Barefoot Footprint 01 Review (Studio Monitor)

[temps]

Hmm?, and there was myself seriously considering the footprint 02's for my desktop use, think I can strike them from my list and go with my first choice of Dynaudio LYD 48's instead.

I like my LYDs a lot, but be wary that they have some pretty significant tweeter hiss. It seems temperature dependent - in the winter it hardly bothered me but now that it's warming up it seem to be getting louder, so I find myself wishing they'd go into standby quicker. Also bass extension is nothing to write home about, even on the 3 way version, so I would suggest you budget for a subwoofer as well.

 

[Somafunk]

My KRK Rokit 7 G4‘s have an audible hiss from 2ft away but you can’t hear it when playing music, I imagine the Dynaudios hiss is less of an issue and I have a KRK 10s sub that I will more than likely use wiith them, ideally I’d like Hedd type 20 but that ain’t happening.

 

[maverickronin]

If we called it random mat composite would that help?

Perfect marketing speak.

 

[napilopez]

Ah, this is disappointing. Given the extremely tall manufacturer scale I was hoping they were showing an accurate or representative on-axis. That appears to not be the case,. Here's the official supposed on-axis vs amir's just to show the difference:

So yeah. Not quite in the same class.

That said... for me it still crosses the 'good enough' threshold and I don't think anything seems that broken.

The most notable positive to me is that these actually display an almost constant overall directivity down to about 300 Hz and honestly that might be worth dealing with the imperfect on-axis. It is most notable in @pierre's equalized graphs:

Happy accident?

And as as @richard12511 noted, at least directivity performance actually seems better in Amir's measurements than Barefoots.

 

[Spocko]

... What I find odd is that the Neumann KH-310 is only about 10% more expensive (street) and whilst it also pillages the Tymphany catalogue, it uses drivers that cost about double. Of course it only has one woofer, so perhaps that is even. This speaker seems to be a generation behind in things like directivity control. It would be hard to imagine choosing it over a KH-310.

I think the Neumann KH 310 is quite amazing and timeless - what likely turns people off is its horizontal shape which makes it difficult to fit in many situations. Would they sell more if they found a way to adapt it vertically like Dynaudio Core and Focal Trio models that allow you to flip the tweeter/midrange 90 degrees? Maybe that's the only real "update" it needs - although given the size of that mid-driver, this may not be possible.

 

[GWolfman]

Which Genelec are you buying?

Between 8330/8340 and 8331. Primarily limited by budget and wanting to minimize any affects of my untreated room.

 

[YSC]

Ah, this is disappointing. Given the extremely tall manufacturer scale I was hoping they were showing an accurate or representative on-axis. That appears to not be the case,. Here's the official on-axis vs amir's just to show the difference:
View attachment 130675

So yeah. Not quite in the same class.

That said... for me it still crosses the 'good enough' threshold and I don't think anything seems that broken.

The most notable positive to me is that these actually display an almost constant overall directivity down to about 300 Hz and honestly that might be worth dealing with the imperfect on-axis. It is most notable in @pierre's equalized graphs:

View attachment 130678


Happy accident?

And as as @richard12511 noted, at least directivity performance actually seems better in Amir's measurements than Barefoots.

actually the Amirm's measurement is still +/-3db range, only from 1.3k-1.8k range there's a sharp peak followed by a notch which makes a +/-5db at that range, combined with real room acoustics it might not be noticible, though given the hype of them and the publised measurements sthey are kind of disspointing,

 

[dfuller]

I'd be interested to see what Barefoot has to say about this - anybody have a contact with them that isn't customer service?

 

[daftcombo]

I wish ge

Now* that's * expensive
View attachment 130665

Ugliest speaker I've ever seen.

 

[Spocko]

actually the Amirm's measurement is still +/-3db range, only from 1.3k-1.8k range there's a sharp peak followed by a notch which makes a +/-5db at that range, combined with real room acoustics it might not be noticible, though given the hype of them and the publised measurements sthey are kind of disspointing,

This. Barefoot receives much hype for its designer who's the self proclaimed "Guru of Sound" but maybe it's because he knows better what professionals need right? "Carrying a PhD and deep knowledge of physics, Thomas Barefoot spent his spare time among the online recording community. In 2004, he ventured into building his own studio monitor based on his idea of how a monitor should sound, rather than the sound of industry-leading monitors already on the scene. " So ultimately @amirm it appears that this is how a "monitor should sound" and we're just a bunch of amateurs in the cheap seats.

 

[thewas]

This. Barefoot receives much hype for its designer who's the self proclaimed "Guru of Sound" but maybe it's because he knows better what professionals need right? "Carrying a PhD and deep knowledge of physics, Thomas Barefoot spent his spare time among the online recording community. In 2004, he ventured into building his own studio monitor based on his idea of how a monitor should sound, rather than the sound of industry-leading monitors already on the scene. " So ultimately @amirm it appears that this is how a "monitor should sound" and we're just a bunch of amateurs in the cheap seats.

As in most cases of "hype-hifi" some supposed geniuses are marketed to cult status, while you will almost never see similar at objectively great engineers/engineering companies like the often recommended ones here. When you see such a worshipping to a single person it's usually better to be very careful or even look somewhere else.

 

[dav0043]

This review, and a few others recently, prompted me to create an ID to post a message. I am drawn to this site by one word: 'science'. Interpretations & opinions are a dime a dozen but science in measurement gives us information that helps us decide for ourselves. Generally the conclusions here have aligned with the science. Lately it seems to be drifting. This speaker is an example.

• $3995/pair (well above average)
• Frequency Response (3 significant issues)
• Reflections (2 significant issues)
• In-Room Response (one issue)
• Beamwidth (2 significant issues)
• Directivity (uneven)
• Near field response (needs correction)
• Bass (distorted)
• Waterfall (resonances)
• Listening (all fields have issues, odd spatial effects)
• EQ (4 points, above average)
• Near-field listening is very good with EQ (subjective)

Conclusion

• Recommended (?)

Most all speakers can be somewhat salvaged with aggressive EQ. A speaker that is engineered and executed correctly should not need EQ. The recommendation should be in reference to the EQ software for saving the day rather than the speaker with glaring flaws.

I read these reviews daily and really appreciate them but these baffling conclusions are less welcome.

 

[Sancus]

"$1000 spent on an NFS measurement would do them wonders instead of using semi-DIY schemes as they seem to be deploying."
I believe You forgot a couple of zeros on that price tag )

You can send a speaker to Klippel(in Europe) or Warkwyn(USA) and get a measurement/report done on a Klippel NFS for $1K. You don't have to buy one outright.

 

[amirm]

"$1000 spent on an NFS measurement would do them wonders instead of using semi-DIY schemes as they seem to be deploying."
I believe You forgot a couple of zeros on that price tag )

No that's the cost of having one speaker measured by klippel nfs distributor.

 

[infinitesymphony]

This review, and a few others recently, prompted me to create an ID to post a message. I am drawn to this site by one word: 'science'. Interpretations & opinions are a dime a dozen but science in measurement gives us information that helps us decide for ourselves. Generally the conclusions here have aligned with the science. Lately it seems to be drifting. This speaker is an example.

• $3995/pair (well above average)
• Frequency Response (3 significant issues)
• Reflections (2 significant issues)
• In-Room Response (one issue)
• Beamwidth (2 significant issues)
• Directivity (uneven)
• Near field response (needs correction)
• Bass (distorted)
• Waterfall (resonances)
• Listening (all fields have issues, odd spatial effects)
• EQ (4 points, above average)
• Near-field listening is very good with EQ (subjective)

Conclusion

• Recommended (?)

Most all speakers can be somewhat salvaged with aggressive EQ. A speaker that is engineered and executed correctly should not need EQ. The recommendation should be in reference to the EQ software for saving the day rather than the speaker with glaring flaws.

I read these reviews daily and really appreciate them but these baffling conclusions are less welcome.

These days, "not recommended" is reserved for products that exhibit such poor performance that there is no reason to buy them. It does not seem to be a value judgment. For that you'll want to use preference ratings and the Loudspeaker Explorer along with your own judgment about what is important (ex. flat FR out of the box, FR extension, distortion at volume, directivity, cost, etc.).

 

[Deleted member 12642]

This review, and a few others recently, prompted me to create an ID to post a message. I am drawn to this site by one word: 'science'. Interpretations & opinions are a dime a dozen but science in measurement gives us information that helps us decide for ourselves. Generally the conclusions here have aligned with the science. Lately it seems to be drifting. This speaker is an example.

• $3995/pair (well above average)
• Frequency Response (3 significant issues)
• Reflections (2 significant issues)
• In-Room Response (one issue)
• Beamwidth (2 significant issues)
• Directivity (uneven)
• Near field response (needs correction)
• Bass (distorted)
• Waterfall (resonances)
• Listening (all fields have issues, odd spatial effects)
• EQ (4 points, above average)
• Near-field listening is very good with EQ (subjective)

Conclusion

• Recommended (?)

Most all speakers can be somewhat salvaged with aggressive EQ. A speaker that is engineered and executed correctly should not need EQ. The recommendation should be in reference to the EQ software for saving the day rather than the speaker with glaring flaws.

I read these reviews daily and really appreciate them but these baffling conclusions are less welcome.

I was definitely left wondering the same. I feel there is definitely an inconsistency to the conclusions of some reviews as well as some of the red text inside the graph (two speakers with similar distortion, one gets canned, the other gets praise).

 

[Mosquito]

Oh! I see, my mistake

 

[HammerSandwich]

Overall, the retail cost seems very expensive, likely the cost is due to the low sales volumes and low manufacturing scale. I would expect these to be priced at $1000/pair, if not less.

$4k should buy better performance, but $1k strikes me as unrealistic. A pair includes around $250 of raw drivers, a stereo 150W amp, a stereo 500W amp, passive XO components, DSP, cabinets, and packaging. Plus R&D, assembly, QA, & support/warranty costs. And dealer profit, as Barefoot's not internet-direct. How long could Barefoot stay in business at $1000/pair?

 

[Ron Texas]

For $4k these should be superb, but they are bla. One can have 708p's or KH310's for that kind of money. Thank you @amirm

 

[dfuller]

$4k should buy better performance, but $1k strikes me as unrealistic. A pair includes around $250 of raw drivers, a stereo 150W amp, a stereo 500W amp, passive XO components, DSP, cabinets, and packaging. Plus R&D, assembly, QA, & support/warranty costs. And dealer profit, as Barefoot's not internet-direct. How long could Barefoot stay in business at $1000/pair?

I agree, 4k is high. But figuring labor costs in (they're made in the US in a fairly expensive part of the US at that), plus the very heavy cabinets material... Yeah.