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Floor-Standards to Monitors?

I am always tempted to try a good pair of monitors/bookshelf speakers mated with my two subs and see if I can equal or surpass a good pair of floor standing speakers ($15k to $30k) in my 20 x 16 (vaulted ceiling) treated room. The thought of being able to move and set up things without help is very appealing as I get older.  Also, with much of the price of floor standing speakers going into the large cabinet, I am thinking that that an equivalent, or better sound, less the low end should be achievable at “reasonable” prices.  With the application of DSP/room correction, does this eliminate the gap between most of these products? Once you get to a magic price point, are we just paying for company name, exotic materials that may or may not have an impact, and aesthetics?

There are so many monitors out there and the price range is staggering – I have named a few below. The magazines say they are all wonderful and clearly there is no place to hear them all. Where there are measurements, it differentiates them somewhat. I like dynamic resolving speakers (Magico/Vivid) and concerned about mid/bass impact between 80 Hz and 250 Hz when you crank them up where the subs do not help. I would also like a US presence and a company that builds more than 25 copies a year. What do you think? Can I get there? Is paying more than $5k just crazy for monitors? Does room correction level the playing field? Any thoughts or recommendations?

ELAC DEBUT 2.0 B6.2 and AS-61 – both sounded very good at AXPONA

ATC – Never heard them / multiple options

Kii – Great reviews out there but all seem to point to a small room

Revel –M126 Be

TAD – ME1 – sounded great in small room at AXPONA. Likely too small for my room and very expensive as you move up the line

Dynaudio – New Confidence 20 monitor coming out and Contour 20

Focal - Diablo Utopia Colour Evo (expensive) and Sopra 1

Dutch and Dutch – Not highly available in the US but supposed to be exceptional

B & W – 805 D3 – Would need a very treated room

Paradigm – Persona – I have found the entire line bright and lean on bass

Fritz - Carrera 7 Be- A small company but sounded excellent at AXPONA

KEF – A laid back.

Raidho – Expensive

Magico – Very Expensive and old Q design

Harbeth –Cabinet resonance built in - odd


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Showing 1 response by ricwa

ricwa
23 posts
 
I too am getting older and wanted to be able to move speakers around (constantly) by myself. Had Merlin floorstanders for 15 years then switched to monitors and found I preferred them. I have a small dedicated listening room 11x18 and listen to acoustic music (classical and jazz) at low to medium volume. I ended up with 2 entirely different sets of monitors, Harbeth 30.1 and Revel M126be. When I get tired of detail, I switch to the Harbeths and then when I crave detail, back to the Revels. I love both but they are night and day different. Note that if you didn’t like the Personas, you might not like the M126be’s. For my taste, I thought the Persona B was one of the best but ended up with the M126be’s instead.

I’ve heard a lot of live music and the 30.1s sound like live music. The Revels have more WOW factor and are surreal. I use two small subs, REL T/zeros, rolled off at 40hz with one sub at 0 phase and the other at 180 so they don’t fight each other. Subs are at very low volume. I don’t like a lot of bass but find that the two small subs in stereo at low volume settings add just a touch of fullness.
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