Eminent Technology LFT-VIIIa

I agree with the substance of Plato's remarks about the VIIIa's, but maybe don't downgrade them as much. He says they lack immediacy and detail; I ask compared to what? It seemed true for me that the VIIIa's rolled off at the high end, and so were softer than a lot of speakers. The broad midrange had plenty of detail for me.

The Monsoon computer speakers are considerably less good than the VIIIa's, so that tells me something about the requirements of the situation. The good vmps are more expensive than this price range, unless you go for the ribbon monitors, the Newforms don't have the low end of VIIIa's, and the Selah line array is more expensive than $1500, I am pretty sure.

If you don't like the looks of the ET, you might consider the upcoming, less brutal looking Status Mini from av123.com. It's a hybrid arrangement. Will go a bit lower than the Newforms, reportedly, but won't go to really high spls or so low as the ET. You might have trouble knowing where to look for info on this product, so you might want to call them.

High-frequency extension and speed is what gives many midrange instruments the ability to sound like they do in real life. Without it, you have a pleasing, more rounded, but less authentic sound. The sound of the instruments with upper-frequency harmonics (most of them) gets diluted and smoothed over. That is what I meant when I said the LFT-VIII is not as detailed or immediate sounding. It does seem a bit rolled-off in the upper octaves and if you put it in it's extended-treble mode it then becomes too aggressive/bright-sounding for my taste.

Agreed on the connection you write about, but even though we seem to essentially agree on the character of the speaker I just seem to like it a bit better than you.