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Mini Monitors - Dynaudio and JM Labs

After 11 years with my Thiel CS22 floorstanders, I’m ready to make a change and have decided to try out some mini monitors because of room size 15’x17’x7.5’ and the fact that I have a REL Stadium III to take care of the low end. I’ve narrowed my search down to two brands, Dynaudio and JM Labs. I’m looking at the Micro Utopia Be and either to the three Dynaudio models, Confidence C1, Special 25, or Contour 1.3SE.

I listen to pretty much all types of music but the majority being Jazz, Rock, and Alternative. One thing about the Thiel’s that I have always had a difficult time dealing with was that the listening position was extremely critical. The way that I have my speakers positioned, only one person at a time could truly enjoy the music from my Thiel’s. I’m hoping that I can improve my predicament with the speakers listed above as well as moving a step up in the quest for the absolute sound. I believe I have plenty of power to drive any of the speaker listed. A list of my associated equipment is listed “my system”.

Please, your recommendations or comments are welcome if you have compared or owned any speakers listed above.
islandflyfisher

Showing 2 responses by everest_audio

everest_audio
285 posts
 
If you're not thrown off by the Pioneer name, you may want to consider their EX-Series which was developed by TAD (Technical Audio Devices - Pioneer's high-end speaker division). These speakers were developed by the same guy that developed the highly acclaimed $45,000 TAD Model-1.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/pg/album/0,,2076_310069828,00.html

They use a beryllium tweeter, but it is used in conjunction with a Magnesium midrange instead of the more expensive beryllium midrange used in the TAD speakers. These speakers have been raved at recent shows when used in conjunction with Bel Canto electronics. Since I'm a Bel Canto dealer, I'm seriously considering looking at evaluating these speakers to possibly add them to our lineup on the suggestion of John Stronczer (owner/designer Bel Canto). I wish they marketed them under the TAD name though sooner than Pioneer.
everest_audio
285 posts
 
Liuhao, I have to disagree that the Micros do not have any bass punch at all. Sure, there are other speakers that are much more extended in the bass, but I have actually found them to be quite punchy in the bottom end. Perhaps your room is too big for them or you're underpowering them. I've run them typically with anywhere between 120W per channel up to 600W per channel and have had no compliants about the bass punch with the Micros. Even at a HiFi Show we put on in November, I had them set up in a decent sized hotel room driven by an all Cary system with the 600W per channel Cary A-306 power amp and no one complained about lack of bass at all. Check out the picture of this system at the show if you want:
http://www.everestaudio.com/hifishow/htmls/everest-audio-show_020.html

Note: There is a Velodyne sub in the picture, but most of the time we did not have it turned on and the Micros bottom end filled the room very well.
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