Best speakers on the market(regardless of type) for up to $10K?

[Lorenzo74]

Neither of which is under $10k (though the D&D Studio is just under the limit)

I used 10k€ as reference...
However better spend a little more than 10k€ and get something serious than spend 9999.99$ and regret.
best

 

[Wes]

Maggie 3.7i

 

[Tsuchi]

The current Adam Audio S-Series

 

[T.J. McKenna]

What would you say are the best speakers regardless of type (passive or active or active monitors) on the market for up to $10K?

I assume you mean to listen to rather than measure? Having just spent some time with Hedd Type 30's, which probably measure very well in the areas that this Forum appears to fetishize, I'm in two minds about the relationship between measurements and enjoyment. To me, they sounded revealing but lifeless, as well as being drab and uninspiring. Like examining an audio "specimen" under a microscope but completely oblivious to the fact that said specimen was, in fact, beautiful. But then can "beauty", "timbre", and "life" be accurately, or even vaguely, measured using the tools that this Forum seems to consider the arbiter of accuracy? To me, an accurate reproduction of a beautiful instrument entails sounding every bit as beautiful as that instrument, not just giving an accurate spectral rendition of the original. I've listened to too many ostensibly accurate monitors to realize that there seems to be little correlation between this spurious "accuracy" and musical fidelity. However, I'm open to the hope that eventually measurements can capture these elusive and, frankly, magical elements: the things that really matter; the things that can't be translated.
Anyway, after this effusive preamble, a few speakers under ten G's that to my mind convey the untranslatable things that matter better than most:

(1) Barefoot MM45 Microstack. I own a number of studio monitors but by far my favourite for listening to music is the Barefoot MM12. It sounds almost too beautiful to be true, not in any way resembling the typical dry as dust, just-the-facts, monitor that knows the price of everything but the value of nothing. The Barefoot transmits the untranslatable, and so-far unmeasurable, magic that I'm gabbing on about, and of which Forum stalwarts will no doubt be in full tut-tutting "but where are the measurements" mode. The problem with the MM12 is it costs over twenty grand. The MM45 Microstack has much of this quality for below ten g's.

(2) Spatial Audio X3. A few months ago I bought a marked-down set of Spatial Audio M4 Turbo S, a very unusual open-baffle design. Out of the box I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Despite a less than linear frequency response and severely rolled-off bass, they sounded more like live voices and instruments than I'd ever heard; at times I could hardly believe I wasn't listening to real instruments, they sounded so "open" and "there". And the imaging was a couple of notches more real than any box speaker I'd ever encountered. In fact, they sounded like a panel speaker without the airy-fairy insubstantiality that pretty well every panel has to a pronounced degree. However, they have problems: they can sound very brash and aggressive; they have a pronounced emphasis in the upper midrange/ lower treble and a roll-of above that. All anathema to the ASR faithful. Happily, there may be a solution: the new models appear to be far more neutral than the old, although - to be honest - I haven't heard them. For the adventurous-minded, the X3 sounds very enticing indeed: An AMT tweeter that crosses over at 1kHz, a twelve-inch lower midrange driver, and a powered fifteen-inch woofer in an open-baffle, and 97 dB efficiency to boot! If this speaker has solved the anomalies of the earlier models, it will make those "neutral" Neumanns sound obviously neutered by comparison.

 

[richard12511]

Maggie 3.7i

Would love to see those measured. I'm curious how they'd do in the bass. Ignoring the lack of bass, the LRS actually measured better than I thought it would, and perhaps the bigger 3.7 could fix the bass.

 

[Wes]

I can tell you how they sound in the bass... it seems like a recording's bass isn't being reproduced, and... then SLAM! The bass is "sharply defined" and definitive.

Only works down to a certain freq. tho.

 

[tochnia]

I don't know, maybe because this is an European company and ASR is mainly American?
They should be popular because PSI has a real scientific procedure, and for proof they give for every individual speaker this paper which is also the warranty
View attachment 100876

Here it is one more PSI speaker measurement on PSI A25 aka Studer A5.

Lets see who will show better measurement of speakers which doesn't use DSP under $10k:

 

[Sancus]

Lets see who will show better measurement of speakers which doesn't use DSP under $10k:

What are you supposed to get out of this? I don't get it. A single on-axis measurement tells you practically nothing. It's useful as QC for them, but that's about it...

 

[q3cpma]

Here it is one more PSI speaker measurement on PSI A25 aka Studer A5.

Lets see who will show better measurement of speakers which doesn't use DSP under $10k:View attachment 120844

Only because you're asking so nicely, here's the KH420A overlaid:

 

[thewas]

What are you supposed to get out of this? I don't get it. A single on-axis measurement tells you practically nothing. It's useful as QC for them, but that's about it...

Exactly, even less impressive when you consider that there exist 40 years old passive loudspeakers which managed similar +-2dB linearity on axis.

 

[bo_knows]

My room is small and untreated

My choice would be KEF reference 1.

 

[tochnia]

Only because you're asking so nicely, here's the KH420A overlaid:

Only thing is that KH420A achieve this with DSP. I wanted to see monitors achieving this without DSP in this price range.

 

[NTK]

PSI Audio tweaked each speaker to get that flat on-axis response. Why does it matter if DSP is used or not?

 

[richard12511]

Only thing is that KH420A achieve this with DSP. I wanted to see monitors achieving this without DSP in this price range.

Does the 420 use DSP? I didn't think it did. I thought the only Neumann that used DSP was the KH80 DSP, hence the name.

 

[dfuller]

Does the 420 use DSP? I didn't think it did. I thought the only Neumann that used DSP was the KH80 DSP, hence the name.

It doesn't. The 120 through 420 don't use DSP at all.

(1) Barefoot MM45 Microstack. I own a number of studio monitors but by far my favourite for listening to music is the Barefoot MM12. It sounds almost too beautiful to be true, not in any way resembling the typical dry as dust, just-the-facts, monitor that knows the price of everything but the value of nothing. The Barefoot transmits the untranslatable, and so-far unmeasurable, magic that I'm gabbing on about, and of which Forum stalwarts will no doubt be in full tut-tutting "but where are the measurements" mode. The problem with the MM12 is it costs over twenty grand. The MM45 Microstack has much of this quality for below ten g's.

Yeah the MM45s are truly killer. If they were in my price range I would've gone for them over the FP01s - which are also killer.

 

[richard12511]

Yeah the MM45s are truly killer. If they were in my price range I would've gone for them over the FP01s - which are also killer.

I really like the sealed design. I'm a big fan of sealed designs when it comes to integrating them with subs, especially since my subs are sealed. FP01 look like a fantastic speaker. Would love to compare them to my 8351b. I bet it would be really close.

 

[q3cpma]

I assume you mean to listen to rather than measure? Having just spent some time with Hedd Type 30's, which probably measure very well in the areas that this Forum appears to fetishize, I'm in two minds about the relationship between measurements and enjoyment. To me, they sounded revealing but lifeless, as well as being drab and uninspiring. Like examining an audio "specimen" under a microscope but completely oblivious to the fact that said specimen was, in fact, beautiful. But then can "beauty", "timbre", and "life" be accurately, or even vaguely, measured using the tools that this Forum seems to consider the arbiter of accuracy? To me, an accurate reproduction of a beautiful instrument entails sounding every bit as beautiful as that instrument, not just giving an accurate spectral rendition of the original. I've listened to too many ostensibly accurate monitors to realize that there seems to be little correlation between this spurious "accuracy" and musical fidelity. However, I'm open to the hope that eventually measurements can capture these elusive and, frankly, magical elements: the things that really matter; the things that can't be translated.
Anyway, after this effusive preamble, a few speakers under ten G's that to my mind convey the untranslatable things that matter better than most:

(1) Barefoot MM45 Microstack. I own a number of studio monitors but by far my favourite for listening to music is the Barefoot MM12. It sounds almost too beautiful to be true, not in any way resembling the typical dry as dust, just-the-facts, monitor that knows the price of everything but the value of nothing. The Barefoot transmits the untranslatable, and so-far unmeasurable, magic that I'm gabbing on about, and of which Forum stalwarts will no doubt be in full tut-tutting "but where are the measurements" mode. The problem with the MM12 is it costs over twenty grand. The MM45 Microstack has much of this quality for below ten g's.

(2) Spatial Audio X3. A few months ago I bought a marked-down set of Spatial Audio M4 Turbo S, a very unusual open-baffle design. Out of the box I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Despite a less than linear frequency response and severely rolled-off bass, they sounded more like live voices and instruments than I'd ever heard; at times I could hardly believe I wasn't listening to real instruments, they sounded so "open" and "there". And the imaging was a couple of notches more real than any box speaker I'd ever encountered. In fact, they sounded like a panel speaker without the airy-fairy insubstantiality that pretty well every panel has to a pronounced degree. However, they have problems: they can sound very brash and aggressive; they have a pronounced emphasis in the upper midrange/ lower treble and a roll-of above that. All anathema to the ASR faithful. Happily, there may be a solution: the new models appear to be far more neutral than the old, although - to be honest - I haven't heard them. For the adventurous-minded, the X3 sounds very enticing indeed: An AMT tweeter that crosses over at 1kHz, a twelve-inch lower midrange driver, and a powered fifteen-inch woofer in an open-baffle, and 97 dB efficiency to boot! If this speaker has solved the anomalies of the earlier models, it will make those "neutral" Neumanns sound obviously neutered by comparison.

You unloaded a nice big truckload of it, my friend. The HEDD Type 30 measures badly to very badly (cf https://www.soundandrecording.de/equipment/hedd-type-30-3-wege-monitor-mit-amt-hochtoener-im-test/) on ALL points (on-axis, off-axis and nonlinear distortion).

 

[Pawelekdabek]

My room is small and untreated

I dunno if someone suggested it but even the best speakers will not shine in untreated room. Spend some of your money on treatment and you will have to spend less money on speakers to achieve superior sound.

 

[dfuller]

You unloaded a nice big truckload of it, my friend. The HEDD Type 30 measures badly to very badly (cf https://www.soundandrecording.de/equipment/hedd-type-30-3-wege-monitor-mit-amt-hochtoener-im-test/) on ALL points (on-axis, off-axis and nonlinear distortion).

Well, that looks an awful lot like the Adam AX series...

 

[Ron Texas]

There is a lot of discussion here about measurements, but one measurable item is being skipped. That's dynamic range, the ability to play loud without distortion.