Opinions and recommendations on active loudspeakers

@ inna

Hope you have great joy with all your tweeking. Some of us not so sophisticated just want to hear the music as close to how it was recorded as possible. A lot of active speakers are really good at that. 

@ garydt

would be very interesting to hear about your personal experiences from (larger?) PMC actives. I’ve got some ATC, Quested and Westlakes, both actives and passives, but so far miss PMC.

Increasingly impressed by my new babies the Quested v3110. Probably end of game for a middle sized monitor with huge spl capacity. They are heavy though so not for bringing around to your friends...

@lp2cd 
Haha, nothing that fancy yet. Using a pair of trash cans in plastic as stands. Good to know there are custom made stands. Vertical position as I'm using the Questeds for mid-field listening. When I got used to them and integrated them well in my room (have the woofer adjustment on -9 db at the moment - a little much but there is just a big step from -3 db), I will play them against a pair of Unity Boulders mk2. And after that the main systems. Quested have a homogenity in their sound that is very nice. Everything sounds natural, handclaps, the cash register in Money etc.

Always been interested in the PSI monitors but only heard the A-17 model in a shop once. Didn't give me much impression but am sure they are very special. Would be very interesting if you had some words for them, e.g. why did you choose the A-21 model?

And do you happen to have something about the RCF Mytho monitors? Another not very well-known monitor that have some rave reviews. At least very good measurements. Would like to try the 6 model.

@lp2cd 
I expect the Quested to have much better control of low freq. than the Boulder. The two 8" woofers in the Boulder moves exceptionally fast at low freq. and in my opinion tend to lose some control, lots of air. The Quested you can hardly see move at all. Like a big ATC. The Boulder has an interesting flat mid from Elac with their Jet 5 ribbon mounted inside. So very different setup. Both have heavy amplification. "Small" monsters!

Besides PSI 17 maybe the smallest Neumann KH80 would be really good for very near-field usage at a much lower cost. My recommendation is for anyone interested in actives to try a Neumann monitor. 

Thanks for the tip on Halsey. Actually I think many "audiophile" speakers can't handle new pop or r 'n b  etc. mixes because they are too coloured (together with the room). Especially in the bass/low mid region.

Agree fully. And rather expensive and time consuming EQing. I can’t myself really see the excitement in trying to find a different (better?) sound from changing the direction of some very expensive cable. And certainly not a digital one. Once you get in there though, it seems very hard to get out.

Warmest recommendation for the master storyteller Guy Clark’s live recording "Keepers". When he was at his best. Best ever? Unfortunately not on Tidal at the moment. Like a lot of his recordings. Shame.

I would say the Doobie Brothers is the group that had the overall highest standard when it comes to recording technique in the 70’s and 80’s. And why not musicality as well. Just listen to Takin’ it to the streets. Not a hint of distortion or bad EQing or painful compression. Just perfect. On active speakers playing at 105db... :-)

Sorry to hijack this thread a little but musical tips hopefully never bad.
lonemountain: You're probably right about the missing low end but my point were more about the distorsion free completely clean recording. Pump up the volume on your ATC to 105 db and play Takin' it to the streets. Frightening. You expect something to explode when they attack the bass and drums. Sorry Ican't say the same about Crime of the Century. Historic record with fantastic music, but lots of distortion and edgy sounds. At least for me on CD and Tidal. 
A hidden secret maybe: France Gall "Concert public Concert privé". There you have the incredible bass player Sonny Thompson (know too little about him unfortunately) doing all solos and also all the melody playing. The rest of the band merely joining in. The first cd is acoustic (almost...) and certainly have the deepest possible electric bass. Great music.

Don't underestimate the upcoming generation. Probably much smarter than we and will not be fooled as easily by the "tweaking" audio industry.