£2k for monitors in my treated room? - shortlist of 4

[Somafunk]

I really shouldn't have joined this forum, as it has piqued my interest in "improving" the audio in my room, I’ve been perfectly happy with my current Rokit 7 G4 & 10s sub but a mate dropped by a few days ago with his pair of HEDD Type 20 mk2 and I was floored with the sound quality in my room, it seems my krk system, however smug I’ve felt about its modest cost vs performance in the past can in no way be compared to the Hedd - so I’ve sulked in the corner for the previous few days and hastily browsed online for a possible shortlist with a budget of £2k which “could” be slightly raised if the increase in performance justified the cost. I like the idea of ditching the sub and getting a good 3 way but also happy to keep the sub and buy a two way as I figure I may get a better two way for the same price but I then have the potential issue of correctly matching the sub regarding crossover/phase/volume.

I mainly listen to electronic music, anything from Richie Hawtin to Jon Hopkins to Nils Frahm to Kiasmos and a fair amount of movie soundtracks also alternative/ folktronica so a decent spectrum.

Shortlist is,

HEDD Type 07 MK2 - under budget @ £1450 - two way so keep sub, but would I really need it with these?, they're HEDDs - what more can you say?

Barefoot/Output Frontier - under budget @ £1400 - two way so keep sub, I think I may need it, not many reviews of these yet but I really like the look of them

Barefoot Footprint 02 - way over budget @ £2600 but if they are as good as they say they are...................?..........could save up for wee while longer

Dynaudio LYD 48 - under budget @ £1800 - seem to get excellent reviews and 3 way which I like, and I like the design - a bargain at this price?

Or as another couple of choices just for confusion,

Focal Shape 65 - cheaper than the above @ £1200
or
Focal Shape Twin - Quite like these @ £1400

Obviously I'd love the Hedd Type 20 MK2 but can't afford them so not going to torture myself with creative personal accounting.

And the elephant in the room - Genelecs....Despite being the sensible choice for sound quality i just don't like how they look.

They’d be sitting on my desk in the usual triangle setup on suitable isoacoustic stands (as are my krk’s and sub) and my daily listening position is usually at the desk - not so much "critical listening" as im doing other stuff so just need sound, from 6pm I roll my big chair to the sweet spot in the middle of the room approx 2m from speakers and cue up library/tidal/roon through my Cambridge Audio streamer and just chill. Desk could be moved out, could be moved back +/- 30cm, at moment it is 40cm from front wall.

I spend most of my life stuck at home these days due to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, no more lost weekends out clubbing for me so as my ears are the only part of body that is not failing I thought I may as well attempt to treat myself to the club sound at home which is what I thought I had till I heard the HEDD type 20, according to my roon statistics I listen to music for an average of 7 hrs a day at anywhere from 60 db to 90db+ depending on how I'm feeling so I guess I want something that is more “musical” in nature than strictly “reference” for long listening periods. I can always tailor the eq with roon parametrics if I feel the need or use the individual speakers eq/dsp to correct for room issues/room modes.

Current setup/room below to get an idea of space to be filled and where they will sit on the desk shelf (30cm deep)

Any advice would be appreciated and apologies for such a long winded post to ask a simple question,

Cheers,

 

[dfuller]

Dynaudio LYD 48 - under budget @ £1800 - seem to get excellent reviews and 3 way which I like, and I like the design - a bargain at this price?

Very solid. Not the greatest off axis behavior but honestly you're sitting nearfield in a treated room, this matters far less than the dogma around here would have you believe.

Focal Shape Twin - Quite like these @ £1400

Very good. Big, though - you'd want to have them on stands so the tweeters are at ear level.

Focal Shape 65 - cheaper than the above @ £1200

Not as good as the Twins, to be honest. I used to own a pair.

Barefoot Footprint 02 - way over budget @ £2600 but if they are as good as they say they are...................?..........could save up for wee while longer

I have the FP01s and love them.

 

[q3cpma]

/neumann
Text 'neumann' not found on page

 

[Somafunk]

Dfuller : yep, my thinking is #1 Dynaudio, #2 Footprint 02, sorta discounted the rest through hrs of reading through production & studi reviews/YouTube etc.

I’ve actually been sad enough to build rough approximations of all my shortlist from cardboard n’ duct tape including felt tip markings of tweeter and woofer placement (hey...don’t laugh, I’m stuck at home all day so I have to amuse myself somehow) and I’ve ruled out the focal twin as it’s too high to have on the desk, I stumble n’ fall quite a lot and use the desk as a steady handhold to move around so I could see myself knocking these over as my condition worsens. Focal shape 65 I’ve pretty much discounted as I’m not keen on the cabinet design and the mdf construction seems kinda thin, I’ve also read/watched reviews where this is mentioned- I’m sure they sound great as I don’t think I’ve read a bad word regarding their sound quality but the shape annoys me.

So currently I’m thinking Dynaudio as despite being a 3 way the actual monitor size is quite dinky on my desk despite being deeper than my krk’s, there’s enough room to position them correctly and at correct height on isoacoustic stands, I guess I could then get rid of my krk sub as well as my krk monitors & isoacoustic stands so that would somewhat offset the cost of £2k once I factor in extra £ for iso stands for the Dynaudio‘s - and they sound good for an “entry level” 3way monitor, I doubt I’d regret buying them.

Barefoot 02, a close 2nd so far, I like the design, very industrial and no bullshit look about them, they’re practically no bigger than my current krk’s and the sound quality is reported to be excellent, the “meme” thing is wasted on me though as when would I wish to listen to a facsimile of an NS10 through choice?, or a cube?, as for flat?......possibly but I’d leave it in hifi pretty much all the time so I figure I’d be buying a £2k+ speaker with additional audio gimmicks that will have increased the build cost and that I will never use in real life listening.

Barefoot/Output Frontier?, very stylish and apparently decent sound quality but i feel the light is a bit gimmicky and there to draw the eye of a more “fashion/lifestyle“ buyer and at what cost has the look dictated the engineering and ultimate sound quality?, perhaps absolutely zero but hmm?.

So I guess I’m sorta making up my mind unless I find another 3way design for similar money with that something “extra” over the Dynaudio’s, I could afford one Hedd Type 20 MK2 but I guess I can file that in my mind map under “stupid ideas 101“.

As for Neumann?, yeah I know they sound bloody good and I’ve looked at the KH 310 3 way, but they appear to be neutral and flat, quite a bit more expensive as well and I feel the Dynaudios would be more “musical“ as they’re ported, probably entirely wrong about that supposition but it’s additional justification over the extra cost.

 

[HooStat]

I don't have a lot of experience with near field, but coaxial speakers seem to do that pretty well. So, some of the KEF offerings might be worth looking at. Particularly since you have a sub. But nothing wrong with your choices -- just offering another option. (Based on what little I know, I like the Dynaudio option too.)

 

[Somafunk]

Kef ls50 was on my list when I bought the KRK’s last august but I discounted them at the time, now I’ve discovered the Dynaudio’s I’m happy I did

 

[nimar]

I've owned a pair of A7X for nearfield for ~7 years and they are amazing, If you want to spend spend a little more the A8X might be what you are looking for https://www.adam-audio.com/en/ax-series/a8x/

If you look around third party measurements match what they advertise, clean, well engineered.

 

[dfuller]

Barefoot 02, a close 2nd so far, I like the design, very industrial and no bullshit look about them, they’re practically no bigger than my current krk’s and the sound quality is reported to be excellent, the “meme” thing is wasted on me though as when would I wish to listen to a facsimile of an NS10 through choice?, or a cube?, as for flat?......possibly but I’d leave it in hifi pretty much all the time so I figure I’d be buying a £2k+ speaker with additional audio gimmicks that will have increased the build cost and that I will never use in real life listening.

Honestly I find the meme thing kinda useful - if you leave off "hifi". It's not an actual replacement but it's helpful nonetheless. But if you're mostly listening, it's rather pointless.

 

[allan]

@Somafunk, what did you end up going with? I have a similar layout, although not as much room treatment (yet).

 

[Somafunk]

My mates away at the moment working so when he's back in the country he'll arrange for a pair of the LYD 48’s to come my way for a few weeks demo listening to see if I’m suitably impressed before I spend the best part of £1600, I’m sure they won’t disappoint.

 

[thefsb]

As for Neumann?, yeah I know they sound bloody good and I’ve looked at the KH 310 3 way, but they appear to be neutral and flat, quite a bit more expensive as well and I feel the Dynaudios would be more “musical“ as they’re ported, probably entirely wrong about that supposition but it’s additional justification over the extra cost.

Boxes with neutral response and a lot of headroom allow you to dial in whatever euphonics you like with EQ. Boxes with their characteristic curve built-in are less able to adapt since you can run out of headroom correcting their errors. Doing it with EQ seems preferable to me since the EQ curve that suits my taste depends on a lot of things (program material, how loud I'm listening, what I'm doing) and changes with time.