing 116dB levels is something you can control using a volume dial so I don’t get your comment regarding that.

My thought is if the speaker is designed to play a 116dB will it cause a shortcoming somewhere else? Why pay for performance that has no use?

 

Also it being revealing is something I thought audiophiles want. Listening to the actual mix in its truth (but as I’ve grown I’ve noticed that is the opposite of what most of y’all want)

The longer I listen the more I move away from "ruthlessly revealing" ( fatiguing) sound. When a speaker makes the focus of a song the recording defects and quality of musicianship IME it looses it’s musicality. When I start liking the song, not for the tune but  because it is well recorded or the musicians are talented something has gone wrong, YMMV.

There are other things than raw detail retrieval that aren’t relevant to mastering. Things like PRAT, colors, bloom. Why do I not care for ATC? They play loud with no compression. They are clear, accurate, and not fatiguing.  Maybe because they are so rigid they loose the musicality. Like compare Benchmark to NOS DAC and sound goes from etched, bleached out white to colors, but not coloration. If that makes any sense.

 

Time domain is not really an issue unless your speakers are like over 10ms.

Really? What do you think about typical step response shown below? Sure each driver blends with the next but do you think they time well and pick up on the PRAT if it’s in the song? You think you can’t hear the difference between the Earthworks Sigma 6.2 and TAD CE1TX? I do not know. I am just asking.

 

Also looking at the two time domains. Actually the Mon time aligned one is actually better for transients.

Not following you. I only posted one. What does the Mon look like?

 

Basically I’d say don’t be smitten by time aligned drivers like that cos that means longer tails fo reverb from the speaker alone and combine that with your room then that compounds the issue.

That is an interesting point.

 

I’d recommend the Genelec 8361A rather.

Thanks for the recommendation about Genelec. I was looking forward to hearing the Genelec’s G Three powered loudspeaker after Stereophile gave them an "A". They sounded so bad in the store I did not think they could be saved by better setup or electronics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about yg acoustics dual coherent the crossover coherent in both time and frequency domains?

yg-acoustics DualCoherent

 

You got me thinking about single driver vs. time aligned multi driver. What do you think about

Fujitsu Ten Eclipse TD712z loudspeaker

A single 4.7" driver with a glass-fiber cone is mounted in an egg-shaped enclosure of artificial marble,

 

Which would you choose?

What is the ideal number of drivers in a loudspeaker system?
a) two
b) three
c) four or more
d) none of the above

You have your answer? Good. Next question:

What is the best type of crossover in a loudspeaker system?
a) first order (6dB/octave)
b) second order (12dB)
c) third order (18dB)
d) fourth order (24dB) or higher
e) none of the above

 

Eclipse TD712z, impulse response on drive-unit axis at 50" (5ms time window, 30kHz bandwidth).

 

 

and Eclipse TD712z, step response on drive-unit axis at 50" (5ms time window, 30kHz bandwidth).