Bookshelf speakers for low volume & near-field listening?

[tomtoo]

Oh, come on. I want a tube amp because they can be made to look steampunk.

View attachment 140689

Not sure about the speakers though.

Wow! Phantastic looking!

About the speakers? Full-range high-end. Perfect phase behave!

 

[Sakelccc]

No problem, playing with tube amps can be fun. Hopefully it was not to expensive?

Not at all. Surely not as dear as the steampunk above lol.

 

[redshift]

Wow! Phantastic looking!

About the speakers? Full-range high-end. Perfect phase behave!

Doge such amaze Hifi.

 

[tomtoo]

Not at all. Surely not as dear as the steampunk above lol.

What is expense, when its all about passion?

 

[redshift]

Not at all. Surely not as dear as the steampunk above lol.

Here’s my workstation Silver 50 near field setup. One cover removed for your viewing pleasure. The amp? A so-so Marantz.

Doge not sure about painting.

 

[tomtoo]

Doge such amaze Hifi.

View attachment 140691

 

[Sakelccc]

Here’s my workstation Silver 50 near field setup. One cover removed for your viewing pleasure. The amp? A so-so Marantz.

View attachment 140695
Doge not sure about painting.

wow those in white look absolutely Fantastic!

maybe pretty face is the cure. doesn't really matter if they don't measure that well haha.

 

[kotmj]

I'd recommend the Harbeth P3esr. They're a direct descendant of the LS3/5a, and the build quality is heirloom level.

The designer, Alan Shaw, spends several months developing each crossover, making minute adjustments by ear. They are foremost optimised to reproduce the human voice---he uses a CD recording of his daughter's voice for this purpose. He developed the first of the series, the HL-P3, in his attic bedroom. As a matter of policy, his speakers are meant to have a lush, rich sound at relatively low volumes. The P3esr were for near field listening, where "when you could just touch the speakers with your arms stretched out".

 

[redshift]

wow those in white look absolutely Fantastic!

maybe pretty face is the cure. doesn't really matter if they don't measure that well haha.

They sound quite good in my deaf ears and halfwitted biological DSP. For sure they can’t measure that bad? Now that I think about it; you’d better listen to them first.

Anyway, your run of the mill software EQ can sort that out in a hurry. I only got a loudness plugin slapped on in the audio pipeline.

I admit I’m getting picked up as a faint signal on the gaydars. Not sure why? Perhaps it’s the color?

 

[redshift]

wow those in white look absolutely Fantastic!

maybe pretty face is the cure. doesn't really matter if they don't measure that well haha.

Here’s another one for you.
Whipping out some Python code has never been so groovy.

 

[kotmj]

Does Toole have anything to say on desktop, near field speakers for very small rooms?

 

[escape2]

Here’s another one for you.
Whipping out some Python code has never been so groovy.

View attachment 140701

Is that a rice cooker on your desk? How convenient.

 

[redshift]

Is that a rice cooker on your desk? How convenient.

You wouldn’t believe if I told you what I use it for, so I better let someone else do that.

 

[Grotti]

I'd recommend the Harbeth P3esr. They're a direct descendant of the LS3/5a, and the build quality is heirloom level.

The designer, Alan Shaw, spends several months developing each crossover, making minute adjustments by ear. They are foremost optimised to reproduce the human voice---he uses a CD recording of his daughter's voice for this purpose. He developed the first of the series, the HL-P3, in his attic bedroom. As a matter of policy, his speakers are meant to have a lush, rich sound at relatively low volumes. The P3esr were for near field listening, where "when you could just touch the speakers with your arms stretched out".

I now those speakers and despite a clear lack of bass they sound nice. A little to expensive for my taste when I compare it to similar sized Genelec and Neumann speakers.

What I don't buy for one second is the story of the engineer, sitting in a lonely lab and soldering crossover after crossover until the voice of his daughter sounds right. Either this is marketing BS (very likely) or he doesn't have the slightest notion how speakers are developed nowadays.

Anyways: sorry for being slightly of topic.

 

[redshift]

I'd recommend the Harbeth P3esr. They're a direct descendant of the LS3/5a, and the build quality is heirloom level.

The designer, Alan Shaw, spends several months developing each crossover, making minute adjustments by ear. They are foremost optimised to reproduce the human voice---he uses a CD recording of his daughter's voice for this purpose. He developed the first of the series, the HL-P3, in his attic bedroom. As a matter of policy, his speakers are meant to have a lush, rich sound at relatively low volumes. The P3esr were for near field listening, where "when you could just touch the speakers with your arms stretched out".

when you could just touch the speakers with your arms stretched out

That’s my definition of near-field. Are those speakers drivers moving in-phase?

 

[kotmj]

I now those speakers and despite a clear lack of bass they sound nice. A little to expensive for my taste when I compare it to similar sized Genelec and Neumann speakers.

What I don't buy for one second is the story of the engineer, sitting in a lonely lab and soldering crossover after crossover until the voice of his daughter sounds right. Either this is marketing BS (very likely) or he doesn't have the slightest notion how speakers are developed nowadays.

Anyways: sorry for being slightly of topic.

That's actually how it is. He would unwind a few windings on an inductor and reinsert into breadboard. He would agonise over 0.2ohms on a resistor. He has no deadlines: he's only done when he's done. He asks for nobody's opinion. At a recent fair a female interviewer asked him who listens to his completed speaker first. "You," he said. "You must have confidence in your design."

Model lifecycle at Harbeth is about 10 years.

Do subscribe to the Harbeth Users Group. It's his blog. He documents his life there.

Crossover of the HL-P3.

 

[redshift]

I now those speakers and despite a clear lack of bass they sound nice. A little to expensive for my taste when I compare it to similar sized Genelec and Neumann speakers.

What I don't buy for one second is the story of the engineer, sitting in a lonely lab and soldering crossover after crossover until the voice of his daughter sounds right. Either this is marketing BS (very likely) or he doesn't have the slightest notion how speakers are developed nowadays.

Anyways: sorry for being slightly of topic.

It depends if you got a solid reference to compare with. For example a pair of calibrated monitors or decent headphones, switching back and forth.

I’m sure it’s possible to tune them reasonably well by ear if you got a knack for it and some pots ready for trimming.

 

[kotmj]

That’s my definition of near-field. Are those speakers drivers moving in-phase?

I don't know. The guy currently designing PS Audio's inaugural speakers, Darren Myers, has them on his work desk and is enthusiastic about them.

 

[Grotti]

That's actually how it is. He would unwind a few windings on an inductor and reinsert into breadboard. He would agonise over 0.2ohms on a resistor. He has no deadlines: he's only done when he's done. He asks for nobody's opinion. At a recent fair a female interviewer asked him who listens to his completed speaker first. "You," he said. "You must have confidence in your design."

Model lifecycle at Harbeth is about 10 years.

Do subscribe to the Harbeth Users Group. It's his blog. He documents his life there.

I now this story by heart. Alan Shaw IS Harbeth and the hole story is part of his unique selling point. But I still can't believe, that a graduated engineer like him doesn't make use of all the software out there which helps manufacturers like the before mentioned Neumann and Genelec (or Revel, Kef etc...) to develop SOTA speakers right to taste (Harman curve!) in reasonable time.

It just fits too perfect in the cliché of a small high end manufacturer. If he would be able to reach his goal ("perfect replication of his daughters voice") in much shorter time by using modern development tools: don't you think he will use them? Or actually does in order to get the job done without spending months unwinding coils?

 

[redshift]

I don't know. The guy currently designing PS Audio's inaugural speakers, Darren Myers, has them on his work desk and is enthusiastic about them.

My thinking is that there is something inherently wrong with a speaker that requires heavy DSP/EQ processing to have a flat frequency response.

A first order jobbie should do the trick to keep it well-behaved within a couple of dB’s within its expected bandwidth. Then the analogue parts could be removed and replaced by an EQ/DSP for the ultimate in flatness.