Speakers with the most detailed midrange? (non-ESL/planar)

@shadorne

My ears are becoming more and more accustomed to the MA Studio. Or am I burning in the speakers? Well, I believe the first.. Listening to Charlie Musselwhite tonight "One night in America" (Telarc) and "Sanctuary" and I think the Studio’s doing a great job. His harmonica sounds just fine. Great imaging. It might be that MA eventually have succeeded here to part the very fast tweeter with two small 4" woofers in a d’appolito setting. The woofers are "free". Not screwed in the front baffle. Technique taken directly from their top model. One thing is clear. With these ribbons you hear more percussion and cymbals on some records than you possibly want. Listening nearfield at my desk at 1,20 meters. DSPeaker Anti-mode 2.0 to reduce interference from the desk (also DAC), Crossed 80hz to two JBL 310 subs, XTZ edge2 amp 300w d-class driving the Studios, no-name cables. Not a bad experience for rather low cost!

@gosta
Thanks for the suggestion of the Monitor Audio Studio. Interesting that they are so highly detailed and revealing. How do they compare to the ATC midrange as far as detail goes? I ask because this is my point of reference. 

@willmacc

I've read really good things about Salk as well. 

Do you know when the Seas Graphene drivers are going to be available? This material sounds really ideal for diaphragms. 

These MPD tweeters (micro pleated diaphragm) are very fast. If you listen near-field as I do at the moment the transients may be a bit to much. They’re hard, almost hurt. Maybe you can call that "un-musical" or as Shadorne means the highs are standing out from the mids. In that perspective they may be different from what ATC monitors give you. I’m not sure that’s a good thing, but very much a good experience and reference. They don’t have the power and authority of the ATC. I wouldn’t play the Studios very loud. To enjoy these you must prefer a very detailed and revealing sound (also in the upper bass) that adds nothing and leaves no prisoners. I do, mostly, but wouldn’t have these as my only monitors. You need something more "organic" besides them for a rest. Will do some A/B soon.

I have been working with the Decware FRX2 driver for years now. I like the midrange that it produces with tube amplification, but not the bass so much. So, I am going with SS power amp driven by a hybred tube pre. AS expected, I have to watch the midrange more, per the SS amplification, and am working towards some kind of balance. In short, these drivers reveal a bit too much on some of the recordings such as rock, and will give up recordings that were 'impressive sounding' through other systems. Given a good clean recording, I prefer these drivers. They have some unusual design concepts, such as a special transformer mounted behind the driver, that adjusts the midrange for better transparency. It affects the frequency response as well as the impedance response? Sorry, you would be better off reading the white papers at the Decware site. In short, you sometimes have to be careful what you wish for. Listening to Jethro Tull right now is great, but an old Fleetwood Mac album before that just made the midrange bite more than it always does with this album (Rumors). Last note, drivers MUST be broken in or you pay the price of hardness and little/weak bass.