Audio Smile LBM Monitor Review

[Ktacos]

Simon also used to make the Advantage for the Kensai, an accompanying tower stand with built-in side-firing subs and amps.

I’ve been so tempted to pick up a used pair, but my wife would skin me..

Welcome to the forum, excellent choice of username

 

[Bearforce One]

Welcome to the forum, excellent choice of username

Thanks!

Been a lurker here for a while, very pleased to see the reaction to Audiosmile, I’ve been following Simon’s progress over the years. Don’t know him personally, but very impressed with what he’s achieved, not an easy road he’s chosen!

 

[Mnyb]

I thinks it amazing that clever and gifted engineers actually wants to work with audio at all, especially analog stuff . It's a bit of a backwater .

But transducer is the right end of it , there still a lot of things to do .

 

[Mnyb]

They arrived

 

[Bearforce One]

View attachment 490445They arrived
View attachment 490444

Fantastic! How do they sound?

 

[Mnyb]

Within their limits they very good, perfect for desktop use . I have not measured or applied any eq yet just dialled in the bass shelf/boundary control manually by ear . They sound neutral smooth and even and detailed at the same time

 

[adamd]

I have bought a pair of these little beauties and am very happy with them for desktop use. [edit -that's an understatement - they are great!] Wondering whether anyone had any view on a suitable discreet under-the-desk-sub to go with them. I don't need to make the room shake, just fill in the bottom a little at very moderate volume. I would welcome Simon @AudioSmile_UK 's views.

 

[AudioSmile_UK]

There are many small subs so it is difficult to suggest a specific one - Kanto, Q Acoustics, Elac and KEF to name a few. For this reason I didn't intend to design one myself because it would have little to offer other than matched style.

Kanto Sub 8 strikes me as a well priced simple option to add a feeling of scale. Just ensure you have an adjustable crossover frequency so you can set it to match the HP of the LBM at 100Hz.

 

[adamd]

There are many small subs so it is difficult to suggest a specific one - Kanto, Q Acoustics, Elac and KEF to name a few. For this reason I didn't intend to design one myself because it would have little to offer other than matched style.

Kanto Sub 8 strikes me as a well priced simple option to add a feeling of scale. Just ensure you have an adjustable crossover frequency so you can set it to match the HP of the LBM at 100Hz.

Thanks- that does look reasonable. Given the LB part of the product, I wondered whether https://www.bkelec.com/HiFi/Sub_Woofers/P10-150-GEM.html#order might be the thing, but it is bigger and has a downward-facing driver, which might be riskier in a work environment with a floor below.

 

[Head_Unit]

I am not sure if it comes across but this is a tiny speaker! Low frequency is handled by a 3 inch driver.

Ah! Amir it would be great if you posted this every time, what is the woofer size, since it is very hard to tell by looks. Someone had said "look it up" in an earlier thread but it's much easier to grasp if it is right in the same flow...

 

[jhaider]

This is one of the nicest surprises I've had in an audio review for a very long time. I can't believe that it's so flat down to ~90 Hz and can still take boost below that. Just think what they could do with something a bit larger...

I’m not too surprised. Looks like the woofer is one of the Aurasound NS3 knockoffs. (I believe Aurasound is, sadly, defunct.) Their “neo radial motor” motor design is really top notch — probably best of breed until the JBL 705/708 woofers, Neumann KH 120 II/KH 150 woofers, and the Purifi line came up. Lots of throw with high BL linearity.

 

[Fabsen]

@AudioSmile_UK You mentioned in #59 that you modified the filters.
I was wondering if you used the EQ from spinorama in your speakers - or if not, why not? https://www.spinorama.org/speakers/Audio Smile Little British Monitor/ASR/index_asr.html
It looks quite good and would also fix the issue, right?
Sorry if this is a stupid question but I am curious haha

 

[AudioSmile_UK]

@AudioSmile_UK You mentioned in #59 that you modified the filters.
I was wondering if you used the EQ from spinorama in your speakers - or if not, why not? https://www.spinorama.org/speakers/Audio Smile Little British Monitor/ASR/index_asr.html
It looks quite good and would also fix the issue, right?
Sorry if this is a stupid question but I am curious haha

It wouldn’t really make sense to do that from the DSP’s point of view, since it would just be adding EQ on top of the existing EQ for a pretty small overall change. In other words, you’d end up with two layers of correction when what’s really needed are just a few fine adjustments to the original filters.

 

[Mnyb]

For casual listening i just sat them on their little stands experimented with toe in and boundary settings and where very happy .
They sound neutral to me as is as an hobbyist with limited references and insight into the sound production process.
I’m still amazed by their sound after several weeks now .

If you are using them as a serious production tool you would use some EQ software and calibrate them into your listening position I suppose and have your studio acoustically treated . As a pro you would have more exact needs . I mean for a pro no speakers would be a perfect fit directly , fine tuning is always needed anyway , so the manufacturer can not achieve this for you they have to find a base performance that’s universal enough and good enough at the same time ?

The big studio brands even provide a software suite for the purpose Genelec have GLM and Neumann something similar. They don’t expect thier customers to just plonk them onto the mixer bridge or desk

For us enthusiasts it gets down to adjustment to taste instead , but you use EQ there to . These speakers seems to take EQ very well as speakers with good directivity performance tend to do .

 

[PJR918BMW]

So here's my DIY pair... just running them in. Then final polish up and I'm done. It's a good "kit" everything's in it. But it's not a 10 minute job - I think fair to say you need to be a reasonably proficient DIY er. Especially if you want them to look ok. The MDF carcass is just a bitch to paint. I really don't like that stuff. Mainly my fault as I made an error and putting that right turned into a pain in the wotsit!

PS. You will need about £30 to £50 of glue, paint, wet and dry, couple of clamps ( I personally think you need these - but not required in instructions) etc if you don't have them already.

 

[AudioSmile_UK]

So here's my DIY pair... just running them in. Then final polish up and I'm done. It's a good "kit" everything's in it. But it's not a 10 minute job - I think fair to say you need to be a reasonably proficient DIY er. Especially if you want them to look ok. The MDF carcass is just a bitch to paint. I really don't like that stuff. Mainly my fault as I made an error and putting that right turned into a pain in the wotsit!

PS. You will need about £30 to £50 of glue, paint, wet and dry, couple of clamps ( I personally think you need these - but not required in instructions) etc if you don't have them already.

View attachment 495293

These look incredible! You must have a lot of experience at painting?

TBH I chose MDF for easier painting than Plywood, but if you are used to metal surfaces such as cars then any fibrous material will seem a PITA to prepare - especially cut surfaces like the rounded edges. That is why I give the port cut-out a prime and sand even for the DIY kits.

I hope you enjoy them!

Simon

 

[PJR918BMW]

These look incredible! You must have a lot of experience at painting?

TBH I chose MDF for easier painting than Plywood, but if you are used to metal surfaces such as cars then any fibrous material will seem a PITA to prepare - especially cut surfaces like the rounded edges. That is why I give the port cut-out a prime and sand even for the DIY kits.

I hope you enjoy them!

Simon

Hi Simon. Some painting experience. But that was done with rattle cans. But metal is a lot easier
And 100% appreciate the pre priming on those ports... and brush primer is the way to go as you quite rightly say in the instructions.

 

[PJR918BMW]

So here's my DIY pair... just running them in. Then final polish up and I'm done. It's a good "kit" everything's in it. But it's not a 10 minute job - I think fair to say you need to be a reasonably proficient DIY er. Especially if you want them to look ok. The MDF carcass is just a bitch to paint. I really don't like that stuff. Mainly my fault as I made an error and putting that right turned into a pain in the wotsit!

PS. You will need about £30 to £50 of glue, paint, wet and dry, couple of clamps ( I personally think you need these - but not required in instructions) etc if you don't have them already.

View attachment 495293

Update

I have hesitated in posting impressions because... well frankly, they were not going to be very positive....

Scratch that. They did sound thin (to me) when new. Having now run them in pretty hard, that has changed completely. I used the bass run in file that Simon links to in his instructions. 50% gain for a couple of hours then 75% for rest of the day... pointed them at each other (file is out of phase) and left them to it.

So accepting I am exhibiting every type of involuntary bias - the difference is night and day. Concrete example I had the tone control pretty much wound right off for more bass when they were new. Now I have it at default and at sensible levels the bass is spot on. The rest of the range is excellent.

I have genuinely sat back a number of times, while not really focussing on the music and just gone "Wow!" This is in a small office, say 12' x 10', 100% reflective surfaces.

If you want it really loud. Tough. Obviously. Want to play hard rock at any sort of volume. Also tough. But then you clearly bought the wrong speakers for the wrong use case! .

Currently listening to Peter Gabriel "So". It is spot on at reasonable levels. I mean really excellent.

I am going to try a sub just for the hell of it...

They are currently sat next to an old pair of floor standing MS speakers.. and its really quite funny..as they say. Horses for Courses..

PS. As Amir said speaker height and toe in is key.

Update 2: I've tried a couple of small ported subs I have ( I don't have closed) and simply can't get them anywhere near tuned in to my ears. They are miles behind the speakers and sloppy as anything. I thought the first one might be broken! The bass available from these LBMS when turned up ( if you want) is more than enough. I'm done

 

[NotInYourHead]

These look incredible! You must have a lot of experience at painting?

TBH I chose MDF for easier painting than Plywood, but if you are used to metal surfaces such as cars then any fibrous material will seem a PITA to prepare - especially cut surfaces like the rounded edges. That is why I give the port cut-out a prime and sand even for the DIY kits.

I hope you enjoy them!

Simon

Hey Simon, I want to ask a question regarding the amplification. Besides lower THD, which is outlined in the white paper, are there other reasons why you went with class AB?
In addition, I noticed the chipsets from the white paper (TDA7492, TDA7498, TPA3116) all belong to earlier Class D generations, that TPA32xx chipsets should be leaps ahead in all respects. Perhaps they are too complex to implement for a small manufacturer?

 

[Yersinia Bestmate]

Has it been stated somewhere but are the midbass drivers used in these monitors Dayton Audio ND91-4? At least in the photo on spinorama.org they look very similar.

I have used the bigger brother, ND140-4 in a diy 2.5 way build and it can deliver huge amount of bass and has incredible xmech.